About a year ago, we put Ergon PC2 pedals on Friedel’s touring bike.

She’s never been a fan of being ‘clipped in’ with SPD pedals (or anything else that fixes your feet to the pedals) but did want some grip. The Ergon PC2s seemed like a good compromise.

Their sandpaper surface is supposed to help keep your feet in place, without the hassle of remembering to clip out at red lights and other obstacles.

After a few months of trying these pedals, our verdict is mixed.

On the upside, we do like the wide profile of the pedals. They’re comfortable, supportive and still look surprisingly new – despite several months of commuting and touring in a relatively wet Dutch climate.

We also found the grip to be decent; not outstanding, but certainly better than the average, flat platform pedal.

There are some downsides, however. The main disadvantage is the hefty $80 U.S. pricetag.

Eric, who runs a popular bike touring store in Amsterdam, noted some other disadvantages after testing the pedals with his wife Carla in South America. He wrote:

The Ergon PC2 is a platform pedal and seems ideal for people who find it frightening to be ‘clicked in’. The surface is made of a type of sandpaper (developed in cooperation with 3M) that gives the feet a good grip. Due to the large surface, there’s a good pressure distribution and a raised edge ensures that you don’t hit the crank arms. However, Carla slipped occasionally from these pedals and that never happened with her previous PD-MX30 pedals from Shimano. Also, after 3,000km there was already play in the axles. Overall, this is a pedal that we won’t continue to sell at the Vakantiefietser.

The PD MX30 pedals from Shimano, favoured by Carla & Eric over the Ergon PC2s.

We’ll Keep Them But…
We personally plan to keep using the Ergon PC2 pedals for now.

If nothing else, they’re a neat commuting solution that offers a bit of grip but won’t damage fancy work shoes. For touring, we don’t have any major complaints but then we have only tested them on the relatively tame bike paths of the Netherlands.

If we were to go further afield, especially on unpaved surfaces, we’d likely replace them with cleated pedals.