3 Pedal Models from HT

There's been relatively few constants in my bike riding life - my ride style and type evolves and technology advances. Thinking back to my first "full size" mountain bike, an ex-rental from Moab Cyclery (it was grey - I don't remember what brand. If anyone knows what the rental fleet was at that shop circa 1996 or 1997, let me know...), there's only a few parts from anything in my current fleet that would bolt on. Cockpits have widened but steerer tubes have stayed constant, and if I had to bet I'd say it was a 30.9mm seat tube, so perhaps I could put a dropper on it. Disc brakes wouldn't bolt on, I'd need a new bottom bracket to install cranks, and it certainly wouldn't fit a T-Type derailleur. I don't own any wheels that aren't 29/700c. My water bottle cage would swap right over, and so would my pedals.

And not only would my pedals swap right over, but they'd be pretty similar to what I used at the time - the venerable SPD. I've been using SPDs interspersed with a modicum of flat pedal time on my mountain bikes since, well, basically forever. I don't think I ever managed to scrounge together enough cash from chores to upgrade the cantis to newfangled v-brakes, but I do have distinct memories of carefully pedaling around the grass at Phil Baux Park learning to clip in and out. And then, like most of us, once I felt like I had the skill mastered I went for a ride and fell over at the first stop sign.

Looking back, I wouldn't change much. I've been running two pairs of XT and XTR Trail since roughly 2017 or so; with an annual-ish teardown, clean, regrease and re-tension they've been flawless.

So when the opportunity to try something different came up, I found myself in a strange condition of eagerness and fear. Changing up 20-25% of the intersections between bike and body isn't trivial, and the ability to get in and out of pedals can be the difference between ending a ride with a cold beverage or in the ER. I'm also not interested in having multiple pedal systems across my bikes - I want my bikes and shoes to all work together; it's easy to envision showing up to a ride and discovering you grabbed a pair of shoes with the wrong cleats.

So I went all in on HT - three distinctly different sets of pedals to cover everything from gravel to downhill and knowing this might be a bit of a recalibration and process, I committed for a few months.

Pedals

Out of the box, all three sets of pedals share a few characteristics. Fit and finish are excellent, and the axles are quite tight. All three share the same mechanism with a different enclosure (or in the case of the M2/M2T, no enclosure). Both the T2 and X3 can have traction pins installed, which are included. Presuming you're going to abuse downhill pedals more, the X3 also has a removable steel plate to protect the spring and mechanism from impacts. I've been primarily using the T2 with pins, and the X3 without.

To get rolling, I installed pedals with the requisite washers and Phil Wood on three bikes - my Landyatchz Ti, Rocky Mountain Element, and We Are One Arrival 170 in what seemed like the logical progression from light to heavy. Notably all six pedal spindles were quite tight out of the box; they rotate on a sealed bearing and bushing combo that clearly needed some break in.

As is my preference, they were all set close to minimum tension. I'm not someone who likes pedals to rule with an iron fist. All pedals arrived with cleats and shims, but I also picked up a few extra sets because I have too many pairs of shoes, and cleats are one key aspect that differentiates HT from SPD systems and some other competitors.

Cleats

It's worth delving into the variety of cleat options available for the HT system - the ability to adjust not only release tension at the pedal but also degrees of float via cleat changes makes the HT system more adjustable than some competitors.

• The default option, the X1 cleat, offers four degrees of lateral 'float'. Said another way, your foot can rotate four degrees around the pedal axis before the cleat contacts the pedal mechanism to disengage. It takes a few more degrees for the cleat to push through the spring tension and release. This is a similar amount of float to SPDs.
• The X1F cleat offers double the float, for 8 degrees of movement.
• The X2 cleat is "pro-only", readily available for purchase to non-pros, and offers additional release tension.
• The X1E has a similar 4 degrees of float to the X1, however like the comparable Shimano SH56 multi-release cleat it allows escape by pulling up or rotating your foot in other planes, which may be useful for beginners, or those with an injury or physical limitation.

Figuring it'd be good to get acquainted and keep things as similar as possible for decades of muscle memory, I started with X1 cleat installations all across the shoe rack. It took a few rides to get cleat rotation correct - I ride a bit heels-in and I found I needed to be a bit more precise with alignment in this system than my SPDs. I am not sure why.

Riding Impressions

On my first rides, entry and exit operated on the same mechanical motions most clipless pedal users will be used to. There wasn't much of an adjustment period at all really, but I wasn't able to get spring tension quite as low as I like; this may not be an issue for most as I tend to run very light tension.

While the motion may be familiar, the sensation during release is different, prolonged. I find exiting is less of a BANG and more of a poooop. The spring release happens over marginally more degrees of rotation. The difference is quite subtle, and not detrimental; I haven't ever been unable to get out in time on the trail, but it feels slightly foreign.

I still occasionally struggle getting attached to these pedals in tricky situations. It's not uncommon around here to have incredibly short run-ins to technical sections, and that trackstand moment of clipping in before dropping in is critical. More than a few times I've been left rolling down a feature I'd really like to be clipped in for, but unfortunately my back foot didn't succeed. I'm not going to say my hit rate was perfect with SPDs, but it was better. Chalk this up to decades of muscle memory or the mechanism itself, I've no way of knowing which it is.

All three sets of spindles have loosened up somewhat and judging by the thick, highly viscous grease that's oozed out I'd wager that once the bushings have broken in, a quick teardown and replacement with a light grease would loosen things way up. That will be a summertime experiment. It's too wet and mucky and I wash my bike nearly every ride here in the winter, so that thick grease is welcome. HT includes the 8mm tool needed for the teardown in the original box, a nice touch.

Durability is important for a pedal - in the mountain bike realm, not only is there high peak loading on landings, but also the constant threat of smashing into rocks. This is especially true of the huge platform on the X3, but both the X3 and T2 have shrugged off all impacts without issue so far, and the bushings/bearings have no play.

I tried the X1F for a few rides, but as it turns out more float isn't for me. The feeling was just too vague, and while I like low tension some 'walls' are needed. This is purely a personal preference thing. The larger float will be a selling feature for some customers.

On the gravel side of things, there's not too much to say, in the best way. Clip in, clip out, the range of tension and float are more than acceptable for me, and I've had no durability issues. It's worth noting that any of the titanium-axled variants come with a 176-pound rider weight limit, which seems quite low.

Conclusion

Overall the X3 is a larger platform than I want or need. I ride in fairly stiff shoes and really dislike smashing pedals into things; the T2s provide plenty of platform for me and are much less likely to make contact with the ground. I could easily run the T2 on all my mountain bikes and be happy. If you want the bigger platform option it's there for you. I'm not going to move to a zero-platform M2T style pedal on my XC bike any time soon, but they've been a great gravel pedal (a realm where, admittedly, I have limited criteria beyond "hold my feet when I want them to," have a reasonable weight, and are compatible with the rest of my pedals).

It's clear that there's nothing groundbreaking about how the HTs are meant to function; the Taiwanese company has a long history of manufacturing and found a path through the minefield of clipless pedal IP to a competitive product that's very adjustable, and comes in a full rainbow of colors. They have good home serviceability and I have no real longevity or durability concerns.

If you're into more float than SPDs, want much stronger retention than many competitors offer, or simply want to relive 90s anodization and taste the rainbow, I'd stay the HT system is worth a closer look.

HT X3 Pedals: 200 - 240 USD (280 - 320 w/ Ti axles)

HT T2 Pedals: 160 - 200 USD (240 - 280 w/ Ti axles)

HT M2 Pedals: 140 - 175 USD (234 - 274 w/ Ti axles)