The Race Face Atlas flat pedal is the Canadian brand’s no-holds-barred premium flat pedal. Lightweight and thin. And grippy.

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It uses an oversized inboard bearing housing, but the body is heavily machined around this area, so there’s minimal impact on shoe space. Ten easy-to-replace traction pins thread in underneath and are thin enough to really bite into soles, and also angled fore and aft to stop shoes sliding forwards or backwards. This might sound like a gimmick, but the Atlas pedal has exceptionally good bite and feels super stable even in mud on really rough trails.

The curvy alloy body is thin at 12mm in the middle, with the sides just 2mm higher, but there’s still a feel of decent concavity and a sunken centre to cradle the foot, making for good stability. The Atlas is one of the lightest on test too, and noticeably easier to turn the cranks over compared to some here that are over 100g heavier.

One extra neat touch for UK riders is the spare traction pin hidden at the outboard end of the axle doubles up as a grease port so you can push in lubricant and expel crud to extend bearing life. After a similar amount of ride time, Race Face’s platform showed a few more battle scars than rivals, which could just be bad luck or indicate the alloy is a little softer than pedals like the Hope F20s that are very hard to gouge.

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Overall, the light and grippy Atlas ticks plenty boxes, and is very unobtrusive, meaning it’s one of the best examples of the thinner platforms with a protruding inner bearing housing. Just about the only sizeable downside in fact is the fact you can get performance as dialled elsewhere for less than the £130 asking price here.