The best mountain bike flat pedals of modern times all have one thing in common – their big, sturdy platform. The Supacaz ePedal looks to flip this on its head though (but not you, hopefully) with a narrower platform specific to e-bikes; 85mm compared to a 100mm for a Nukeproof Horizon or DMR Vault. The premise is you have greater pedal clearance in corners and that’s helpful because you clip your pedals more on an e-bike, which is why they also tend to have shorter cranks.

However, in the years I’ve been testing e-bikes I don’t catch my pedals in corners; it’s more when I’m riding over roots and rocks in a straight line with the bike upright. I often try to sneak a pedal stroke in when there are undulations or on a particularly rough climb, so in reality there are lots of situations where you can catch a pedal but in a corner is the least likely because you learn pretty early on to ride with your feet up.

The Specialized Supacaz ePedal looks great and has a fab build quality, but the central convex ridge doesn’t help its stability

With a narrower pedal there is less to aim at but the first thing I noticed was the ridge down the centre of the platform. On pedals like the the Horizon and Vault you have a concave shape – think of this as the ball of your foot sitting in bowl, it’s more stable. If you reverse the shape to a convex profile or you have a ridge, the ball of your foot is going to come off easier, which is exactly what happens here. Supacaz does include 10 pins per side to increase grip but they can only do so much.

I can’t fault the aesthetic of the Supacaz; the oil slick finish looks amazing. The pedal is also well made, comes with a 6mm hex fitting on the axle and it’s fully sealed with a bushing/cartridge bearing assembly. Unfortunately there is no tool for the dedicated axle in the box, nor was there anything to adjust the pins and I’d expect both for a pedal costing £135.