I saw the "thin Gripster Pedals" introduced on the Rivendell website several months ago. Then, during my trip to Minnesota, I got to see and touch a pair. I was really impressed,they are remarkable pedals.
They have a very broad, lightweight platform which is very, very thin (this can help with pedaling through turns for the fixie crowd). The body is no thicker than the axle barrel itself, and that dust cover was the selling point for me. That is a very deep alloy cover which comes off easily with an allen wrench. Jim Thill from Hiawatha Cyclery explained that even though this has well sealed cartridge bearings, it can be made virtually weather proof by simply filling the barrel and the dustcap with waterproof grease and screwing it back together. It sounds great for the winter. Each of the little rivets is installed with Threadlock (that's the blue color you can see in the photo). With thirteen of the little critters grabbing you, your foot will not move. In fact you can't even squirm around to adjust, you have to remove your foot entirely to change positions.
I bought them to replace the SPD/platform pedals on the Hunq, because I just don't use the clips unless I am touring, and then rarely. The dreaded hotfoot catches up with me and they slow me down during the day because I am resting and letting my feet recover. The discomfort of using cleats negates the mechanical advantage they provide during a full day of touring.
These beauties come from VP components, I bought mine from Rivendell, but see they are available from QBP so you can probably get them anywhere.
They also come in several colors, Riv carries the basic grey which obviously looks great on the Hunq/, but QBP shows red, yellow and blue also. I paid $67, but see them listed elsewhere from $57-80.
I'm really looking forward to the relief these will provide.
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