Most cheap plastic (sorry – glass-reinforced nylon) pedals feel like something you’re saving up to replace, but the snappily-titled HT PA03A is solid.

>>> Best mountain bike flat pedals

Lightweight, grippy and inexpensive, the latest composite pedal from HT tick plenty boxes. The bargain price reflects the fact that the body isn’t made from aluminium, but if that’s a big issue, HT offers plenty pricier models with a variety of metal platforms too.

Even sized with similar dimensions to plenty others here, the PA03A parallelogram feels really big, and the combination of a traditional, extended axle design, good concavity and well spread pins, means the HT is absolutely planted underfoot.

On top of this sense of massive real estate cradling the shoe, the eight steel pins per side are the thin grub screw type that really cut into soles to amplify grip levels even further.

The HT axle runs on a plain bushing and single cartridge bearing set-up that’s easy to rebuild, with the twelve quid rebuild kit as competitively priced as the pedal itself. One rub with the cheaper price is that the steel axle threads on two sets we’ve tested have looked and felt a little rough compared to more expensive pedals, although they’ve both stayed put with zero issues once fitted.

In dry weather the HT’s are a total winner, but in the worst mud and slime, the inner, fatter plastic studs offer little purchase and the overall grip levels are reduced to marginally less than the best aluminium pedals on test.