Bonmixc 9/16" 4 Pcs Review

From their stats, these pedals are pretty appealing. They were the lightest in the test, with the much more expensive Top Pick Race Face Atlas weighing only five grams more. The profile of these pedals was very thin, matching that of the Deity Bladerunner and Funn Python. They were the least expensive pedals in the test at $30. We felt like we sat down at a fine dining restaurant and found an '86 Chateau Margaux for a hundred bucks. Are these the best race day pedals that nobody's ever heard of? Come to think about it, race gear is typically lightweight and super expensive and still prone to breaking. At least these are cheap.

Performance Comparison

Grip/Traction

These pedals had the widest pins in the test. They also had the fewest number of pins per pedal in the test with 16 pins (eight per side). The pins themselves didn't penetrate the soles of our shoes as well as many others; think of how much more freely a nail will penetrate your shoes versus a piece of rebar. It's an exaggerated example, but the same concept applies. By using fewer pins with good spacing, traction was actually fairly decent, but definitely worlds away from the feel of something like the Race Face Atlas or Blackspire Robusto.

Platform

The platform is a nearly square, cage-like design. The area inside the square is comprised of an X-shape of thin 6061 aluminum alloy connections between the spindle, and the leading and trailing ends of the pedal body. Coming from the spindle, these connections are double-stacked with each arm measuring a scant 3 mm in thickness. There is a 5 mm gap between the top and bottom connections, which adds up to an ultra-thin pedal profile of 11 mm. Thin is in these days and this pedal was among the thinnest in the test, with the Deity Bladerunner and Funn Python the only other pedals to achieve 11 mm profiles.

The Spank Spike wasn't far behind at 12 mm. Avoiding pedal strikes is one of the main reasons pedals have evolved so thin. Although this pedal did a good job at dodging rocks, when we did eventually connect with one the platform bent out of shape. This pedal would have been better with a solid instead of a hollow cage design. Although the impact dented and deformed our pedal, it did not break it. We could feel the indentation under our foot, but the pedal was not rendered useless, and simply being conscious of riding it on the undamaged side was an easy fix.

Pedal Mobility

The pedal had a rough, sandy feel spinning around the axle. The feel was nothing that was too noticeable when riding, but certainly not the Swiss watch internals feel we got from the Blackspire Robusto or Shimano Saint MX80. The 9/16 inch chromoly axle spins very freely on four sealed bearings. The bearings seemed to fit loosely inside the housing, simply falling out when we disassembled the pedal — this may have contributed to the rough feel.

Servicing

These pedals are fairly easy to service. To access the nut at the end of the axle, a dust cap is removed with a 6 mm allen. Unthread the nut while holding the crank side of the axle with a 6mm allen and it pulls right out. The tacky grease used on the spindle was different than anything other manufacturers use. However, it did not break down any faster than other greases.

For comparison, the longer threaded dust cap on the Deity Bladerunner took up much more room between the edge of the pedal body and the end of the axle. The axle on these pedals was longer and extended nearly the full width of the pedal. The longer, and much thinner axle, as compared to something quite robust like the Shimano Saint MX80, proved to be quite weak and our lead tester bent it when he landed hard off a tabletop jump.

Weight

One thing that makes these pedals so attractive to the casual user is their extremely light weight, the lightest in our test at 335 grams. The much more expensive Race Face Atlas was five grams heavier at 340 grams and the more boutique brand Funn Python and Deity Bladerunner weighed 360 and 380 grams, respectively. Unfortunately the design used to make these pedals so lightweight severely impacted their durability. The old adage that “If it looks too good to be true, it probably is” seemed to apply here. This pedal is ultra lightweight and also very inexpensive — those two things usually don't mate very well.

Best Applications

As with the RockBros Platform pedals, we can't approve these pedals for aggressive mountain biking. In fact, the information regarding the manufacturer is so vague and elusive that a number of reviews and online retailers call this a road bike pedal even though it certainly appears intended for mountain bike use. Looks can be deceiving as the pedal failed to hold up to the rigors of mountain biking.

With that said, we would half-heartedly recommend this pedal as an inexpensive option for very light, non-aggressive mountain biking on smoother trails. Larger riders would be likely to bend the axle, as we did in our testing.

Value

These pedals didn't totally break and they can still be ridden, albeit a little off kilter and bent out of shape. Our test period was three months long and we tested 10 different pairs of pedals, but we put in much less time on these that an avid mountain biker would during that same time frame. They should probably be taken out of service before someone finishes the job on the axle and winds up with a busted ankle.

Conclusion

What to make of these pedals? They're wicked light, the lightest in the test. They're inexpensive. They were second only to the RockBros Platinum in price and those pedals exploded on what felt like a relatively benign rock strike. In conclusion, spending 17 more dollars will allow you to possibly brush off a few rock strikes before a more substantial impact takes them out.

If you're new to the sport, a less aggressive rider, and don't weigh all that much, these pedals just maybe would be a good choice. It's hard to argue with the 85 percent 5-star reviews on Amazon. Like ourselves, we imagine most avid mountain bikers have never heard of this brand. Their strong online presence and popularity persuaded us to include them as a possible Best Buy Award winner. However, the plain white box with black print stating “Made in China” as the only information provided our first hint our first hint.

Other Versions

Similar to the RockBros Platinum, these pedals seem to live exclusively on Amazon.com. None of them have catchy names and they're all inexpensive.