Product Review: 9point8 INVRS Pedals

Taking A Look At The 9point8 INVRS Pedals.

Is it a five ten shoe? Is it a pedal? It's both. Kind of.

If you're a mountain biker you may be familiar with the company 9point8. They are known for making innovative mtb components like their lightweight Fall Line dropper post, Slack-R angle sets, and more. 9point8 have recently released their INVRS Pedals which is their latest creation and I have been able to put some miles on them and come up with my own thoughts and opinion about them.

Initial Thoughts And Set Up

When I first saw these it was on an instagram post from 9point8 and I actually thought it was an April Fools joke and based on the comments a lot of other people did too. But it was late January, not April 1st. After realizing these were indeed real, I started seeing how these could be pretty great for the right person or for a certain type of riding. If you have ever slipped a flat pedal and taken pins to the shins you could see how these might look enticing. Or if you have ever fat biked in the winter and had to get off your bike and walk on some super icy sections of trail you could easily understand the benefits of having the pins on the soles of your shoes instead of walking on ice in a pair of traction less Five Tens. Of course there will still be the crowd that says, "why invent a solution to a problem nobody every had?" But that group has probably doesn't frequently smash their shins into meat grinders or try to walk up ice covered trails in the winter with zero traction under their feet. I wanted to give these a rip when I was reviewing the Ari Bikes Explorer Peak Fat E-bike this winter as I see that as the most beneficial use case for myself, but I didn't end up getting the chance before I had to give the bike back to Ari, however I was able to get out this past week and get some time on them.

Set up

With the INVRS since there are no pins on the pedals you will need to install the pins on the bottom of your shoes. This means you'll need a pair of shoes you are willing to sacrifice to hand screwing 8-15 studs into bottom of or use some spd compatible clipless shoes for the spd cleat option. The INVRS Pedals give you 3 options in total for attaching pins to your shoes. You can install an SPD cleat in some SPD shoes like mentioned above, or install either a long or a short option carbide tip stud into your shoes of choice depending on the thickness of your soles. I first tried to put the short studs into an old pair of Vans slip ons but found out that even the short studs will end up coming through the shoe and into the bottom of your foot. So I sacrificed an old pair of Five Ten Sleuth Pros since it was about time for a new pair of flat pedal shoes any way. Installing the pins isn't hard but you do want to make sure you put them into the thicker part of the tread pattern to give you the most material possible to get the pins into. After fifteen minutes or so the studs were in and I was ready to go for a ride.

I feel the Five Ten rubber might be a bit soft for this.

Not the prettiest of pin placement but it will do the job.

Riding The INVRS Pedals

Grip was decent with the INVRS. Not as grippy as my current set up which has been the Five Ten Sleuth Pro shoes paired with a set of PNW Loam pedals. The pins on my Loam pedals are quite a bit sharper than the INVRS pins and the rubber on my Five Ten shoes is softer than the rubber on the INVRS pedals so I tend to sink deeper into the pins and get about 20% more grip. For some this might be a plus as you are able to move your foot around a little more and adjust your foot placement easier with the INVRS solution. Almost like having "float" on a clip pedal. I also noticed that when driving the bike through turns I could feel the pins stick into the pedal grip but the soft rubber of my Five Tens would move a bit. I feel like a harder rubber sole would work better and give the studs a more planted and solid feel. While climbing I didn't feel it as much, but on the descents I felt like my feet were sitting more on top of the INVRS pedals vs the down into the pedal feel I get with my traditional flat pedals. One thing I noted while riding these was that I needed to be a bit more precise with foot placement. If I put my foot too far foward I would not have all the pins on the pedal whereas on my normal set up no matter how far forward or rearward my foot is I am getting grip from all the pins. One fix for this would be to just install more studs in your shoes, giving a bigger area for traction. While grip was not quite as good as my current set up, I still never slipped a pedal or felt like I didn't have enough grip. It just wasn't as much as I am typically used to. The pedals seem well made, are fully serviceable and fully sealed. They should last a long while and the studs have carbide tips and the rubber on the pedals can be replaced.

Here you can see the rubber grip area with the Five Ten like dots is a separate replaceable piece.

Specs

Who Are These For?

While I don't think I will be switching over to the INVRS pedals for my everyday mountain bike riding, I do see myself using these in the winter for fat biking for sure. I have a pair of winter boots that I typically use that have a more solid rubber and a thicker sole that I will be putting the longer studs into and the INVRS pedals will be my go to for any type of winter riding where there is snow and ice. This is the use case I see these being most popular for the INVRS pedals, but I could be wrong. I typically don't slip pedals very often and have never taken a pin to the shin where it has opened up my leg like the Grand Canyon, but I am sure there are plenty of people who have. For those that bang up their shins often enough and they still don't want to ride a clip in pedal I can see a lot of those people going for a pair of these instead of traditional flat pedals.

Pros and Cons

PROS -

• No bloody shins.

• grip while walking on ice.

• Replaceable rubber on pedal.

• Good grip.

• fully serviceable.

• fully sealed.

Cons -

• Heavier than some flat pedals. INVRS: 588g per pair, PNW RANGE Composite: 390g per pair

• Cost. Around $138 for pedals, studs and tool vs. $40-$60 for a composite flat pedal. You'll also need to sacrifice a pair of shoes to put the studs into unless you use the spd option however I don't see those offering as much grip as the DIY studded option.

• Not quite the grip of a Five Ten paired with good flat pedal (might not be con for all).

• Can't really ride in any shoes unless you put the studs in.

• Have to change shoes after riding. If you wear clip in shoes you do this anyway but I love wearing Five Tens so I can just wear them before and after a ride.