There’s no shortage of flat pedals in the world, but the Look Geo City Vision packs a secret weapon to aid visibility.
Rather than bolting yet another light onto your bike, Look has integrated lights directly into the pedal body itself, using the rider’s pedalling motion to create what it calls “360 degree biomotion lighting”.
The tech has been seen before. It was integrated into the brand’s Keo Vision pedals, but here it’s also employed around the side and front of the pedal body.
At the time of the Keo Vision launch, Look suggested that it served to make the rider 5.5 times more visible than using a light mounted to a seatpost thanks to the oscillating action while pedalling – a claim repeated here.
Look’s Global Product Manager, Alexandre Lavaud, says the Geo City Vision was designed to tackle “the greatest challenge facing the modern commuter: being visible where it matters most”.
Look Geo City Vision first impressions
The Geo City Vision feels reassuringly solid, as you’d hope from a pedal likely to be exposed to the rough and tumble of everyday use. The pedal body is constructed from composite material and paired with a Chromoly+ spindle, which has sealed bearings.
Naturally these don’t spin as freely as those you might find on performance road or gravel pedals, but I suspect that’s a good thing when you want to easily locate the pedal underfoot in a rushed getaway from traffic lights.
The pedal platform itself is reasonably generous at 100 x 103mm, giving plenty of support for everyday riding. M UK size 11.5 gym trainers fit on top well and grip steadfastly.
Look says it has used a multidirectional diamond-pattern surface to improve grip across different footwear, from trainers like mine to smarter commuting shoes. In particular, the raised ‘pins’ help my very worn shoes bite in well.
Of course, the standout feature is the lighting system. Look’s first-generation ‘Vision’ pedals were developed in partnership with lighting specialists Spanninga, but the latest generation uses a light array designed for Look by an unnamed Chinese company, according to Lavaud.
The removable light unit attaches via strong magnets, essentially clipping in and out of the pedal housing. I need to give it a substantial tug to remove, so it feels very unlikely it would pop out. This reveals the USB-C charge port.
Despite this, the light body is waterproof to an IPx7 rating. According to that, they should stand up to submersion.
Credit to Look for providing a dual charge cable – it makes sense that you’d use the battery at about the same rate, so you’d probably want to charge each light unit at the same time.
The four lighting modes comprise a low steady, high steady, plus day and night flash modes. Why can’t normal bike light modes be this simple?!
Output ranges from 3 to 42 lumens, which isn’t particularly powerful on paper compared to conventional rear lights that can hit up to 500. But the trade-off is decent burn time from the small 26g batteries. Look says you’re looking at 15 hours of battery life in steady, and up to 60 hours flashing.
The Geo City Vision pedals will be available from May 19, priced at £75 / €79.90 / $95.
