First Look: Look's X-Track Power Meter Pedals Cost a Cool $1,099 USD
Power meter pedals have obvious appeal for a certain type of rider looking to quantify progress and get the most out of their training. They're quick to install and swap between bikes, from race bikes to commuters to indoor trainers. But there are limited options for mountain bikes. The Look X-Track is a new SPD-compatible power meter pedal designed for XC and gravel, with a similar form factor to a classic cageless MTB pedals like Shimano's XTR PD-M9100 or Look's own X-Track Race, with near-identical Q-Factor (width) and stack numbers. That should make it easy to switch between standard pedals and power meter pedals without needing to adjust cleat setup.
The claimed weight is around 100 g more than Shimano's XTR PD-M9100 and 50 g more than Look's X-Track Race Carbon, which isn't enough to notice but might dissuade some XC racers from using them on race day.
The claimed weight is around 100 g more than Shimano's XTR PD-M9100 and 50 g more than Look's X-Track Race Carbon, which isn't enough to notice but might dissuade some XC racers from using them on race day.
Look X-Track Power Details
• SPD-Compatible (Shimano-style cleats)
• Dual-sided or single-side power measurement
• +/- 1% accuracy (claimed)
• 60-hour battery life
• USB-C rechargeable
• Aluminium body, steel axle
• 53 mm Q-Factor
• Claimed weight: 404 g (pair)
• MSRP Single: 749€ / 759 US$ / 674.99£, Dual: 1099€ / 1099 US$ / 999.99£
• lookcycle.com
• SPD-Compatible (Shimano-style cleats)
• Dual-sided or single-side power measurement
• +/- 1% accuracy (claimed)
• 60-hour battery life
• USB-C rechargeable
• Aluminium body, steel axle
• 53 mm Q-Factor
• Claimed weight: 404 g (pair)
• MSRP Single: 749€ / 759 US$ / 674.99£, Dual: 1099€ / 1099 US$ / 999.99£
• lookcycle.com
They have an impressive claimed accuracy of +/- 1%. There is a single-sided version which only has the electronics in the left pedal and the algorithm simply doubles this to estimate total power. The dual-sided version provides more reliable power data, plus left/right balance etc. The 60-hour battery life is impressive, and it's nice to see the near-universal USB-C charging standard being adopted here. Look say they have a proprietary auto-calibration algorithm for quick and easy set-up.
How do the X-Track power pedals stack up?
At $1099 for the dual-sided version, the price actually compares well to its main competitors. The Garmin Rally XC200 dual-sided power meter costs $1,199.99 and the SRM XPower MTB pedal costs 1,427 € (around $1,548 USD). Garmin claims similar accuracy with longer battery life (120 hours) at the expense of higher weight (448 g). SRM only claim ±2% accuracy and a battery life of up to 30 hours - with a standby power draw of 2-5% per day - and a weight of 392 g. In that context, the X-Track pedals look pretty good. On the other hand, the Favero Assioma Pro MX.2 are much cheaper at 614 € ($667) with similar weight and accuracy claims, but seem to be long term out of stock.
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and in the pedal biz favero are also cheaper thank look/garmin/srm
But I can put my pedals on any bike. How many bikes do you have?
What goes for both cars as well as for other electronics is that computerchips have become more expensive and harder to come by, pushing the prices up. Those more efficient cars were often the cheaper and smaller ones, yet they'd still require chips. So many car makers had to cut back on production in which case they primarily cut back on the car models they make less money on. Which sadly are the cheaper, smaller and more fuel efficient ones.
@no-good-ideas: Unless these different bikes require different chainrings (different size or because one bike has a belt drive), swapping cranks isn't that much more work than swapping pedals.
Hasn't happened yet.
And they made their in-house test, about accuracy etc. And they work flawless and are precise.
Seems like an interesting company though, never heard of them. They even have a direct mount mech hanger which seems interesting.
Like every other product, it can fail.
$750USD for dual, $500 for single.
(another great price point) but have no personal experience with it. Time for prices to come down just like they did with the road/gravel market.
LOL, say what? The days of being forced to buy power meters have never started.
Who the f*ck, other then the most serious competitive mountain bikers, needs power meters anyway?
Just go out, ride your bike, and have some fun. Nobody cares about your power output.
To OPs point, until quite recently, if you wanted any sort of power meter it was $1k+ which is very expensive.
It's not all about you
I have 3 bikes with three different power meters. That would be $380 x3.
Just personally, I use left side only power for consistency between my devices. I can see no discernable power between my devices. Once I add in the right leg, consistency will drop.
My next PM will be another set of pedals, if I ever feel the need. I've weighed the pros and cons, and it is just easier for me.
I have used a PM with flat pedals, but when that PM died I didn't replace it. I only rarely did training on that bike, and I never raced it. If I wanted to use it for training, I'll buy more pedals.
I never realised I put more watts when in high cadence with my right but when climbing it's pretty much the same.
If I was measuring based on my left I'd be always 5 to 10 watts below my actual power. When doing intervals, those 10 watts make a huge difference.
Now that transmission chainrings are 8 bolt, in the future it should be pretty easy to fit a quarq to normal cranks, as those transmission cranks become more common.
If you use the same type of PM across the board you will at least have consistency.
@mtbmarkus: That's why I'm not against them, they are a great option for probably most people. I just don't think they fit my use case. But I say that now as I bought a Vector 3 YEARS ago, and then bought a clearance Stages when I bought my gravel bike (which was like $200). My XC bike came with a 4iiii. Vector has been used on many bikes now. I might change my mind later.
I have two pedal based power meters, different brands, and both give me the same 47-53 L/R balance at 95-100 RPM.
Now, when I'm going uphill at a lower cadence around 85-90 be it Z4 or Z5 the L/R is pretty much 50-50 or even 51-49.
Having a left leg only means I can be doing Z3 instead of Z2 since 10 watts it's a huge difference in my power profile due to low weight. Especially when most FTP tests are performed uphill since it's pretty hard to do a 20min effort with no stops on the flats.
There's no listening to your body when doing intervals, you need to stick to the numbers or call it a day.
Now, as a non confrontational point, if you do have a long enough road, look at the Kolie Moore/Empirical Cycling protocol for an FTP test. It tests your FTP and TTE simultaneously. I find it to be easier to perform while giving a better result. I'm fortunate enough to have a road I can do it on. Though my results on the trainer are within the margin of error.
I’ll keep my power meter on my cranks, thanks.
I only had an issue once when leaving the bike at -4° for like 10hrs, I think the gyro must have frozen and it took about 5 mins before it managed to wake up, even with a new battery in them.
Bravo Look!!
Something that I can put flats and clips onto the axle with ease.
The flats have to be DMR vaults
The clips have to be Hope union gravity
I also need Hope then to copy the Vault pedal to make life easier and make the standard hope pins more durable.
And can I have a strain gauge added to the crank axle as a back up and to let me know the losses between the pedal and the axle.
Hope make hubs, so can I have a sensor there too.
And I want the pedals for £350 max all in.
I dont want much, but I dont want look pedals....