If you read the Oyama Victor test in A to B 44 you may have noticed our brief mention of the Xerama folding pedals (‘similar to, but neater than the better- known VP117’).We rarely have space to say much about accessories in these bike tests, but we were quite impressed with the Xerama. Once upon a time, the Chinese produced heavy, ugly (or even dangerous) copies of Western or Taiwanese products, but the tendency now is to copy foreign ideas, improve them, and still send them round the world at knock-down prices.
The Xerama folding pedal is typical. Pull outwards on a spring-loaded locking tongue in the middle of the pedal, and the platform folds down, leaving a relatively small bearing block protruding. It’s easy to do with gloved hands, or in the dark, even for the terminally mechanically inept, and there’s little risk of slicing a hole in your finger as with some similar designs. Unfolding the pedal is a simple reversal of the procedure, the platform coming back together with a nice satisfying clonk.
The useable pedal area is 95mm x 70mm (about average), the stickey-outey bit when folded 55mm long (average again), and the ratio of folded/unfolded size is 2 to 1 – again, more or less typical. But the Xerama pedals weigh only 205g each, making them the second lightest on the market, and they cost £10 a pair in the UK.When you consider that not so long ago, a pair of nondescript folding pedals cost £30, that really is quite a bargain.
We can’t say how long they’ll last in service, but the pedals have ‘proper’ cup and cone adjustable bearings, and (as far as we can judge) reasonably well engineered components elsewhere. The weak point of this design is usually the sliding tongue:VP produced one a while back and were forced to replace the plastic tongue with aluminium after a few months. This one is plastic, but looks up to the job.
Just to encourage you to buy loads and loads (they must have a container-full), the importer is offering a further £1 discount to A to B subscribers. Now if that isn’t the perfect Christmas stocking filler for a folding bike owner, we don’t know what is.
Xerama folding pedals . £10 per pair (£9 to subscribers) + £2.60 p&p . Bigfoot Bikes 50 Hayes Street, Bromley, Kent BR2 7LD . tel 0208 462 5004 mail bigfootbikes@yahoo.com
