Why would I want my mountain bike pedals to COME OFF???

At the September 2024 Kickstarter launch of Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals for MTBs and E-bikes, there was ... some skepticism, shall we say.

Other space-saving solutions, like folding pedals, had generally proven themselves clunky in rugged use over the years, and even other removable pedals marketed as "Off-Road" had serious warnings on their box backs, like "not for athletic purpose."

So why on earth were we doing this?

What we knew then, and others have discovered since, is that Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals are no ordinary pedals. First, unlike your typical non-removable pedal set, these pedals solve three persistent needs for bike riders everywhere:

1. AVOID BIKE AND CAR DAMAGE. Whether you're putting a couple of mountain bikes over your tailgate or rolling bulky e-bikes up a ramp, your pedals can cause damage if not watched closely. Heck, they can even scratch your shins when you walk around them in the garage. But if your pedals remove easily with no tools, then there's no issue.
   
   
2. SAVE SPACE. Bikes without pedals can be placed right up next to each other, back to front, saving valuable space in a garage, RV, or van. When traveling, you can get a packed bike through TSA with no pedal wrench. And when combined with a THINstem folding stem, a bike can take up just 1/3 of its normal footprint, with no tools. 
   
   
3. AVOID RIDE-OFF THEFT. Cutting a lock and riding away on a stolen bike is an easy theft of opportunity. But really...who's going to ride away quickly on the bike with no pedals?

Designed for our success and yours.

The success for Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals began even before we launched on Kickstarter. We threw these pedals against the ISO-4210 destruction test suite for MTB pedals, which included 100,000 cycles of abuse, ranging from impact tests to fatigue tests. 

And they passed, making these pedals the only removable pedals that have passed destruction testing.

That's not a fluke. Sure, the pedal design itself is the standard bearing and bushing design, but the magic is in the latch head and spindle combination:

1. Each pedal's latch heads contain two independent latches--easy enough to take off one-handed with a pinch, but resistant to random heel and rock strikes that can unlatch other removable pedals.
   
   
2. The core of each pedal is a forged steel spindle/axle with a hexagonally keyed tip, making it far more resistant to breakage and internal spinning over time than cheaper systems with cast axles and round tips. We could save costs by cutting quality, but that's not in our riders' best interests.

As a result, these pedals are simultaneously the easiest removable pedals to remove and the least likely to come off on their own--an extraordinary design feat.

And with 8 removable cleats per pedal face, they're super-grippy as you'd expect of a high-end pedal.

A short but impressive track record.

Once we launched with a destruction-tested product on Kickstarter, then the real fun started.

Even with some harsh first-day surprises about settings in Kickstarter, we hit nearly 500% of our goal, selling hundreds of sets (sometimes four per customer) to pledgers in 20 countries.

Flatbike Pop-Off Pedals won an innovation and design award at the Taiwan Bike Show, even when not showing there.

Customer feedback started coming in. Of the first 700 sets sold, only one customer had a complaint, wanting to keep the pedals but with a replacement latch head on one side. This is a 99.86% success rate. Actually, there was a far more common complaint . . . that we didn't have the same latch yet in SPD clip-in.

Flatbike was awarded a patent for this unique latch design, covering nearly all of our utility claims.

We started getting retailer and distributor interest in four countries---requests that we continue to evaluate and try to enable in a complex and shifting tariff environment.

What all this means for you.

Ultimately, this is a convenience win for you.

Transporting a heavy e-bike or pricey MTB? Easier. It doesn't even matter if you're carrying inside our outside your vehicle. Both are easier.

Parking your bike? Safer. Both safer against theft and safer for anyone walking by.

And yet, you can commute and ride trails without compromises, confident that your super-grippy pedals are designed for wet or dry weather, on surfaces smooth or bumpy, and have been bounce-tested by robots and then use-tested in real life.

It's what we call portable adventure, from Flatbike.