One Up Aluminum Pedal Review

Words & Photos by Cole Gregg

One Up, a Squamish based manufacturer, has made a lot of trail side noise in the past few months with their inventive stem cap bike tool. The company traditionally known for their oval chain rings and driveline components has branched out and released their new flat pedals along with a whole host of neat bike components. Their ultra thin design sports minimal weight with a unique bearing location that allows for easy servicing and little maintenance. The pedals also lack a traditional spindle, instead opting for an inward bearing that supports the entire pedal. Pedals are the platform that connects the rider to a bicycle, a piece of your build that can make or break you on a rough rock garden, get you sideways or pull you up a 1800’ climb. Let’s see if the One Up flats are up to the task.

Tech

The One Up pedals feature a 115 x 105 millimeter platform that is concave for extra grip on top of the 10 rear loading hexagonal pins per side. Aside from reducing rock strikes, the thin 8mm leading edge profile also results in a low weight of only 355 grams for the pair of pedals. Each pedal is built with 4 double sealed full cartridge bearings and no bushings, a unique twist on the traditional flat pedal architecture. If you need to pull the bearings for service, the cassette tool lock ring system makes re-greasing the bearings exceptionally fast and easy. This is a massive benefit over most other pedals, though one probably doesn’t find themselves rebuilding pedals all that often.

The Dirt

Immediately upon opening the box I was impressed with just how thin the One Up flat pedals are. They are by far the thinnest pedals I have ever put my hands on. The pins are also significantly thinner in diameter than most other pedals– something I was initially very excited about. Getting them on the bike was a breeze with the left and right graphics.

For the ultimate flat pedal torture test, I grabbed my hardtail and headed out to Whistler to shred some gnarly bike park. There was no foot pedal separation the entire first half of the day. The pedals inspired confidence through the beer can size braking bumps and provided a great transfer of power out of corners. I found myself sitting down briefly to adjust my foot on some of the rougher sections, with how soft my shoes are the pins felt glued to the bottom.

It was not until I dropped in on some aggressive black, tech trails and a few laps down A-Line that I started to find some dislikes. The pedal platform is overall smaller than what I was used to, which made the “5 o’clock” position on the pedal feel unsatisfactory for my size 12 foot. I found my ankle rolling slightly outward during hard cornering, but I do not feel this would be an issue for a rider with a smaller foot. I also felt at times the pedals were almost too grippy, not allowing for changing foot position while riding. I tend to slide around a lot of corners foot out drifting, and getting back to good foot placement took getting used to with how much grip the One Up flats have. I was only able to get my foot to bounce off the pedals on one trail in the Fitzz zone, which says a lot given I was on a hardtail. I am confident if you had a proper full suspension bike this would not be the case.

The Wolf’s Last Word

After surviving two trips to Whistler on top of plenty of local PNW riding, I noticed one pedal spun with more resistance than the other but caused no further issues. Despite a fair amount of pedal strikes on the local trails, there were no missing or broken pins. Being that these are so thin you have a little extra wiggle room, which is a great benefit if you’re running longer crank arms. I have not done a spot of maintenance to these guys and don’t see a need to anytime soon. The build quality and small nuances of the shape really make this a solid pedal. Despite all the great things about this pedal, would I buy it again? The quick answer is no. They are just not a big enough platform for what my preferences are. Would I buy another One Up pedal? Absolutely. The quality is great, the weight is even better and the shape is beautiful and despite the platform sizing issue, I’m going to keep running these pedals for quite a while.

Price: $159.99
Weight: 355g
Platform Size: 115x105mm
Pins: 10 per side
Axle Material: Chromoly steel
Height: 8.3-12mm
Pin to Axle distance: 112mm
Color: Black, Green, Grey
Body Material: 6061-T6 Aluminum
Website: Oneupcomponents.com