Great Value Pedal for Small to Medium Footed Riders

Before OneUp Components launched their own Composite pedal, the Race Face Chester was the undisputed king of synthetic flat pedals. It is a time-proven pedal that has served as the go-to pedal for demo and rental fleets across the country for years due to its combination of performance, durability, and low cost. While we feel that the OneUp Composite is a better all around pedal, the Race Face Chester is still a great buy, and it is not without its own advantages.

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See Our Best Flat Mountain Bike Pedal Review!

Grip

The Race Face Chester uses eight pins per side, which mount from the back. The pins mirror the hexagonal shape of the Race Face Chesters, with two more narrowly spaced pins at the front and rear edges, and two more widely spaced pins just toward the middle of the pedal. Overall, the Chesters provide solid grip, but not quite the level of grip we found with the OneUp Composite pedals.

While we leaned heavily toward preferring an extremely grippy pedal, not all riders do. If you do less gnarly, enduro style downhill riding and instead find yourself more often on jump lines where the need to be locked in is balanced against the need to be able to easily readjust your footing after landings then the slightly less grippy Race Face Chesters might make for a better budget flat pedal for your needs than the OneUp Composite.

Platform

The platform of the Race Face Chester is smaller than that of our top budget pick, the OneUp Composite. It measures 11mm X 101mm. However, the size difference feels more pronounced underfoot. This combines with the fact that it has two fewer pins per side to make for a pedal that definitely feels a bit less substantial underfoot.

However, like the fact that they are a bit less grippy, the smaller platform might actually be a good thing for some riders. If you have smaller feet and don’t often find yourself searching for a pedal, then the extra platform size of the OneUp Composite might be wasted on you. In that case, it might actually make sense to use the smaller pedal that is less likely to catch the odd rock or root.

The platform profile is 15mm at the edge 18.4mm at the axle. This is similar to the OneUp Composite and other high-end composite pedals.

Finally, the stepped design of, and horizontal slits in, the pedal mean that it is not quite the performer in muddy conditions that some of the pedals we reviewed are.

Weight

On paper, the Race Face Chester is extremely lightweight and tied for the lightest pedal that we reviewed, at only 340g. In reality, however, the Race Face Chesters weigh in at about 360g, making them more or less identical in weight to the OneUp Composite pedals.

Durability and Servicing

The pins on the Race Face Chester screw in from the back side of the pedal. However, they do this via a stepped design, similar to the Deity Bladerunner. This means that the heads are not as well protected as those that burrow in, like the OneUp Composites or Race Face Atlas. We also have less faith in their ability to stay anchored in the case of hard hits than the pins of the OneUp Composite pedals, which go through the entire profile of the pedal, rather than just half of it.

On the other hand, these pedals are not the workhorse of rental and demo fleets nationwide for no reason. Their design has proven to be quite durable and requires very little in the way of servicing. We just think that there are now even better options available.

The Bottom Line

The Race Face Chester is a great all around composite pedal for riders on a budget, and even for riders who are not on a budget. For our riding style and by our criteria, the Race Face Chesters lose out to the newer OneUp Composite mountain bike pedals as our top budget pick. However, if you have smaller feet or value the ability to easily readjust your feet over maximum grip, then the Chesters might actually be the better choice.

Finally, at only $49.99, the Chester is right up there as an all-time great bang for your buck pick, easily trading blows with some of the most expensive flat pedals on the market.

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