Fyxation Mesa Slim Pedal Review

With the advent of new-school foot strap systems, there has been a whole new interest in flat pedal design. Fyxation recently released the pictured Mesa pedals and over the past few weeks I’ve finally had the chance to put some time in on them. The overarching design feature is the slim nylon pedal body, though the chromoly spindle and sealed bearings make it clear that this is a performance pedal, not just a good looker.

The high impact nylon bodies are just under 14mm thick, while a generous 110mm across providing a large, thin platform. Large platform pedals are generally very comfortable even with the most flexible shoes, and the large surface area tends to grip well too, helped along in this case by 10 molded in studs. The thin profile allows you to run your seat a hair lower than with other pedals, lowering youur center of gravity and at least theoretically improving stability. The wide pass through straps easily fit the nylon webbing typical of new-school strap systems, and the nylon body doesn’t tend to wear out the straps as the hard edges of metal pedals can. Clipping a pedal on the ground, grinding or even smacking your shin all have better outcomes with nylon bodied pedal, making these especially suited to certain more aggressive uses.

The chromoly axle supports the pedal body via a sealed bearing on the inside and a long wearing bushing on the outside. Keeping it slim, the axle doesn’t feature an external 15mm wrench surface, only a 6mm hex key on the end. Overall a pair of the pedals comes in at a light 320g.

When it comes to real world use, these pedals have proven to have enough grip to not make me think about them, even when wet. At some point in the past three weeks I’ve all but worn off one of the studs, but that’s the reality of nylon rather than metal bodied pedals. Nylon just tends to wear faster, especially upon impact. So far, so good—even considering the visible wear the construction and quality feel of the Mesa pedals give me every reason to believe I’ll have them for some time. The Mesa pedals are available in red, black or white for about $50. If you’re looking for something less expensive, Fyxation also has the loose ball bearing nylon platformed Gates pedal available for about $20.