Just last week, we published our long-term review of the Look S-Track MTB / Cyclocross Pedals, and proclaimed it to be a stable, mud-proof option with a strong retention spring ideal for aggressive or bigger riders. Our only real complaint was the inability to adjust spring tension, as we found it to be quite stiff, especially during entry.
Well, Look Cycle heard our feedback, sprinted to the drawing board and came up with a solution—the $24.99 Easy DCS S-Track aftermarket cleat pictured in black below, designed for easier entry and release.
Look S-Track Comp Cleat (left) and S-Track Easy Cleat (middle). The third shows the difference (blue) via an Easy cleat on top of a Comp cleat.
Actually, we’re kidding about the timing. While we had our heads down riding and writing the long-term review, Look released this cleat in early summer to address the needs of lighter riders, and we didn’t notice (one astute reader did though) The new cleat justifies this post and an update to our original S-Track pedal review.
Look’s official terminology describes this cleat as allowing “easy” entry and “medium” difficulty release, compared to hard entry and release for the default Comp DCS S-Track cleats. It’s only available as an aftermarket accessory, not an in-the-pedal-box option. It’s a different approach than their road pedal philosophy, where they have an “Easy” Keo road pedal instead of a modified cleat.
What did Look change with the cleat? As seen in our compilation of photos above, the cleat removes a few mm of material from the “tail” of the cleat that engages the retention bail at the back of the pedal (see blue tinted cleat). Conceivably, a DIYer could take a file or Dremel tool and mimic this modification, but with so much at stake with your shoe/pedal interface, we don’t recommend such an approach.
We can imagine that over time, as our original review commented, cleat wear will make the entry easier as this “tail” of the cleat will wear a bit.
We’ve already got a set of the Look Cycle Easy DCS S-Track cleats, and will be back testing the system with the new cleats. Stay tuned. We suspect it will be just what tester Clifford Lee was looking for.
