Given that your legs, and the attached feet, are the part of the body that moves the most during any ride, it makes perfect sense that we should be utilising them for safety purposes. Often this has meant a reflective detail on the calves of a pair of bib tights, or one of those reflective velcro straps that you slap around the ankle before a commute home. But Look has taken this several steps further with the introduction of its Keo Vision Collection.
While flat pedals come fitted with a reflector, the best clipless road pedals don’t. Look have rectified this by adding a built-in light to both its Keo Blade Ceramic and the Keo 2 Max pedals.
(Image credit: Look)
Using a cyclist’s biomotion to great affect, the French brand says that its Vision pedals increase rider visibility by 5.5 times compared to a standard fixed light attached to a seatpost; with dual moving red lights Look says that car drivers are able to better perceive both speed and distance, with the pedal lights visible up to 1km away.
In both models the lights offer 180 degrees of visibility and feature four modes, including continuous and flashing patterns. Adding just 20g to the overall weight of the pedals, they boast a IPX7 waterproof rating and a claimed battery life of up to 40m hours, with charging taking 2 hours via a USB-C cable.
(Image credit: Look)
As for the pedals themselves, the Keo Blade Ceramic Vision combines a carbon body with ceramic bearings and a 705 mm² contact surface. As for the more affordable Keo 2 Max Vision, it uses a composite body and steel bearings, with a 500 mm² contact surface. A light kit is also available for the Look’s Keo Blade V4 range, enabling users to update their pedals.
(Image credit: Look)
“This unique technology improves a cyclist’s visibility by more than five times, compared to a traditional seatpost light, ” says Alexandre Lavaud, Head of Product at LOOK Cycle. “ It leverages the fact that the human eye is much more sensitive to biomotion than to a fixed light. Integrating and miniaturising the lights on road pedals was a real challenge, but now the LOOK Vision technology, already available on city pedals, is featured on our flagship road pedal. It’s not just a pedal; it’s a commitment to a safer, more confident ride for everyone.”
The Keo Blade Ceramic Vision is priced at €249.90, while the Keo 2 Max Vision costs. €124.90. The kit, which includes two lights, two levers and a USB cable, is priced at €60 MSRP.
CW Says
The obvious question is why hasn’t anyone done this before? I ride a lot of different bikes, but my Shimano or Look pedals go on every bike, depending on which pedal and shoe are closest. If they had lights built into to them, I’d literally never be without a rear marker. Unless I left them switched off.
At the launch of these particular pedals, Look shared with us the news that the French had recently outlawed the use of flashing rear lights. Quite sensibly, the French authorities, like the UK government, have recognised that a blinking or flashing light isn’t visible in the moments when it’s not on, and as a motorcyclist as well as cyclist, I can confirm that you can get a good way down the road in the gaps in between flashes on some rear lights. A single, flashing rear light is conspicuous when it’s on, and invisible when it’s not.
However, a flashing light alongside a lamp that remains on all the time, does offer some advantages when it comes to standing out on the road, and in a ‘hold my beer’ moment, Look designers seem to have found this workaround. The movement of ones feet whilst pedalling, gives a similarly conspicuous additional light source, apeing the obviousness, or pattern of a flashing light, whilst presumably staying just on the right side of the legislation, and helping you to stand out that little bit more.
But, we’ve had reflectors on pedals for years I hear you scream? True, but whilst I’m loathed to feed the culture wars, whilst reflectors on pedals are a legal requirement, anyone sensible knows they’re useless, and if the bike shop you bought your bike from bothered to fit them at all, they’re usually the first thing to go when you get your bike home.
This clever little innovation, simple though it is, fills that gap in a much more proficient way. I fitted a pair to a black bike recently, and like many of us, pulled on my relatively dark cycling kit to go out at dawn the other day. I live and ride on dark country lanes, and even in the daylight, and especially at this time of year when the sun can be low in the sky even in the middle of the day, I regularly ride with a rear light. On this particular day, conscious I was heading out on a batmobile of a bicycle in terms of it’s colour palette, I fitted both a headlight, rear light, and these pedals.
Not only did they seem to have more than enough battery life for plenty of similar rides without charging, they gave me an added sense of security, knowing that there was two dancing lights, conspicuously but legally, flashing away at the back of the bike.
I use two brands of pedals the most, as mentioned, and I narrowly favour the Look set up for the fact that it balances so well on the pedal axle, meaning it’s always positioned at ready for a fuss free clip in. This extra bulk, and let’s be honest, there is a little more visual bulk to the pedal, even though its barely heavy enough to care about, didn’t in any way take away from that benefit, in fact I would argue, it stabilised the pedal even better in the perfect position for clipping in.
I will be riding them for as long as Look will let me hang on to them, such is my interest in having this product on my bike, so I will report in on how they work over a longer period, but for now I can surely say, they’re a brilliant addition to my winter riding set up.
They would also be just as useful in the Alps in Summer, where despite me listing out ‘rear light’ on every single guests kit list before they arrived, my guests could easily find themselves in a dark tunnel with no lighting on their bikes. This pedal would give us all some safety in those circumstances, and given they’re fitted to essential kit already, we’re all surely much more likely to remember to pack them.
