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chater-lea grand tour pedals

it's sort of an odd concept, being securely fastened to the pedals on our bicycles, particularly since the impetus for so doing appears to have come from the sporting milieu. if you consider racing hell for leather towards a finish-line or hammering up a steep hill, ensuring that your feet do not take on a trajectory all of their own is perfectly understandable. the jury is still out as to whether it's actually possible to 'pull-up' on the pedals while climbing, but even if that turns out to be a self-convincing fallacy, psychology, it probably has the same effect.

but what if you're just out for a saturday ride, before and after some lunch and froth-supping, where the notions of power output, average speed or managed cadence, are just so much fluff and nonsense? though toe-clips and clipless pedals have become de rigeur amongst even the least concerned of one-person pelotons, are we guilty of emulating the kids who followed the pied piper, or, closer to home, behaving like sheep?

for cyclists (and even motorists) of a certain age, the words chater and lea were stated not only with reverence, but often with concomitant enthusiasm. arguably, the quality the name espoused, rivalled that of campagnolo's position in the racing world. founded in 1890, chater-lea produced not only quality cycle components, such as pedals, chainsets etc., but even motor cars. however, such are the vicissitudes of the commercial realm, around thirty years ago, chater-lea was no more.

until now.

at this point, enter stage left, andy richman, british by birth, but currently resident across the pond. richman had inadvertently made himself aware of chater lea's history and reputation for quality componentry, all of which convinced him to revive the brand as a british-made project, rather than outsource production to the far east, in common with most of the contemporary bicycle industry. "this is the kind of stuff that needs to be made in the uk". this revival was announced on twitter just over two years ago, at which point i sent a speculative e-mail enquiring as to what sort of product range we could expect to see.

to cut a long story much shorter, a few week's ago, i was sent a pair of chater-lea grand tour pedals, the first, british-made product to result from the company's revival. compared to a pair of tom ritchey's micro-road pedals, these are enormous. crafted from 316l stainless steel, the rear-facing portion of the serated pedal cage, brass-rivetted to the spindle housing, features a laser-cut 'cl' logo. the pedals are fully serviceable; removing the large domed cap from the outer end, reveals a cup and cone spindle assembly, manufactured from 17-4ph hardened stainless steel, running on 4mm, grade 10 chrome steel bearings. these are lubricated with high performance calcium sulphonate-based marine grease.

the main bone of contention, if twitter is anything to go by, after their launch at this year's bespoked bristol, seems to be the weight. i'd be surprised, however, if anyone reading the last paragraph, expected these to be in the featherweight category; i seriously doubt that chris froome will be seen queuing outside the chater-lea offices, keen to add a pair to his tour de france bicycle. a bit like yours truly, these are not built for speed, nor to find themselves atop any chart drawn up for the weightweenies website. i have not entrusted my review pair to the care of mrs washingmachinepost's kitchen scales, but i figure each weighs in around 400 grammes. it seems this might be a deal-breaker for some, even if heft plays scarcely a significant part in the daily travail of many.

i doubt andy richman would be overly upset if i bluntly stated that these are definitely not for the weight conscious cyclist, nor my contention that, for non-competitive cyclists, weight is an often overwrought concept.

i fitted the review pair of chater-lea grand tour pedals to a pair of carbon, campagnolo record crank arms, where, rather surprisingly, they looked far less out of place than i had feared. unlike many a clipless pedal, these do not feature an allen bolt recess at the threaded end of the spindle, requiring a good old-fashioned, 16mm pedal spanner, a tool that has regrettably languished unused for too long on the bike-shed toolboard. and though it seems a tad supercilious to mention, the spindle flats are engraved 'l' and 'r'. all too many pedals nowadays leave choice of crankarm entirely to chance.

beautiful pedals such as these, deserve appropriately constituted footwear, in my case, in the shape of a pair of lace-up leather quoc pham shoes that would not have looked out of place if matched with a molteni jersey and a pair of sideburns. these possess a ribbed sole perfectly at home on the chater-lea stainless steel serated cage tops, however, depending on your sartorial perspective, you could wear any darned flat sole shoes you choose.

it is many a long year since i have ridden pedals that did not demand a cleat of some description or other and even longer since i squeezed my toes into a pair of toe-clips. the fear, i don't mind admitting, was that my feet would continually slip off the pedals and perforate my shins with alarming and painful frequency, especially when standing up to climb. these fears arose despite once being like every other kid on the block and riding here, there and everywhere on (considerably less sturdy) pedals. as it transpired, those fears were completely groundless. despite having ridden the grand tour pedals for several weeks, neither right nor left feet ever left the safety of those pedals other than on purpose. and while i am hardly the heaviest of riders, my weight made an excellent job of keeping feet on pedals even when ascending out of the saddle.

it's also a really odd feeling to simply step off the bike without an outward twist of either foot.

i can but pay tribute to the inherent smoothness of a set of campagnolo record bottom bracket bearings, but that was immeasurably enhanced by the silky smoothness of chater-lea's pedal bearings. ultimately, the weight remained precisely where it ought to remain: firmly in the technical specifications on chater-lea's website. which, incidentally, is the only place from which you can make a purchase, for the revived company has opted to inhabit the world of the digitally native vertical brand. and to keep these beautiful pedals at the attainable end of desirable, they carry a reassuringly expensive price-tag of a yet to be confirmed £275 per pair.

chater-lea's grand tour, stainless steel pedals are, to be frank, a niche product. they will not appeal to every cyclist, nor are they intended to. on the basis of several bicycles i have witnessed over the past couple of weeks, they'd be an ideal fit for the intrepid touring cyclist, particularly in light of their build-quality, ease of maintenance and promise of longevity, the latter backed by a lifetime, original-owner warranty.

it seems there may be hope for the world after all.

you are currently invited to register your interest in the grand tour pedals on the chater-lea website.

tuesday 7 may 2019