Feet come in a wide range of sizes, so why are flat pedals one size fits all?

That’s a question Syntace has answered with its new NumberNine Titan pedal, which is available in three platform sizes: small, medium and large. These correspond to 35-42, 38-45 and 43-50 shoe sizes (EU) respectively.

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The idea is to match the size of the pedal to the size of your foot, but Syntace recognises that this can vary depending on foot position and riding style, so it’s not really locking you into a set size, just offering options.

With this in mind, I ordered the largest pair, simply because the 110x110mm platform is bigger than anything I’ve tried before. And, since I’m testing big wheels and frames with big geometry, I thought I may as well give big pedals a try.

At £278, the NumberNine Titan also has a big price, but the build quality is the best I’ve ever seen. The platform is machined from a single piece of 7075-series aluminium, which means it’s lightweight and strong.

To aid grip, it has a slight amount of concavity, but the 14 pins per side are also arranged to accentuate this, with the perimeter pins sitting higher than those in the centre. The lightweight aluminium pins (steel pins are available as an option) are also threaded into the pedal using a driver, which is a bit more robust than the keyring style tools used by rival pedals.

The NumberNine Titan gives a massive target to aim at, and over three months testing I hit it every time, never experiencing that half on/half off foot placement you can get with smaller pedals.

The level of support is simply off the chart, and even though the stock aluminium pins are not the sharpest, grip is amazing too.

The downside of such a large platform is the lack of clearance when riding rocky terrain, or skirting tree stumps. The edges of the pedals are sporting several scars, including a deep one on the left pedal (my trailing foot) where I tried to sneak a line between rocks.

The NumberNine Titan runs on fully sealed Enduro cartridge bearings, which are still silky smooth.

On the end of the titanium axle, there’s also a tiny grease port, so it’s relatively easy to purge old grease to prolong bearing life.

Eye-wateringly expensive it may be, but the NumberNine Titan is top quality. The attention to detail is amazing and I reckon this pedal will easily last as long as your bike, if not longer. Clearance is a concern, but Syntace has just released information about a new version where the edges have been rounded off to minimise rocks strikes.

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Although it’s a remarkable pedal, I’ve found it difficult to award it top marks simply because of the price. For the same money you can buy six pairs of the Superstar Nano-X pedals we tested last month and they’d easily last you 10 years too.