DMR Vault Pedals: Customer Review

Our customer Jason Martinez takes us through his new DMR Vault pedals that he is now using on his fat bike. With a pedal that needs to get the job done in different riding conditions, the DMR Vault pedals seem to fit right in. Read more to see how Jason likes his new pedals.

Overview

DMR Vault Pedals: Big platform, bigger grip

Initially, I forgot about the pedals.

This was my first bike build (based around a 2018 Salsa Beargrease frame), and something in my brain didn’t click when I was first ordering parts. To my luck, I realized at the last minute a pedal-less bike would make things….difficult. Since it’s a fat bike (3.8” tire) I needed either a pedal that would be good for snow, or a pedal that was good for dirt. Or so I thought.

The problem I’ve seen with most pedals is that when they try to do more than one thing, they tend to do those things poorly (for example, clipless/platform combos). So I first thought to get a pedal from 45NRTH for the snow, then maybe a Crankbrother’s platform for the summer trails. That’s when I came across the Vaults.

Performance

After I had the bike built (thought I could do it myself; turns out, no), I decided to take it when I visited the family in Eastern Oregon. We had about 6” of fresh snow and I took the bike out for a few short test runs. The first thing I noticed was that I couldn’t really move my feet on the pedals. Like, at all. I had to lift my foot and get a little clearance to adjust my position. For reference, I wore both Oboz winter boots and Merrell hiking shoes while riding. With a pair of Five Tens, I’m pretty sure nothing short of crowbar could pry me off the pedals. The pins provide that much grip (and, they're adjustable).

The pedal size helps quite a bit too, especially for snow cycling. Having the extra area meant a good amount of comfort and security, even when I was wearing the boots. The pedals also have large enough cutouts that they didn’t get clogged with snow, and they should have the same performance with mud. It was also pretty great that DMR had the color scheme I planned for the bike, mostly black with a little bit of blue (Hope hubs and brake discs). I like the fact that you can also change the pins out if they’re worn or if you wanted to change up the color.

Final Thoughts

If you’re an endurance racer, or in any way care about weight, these probably aren’t for you. They’re fairly heavy at 410 grams; for comparison, the 45NRTH Heiruspecs are 352. Of course, if you’re racing, you probably went clipless a long time ago. But for good, all-season mountain biking (or even winter commuting), you can’t go wrong with the DMR Vaults.