Shimano PD

Budget-friendly composite flats from cycling giant Shimano

This competition is now closed

By Alex Evans

Published: August 6, 2023 at 5:00 pm

Shimano’s PD-GR400 flat pedals are made from resin composite and are included in the mid-level SLX M7100 series.

The 96mm(W)x101mm(L) body and chromoly axle spins on two bushings rather than bearings.

Giving a slightly concave profile, the leading and trailing edges are 15mm deep, while the thinnest central part of the axle support is 14mm deep, rising to 19mm at its thickest.

There are nine rear-loading steel pins per side, each 5mm long.

This pair of test pedals weighed 400g.

Thanks to the hugely sharp pins and slight concavity to the body’s shape, grip is impressive. Pin location and their length boosts that effective concavity, improving traction further.

However, the fairly small platform and immovable connection once your foot is placed means care needs to be taken when putting your feet on the pedals.

Their size means some foot clawing is present, but it’s not excessive or distracting.

In some cases, where the terrain was particularly steep or laced with successive corners requiring plenty of movement on the bike, my feet pivoted on the pedal’s pins; either the toes or heel twist on the pedals.

As your foot turns the pedal on its axle, more or less pressure is focused on the front or rear. The shorter the pedal’s length, the more focused the pressure, and the less support there is.

This pivoting isn’t the same as foot walk – where the whole foot moves across the platform – but proved to be frustrating nonetheless.

A larger platform would improve performance and address all criticisms; clawing would be reduced, placement wouldn’t need to be so accurate, and foot pivoting would be limited.

Chamfered and tapered edges help reduce the impact of rock strikes, but the sharp, long pins tended to bite into and hook up on softer objects such as tree roots.

The axles have left and right symbols, making installation easy.

Their two-bushing design permits free movement, even right out of the box.

For the price, the PD-GR400s are good performers and feature among the best mountain bike pedals.

Their platform size and shape will better suit riders with smaller feet, but there’s no denying how grippy they are for all shoe sizes.

If Shimano could upscale their design into a bigger form factor, these would be hard to beat.

We’ve tested nine pedals in some of the harshest conditions on a host of terrain types – from bumpy on-the-gas sections through to flat-out rough and worn DH tracks – to see how much grip they offer, and help you find the perfect pair.

Our tester, senior technical editor Alex Evans, wears size EU42 shoes, and tested the pedals with FiveTen’s Trail Cross XT, FiveTen’s Impact Pros and FiveTen Trailcross GTX shoes.

Senior technical editor

Alex Evans is BikeRadar’s senior mountain bike technical editor. He started racing downhill at the tender age of 11 before going on to compete across Europe. Alex moved to Morzine in the French Alps at 19 to pursue a career as a bike bum and clocked up an enormous amount of riding. Hitting those famous tracks day in, day out for eight years, he broke more bikes than he can remember. Alex then moved back to the UK and put his vast knowledge of mountain biking to good use by landing a job working for MBUK magazine as features editor. Since working for MBUK, Alex’s focus has moved to bike tech. He’s one of BikeRadar’s lead testers and knows how to push bikes and products to the limit, searching out the equipment that represents the best value for money. Alex is also a dedicated eMTB rider, and still dabbles in racing of a sort, doing his best to top the Strava leaderboard on the steepest, gnarliest and twistiest trails the Tweed Valley has to offer – just for fun, of course. Alex is also a regular on the BikeRadar YouTube channel and BikeRadar podcast.