Home > Feature Stories

Review: Straitline AMP Pedals – What the Squeak?

14 Comments
Support us! Bikerumor may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn More

Straitline Amp Pedal

Flat pedals aren’t complicated things, but getting that perfect combination of light weight, reliability, and grippyness can be a challenge for manufacturers. A few years ago, Straitline components created a new pedal, the DeFacto, which sent shock waves across the DH scene. It was a pedal that threw two middle fingers in the air at weight weenies and compromised nothing in the pursuit of grippyness.

Now that 40 lb dedicated downhill rigs have fallen out of favor, traded in for 6″ bikes by guys sporting half lids and goggles, Straightline has created new generation of it’s DeFacto pedal – the AMP (All Mountain Product). Using the same internals, the AMP is the DeFacto, with a tummy tuck.

Straitline Amp Pedal

The pedals are beautifully packaged in a little black box, like jewelry for bikes. Inside the nug jar is a set of pre-locktited pins and a set of plastic washers for rebuilds. Early users complained about friction causing the pedals to spin poorly, so Straitline now offers users two options. The stock white washers are slightly thinner for freer spinning pedals and the slightly thicker black washers for dedicated DJ and DH use.

Straitline Amp Pedal Weight
Left to Right: Pedal with aluminum pins, sans pins, set of pedals with pins installed

Weight for the $185 MSRP pedals with the a chromoly axle is 330 grams on the kitchen scale. Just 6 grams heavier than the claimed 324. An extra Benjamin for the titanium axle drops the weight to a svelte 272 grams (claimed).

Straitline Amp Pins and Ridges

The AMP pedals have 7 hexagrip pins per face, exactly half the number found on the DeFacto. Despite the drastic decrease in pins, the pedals remain relatively grippy, which can be attributed to Straitlines wonderful pin design. These pins are available aftermarket in a bag of twenty and are retrofittable on the majority of top mount style pedals. A worthy upgrade if you want to breathe some new life into a haggard set of flats.

A set of ridges machined across the axle also help to increase traction.

Amp Pedal Axle

The axle system, (again) borrowed from the DeFacto, spins on two Igus bushings and a pair of circle clips on the outside of the axle for reliability. The system is easily rebuidable and Straitline provides a series of how-to-videos for the mechanicaly curious here.

Unfortunately, this is where our experience with the AMPs started to sour. On our first ride, the squeaking from the sole of my Teva’s rubbing against the circle clips was loud enough to scare away the wildlife and the sound has never subsided. If any of my sneakers even looked at these pedals funny – squeeeeeeak.

Amp Pedal Side View

Despite the relative light weight and parking lot grippyness, other issues quickly came to light after only a month of casual abuse. The platform itself isn’t that large. At 93x103mm it’s dwarfed in width by many of it’s competitors and that’s painfully obvious on the trails. The hexagonal Straitline pins go a long way to correct the girth deficiency but the pedals just don’t offer enough support when climbing or smashing through rough sections.

The AMPs have also developed side to side play in an astonishingly short amount of time. It’s hard to feel when grabbing the pedal and pulling, but when pedaling, you can feel the platforms moving slightly underfoot.

The Straitline AMPs have been available for nearly two years. If these issues hadn’t been caught during product testing, they should have been addressed in the intervening years. Our long term impression of the original Straitline pedals was filled with praise for their overall grip but dinged points because they required constant rebuilding, roughly once every 200-300 kms (120-180 miles).

Between the squeaking, the play, the small platform, the frequent service intervals, and the high price, it’s hard to recommend these platforms.

Subscribe
Notify of
guest

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

14 Comments
Oldest
Newest Most Voted
Inline Feedbacks
View all comments
Mindless
Mindless
10 years ago

Took you two years to do a review? Why now?

vulgarbulgar
vulgarbulgar
10 years ago

I’d say your comment was fairly… *puts on sunglasses*… mindless.
YEEAAAAHHHHH

BUBBRUBB
BUBBRUBB
10 years ago

, curious what other pedals have you been on, and do you generally use flats? I have a set of Amps with 2 years of DH/xc abuse on them. agree that they dont spin well, and require a fair bit of service in wet conditions, but the plus side is service is easy and painless. 10 minutes at best, about the same amount of time as cleaning a chain. i think to be fair, AM or DH riders dont care about the lack of spin in the bushings.

satisFACTORYrider
satisFACTORYrider
10 years ago

Spesh bennies, saris. Cheap and great. Throw on some defacto pins in ’em if ya like!

Shreddie
Shreddie
10 years ago

If you can’t feel play in them by hand, but you can while pedaling, it could be a bent spindle… Which would be a shame for a $200 pedal that requires rebuilding every 5-10 rides… yikes. For multiple reasons.

stratosrally
stratosrally
10 years ago

Lovin’ my Wellgo B103 pedals – see this link where they placed #1: http://charlesspock.hubpages.com/hub/Top-5-Mountain-Bike-Platform-Pedals-Under-50

stratosrally
stratosrally
10 years ago

I love my Wellgo B103 flats (I paid $53) – they scored #1 here:
http://charlesspock.hubpages.com/hub/Top-5-Mountain-Bike-Platform-Pedals-Under-50

stratosrally
stratosrally
10 years ago

Arrghhhhhhhhh………………massive fail – dbl posties!

Cheese
Cheese
10 years ago

*its

NickB
NickB
10 years ago

mmm Crampon Ultimates for AM, http://canfieldbrothers.com/components/pedals

Max
Max
10 years ago

I’m a roadie, but appreciated reading a review that was honest towards the product. Sometimes it feels like many “reviews” are just another form of advertising. So props to and BikeRumor for publishing. We need more of these reviews.

Bubbrubb
Bubbrubb
10 years ago


Just picked up a set of Chromag Scarabs….. Oh boy, so good. Not cheap, but huge platform with great grip.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.

Subscribe Now

Sign up to receive BikeRumor content direct to your inbox.