ROCK BROS / ROCKBROS MTB Nylon Pedal Toeclip Adapter

I wanted to get some new pedals for my bike, and the ROCKBROS lightweight nylon pedals were fairly highly rated, but they do not accommodate toeclips. I like to ride with ½ toeclips. So, I made this adapter. It works well, and can be used with ½ or full toeclips. However, you will need to modify your pedals a little.

To use these adapters, you will need to drill two mounting holes through the front face of each pedal, and you will need to cut/grind/melt away some of the nylon on the backside of the face wall to make room for the nuts and washers (I used a Dremel type tool; see photo for location). If you are concerned about weakening the structure and strength of the pedal, I wouldn't worry about that. The added mass/thickness to the front wall of the pedal, which the bolts, adapters and toeclips provide, likely provides greater overall strength and impact resistance (see photos).

Before doing any modifications, be sure that your aware of which pedal you are adapting, L or R, and the orientation and direction of the front of the pedal (especially if you have already removed the studs on the bottom sides of your pedals), it is easy to accidentally mount the toeclips on the wrong face, making the clip upside down). You can use the adapter as a drill guide. Secure the adapter firmly in the pedal face, fully inserted, then hold it tightly in place as you carefully drill the two mounting holes for each pedal. The nylon material is fairly soft, so drilling through it is easy – be careful not to lunge the drill bit too far and hit the center of the pedal.

The screw holes on the adapter are designed to fit 5mm mounting bolts (25mm long); the built-in holes are a little tight. Using the adapter as a drill guide will make these holes a little looser, if you are using a wider drill bit. 5mm bolts are plenty strong for mounting toeclips; however, if you elect to use thinner bolts, such as 4mm, this will make it so that less material will be needed to be removed from the pedal to accommodate the mounting hardware, and it will give a little more vertical adjustability of where the toeclip is positioned. If you do use a 4mm size bolt, it would be wise to use a 4mm washer next to a 5mm washer on the toeclip side of the assembly – most toeclips are designed to be used with 5mm bolts and washers. For mounting toeclips, you will need a longer bolt than typically comes with the toeclips. 25mm will work for most clips. Because you will be tightening metal hardware to somewhat compressible plastic (more the toeclips than the pedals or adapter), make sure that you use washers, and lock-washers to keep things secure.

The adapter is designed to be used on the pedals with all or the grip studs/screws installed. You may have noticed from the attached photos that I removed these studs ("shin/calf rippers") from the bottom side of my pedals. That is because when riding with toe clips, you almost always are riding on only one side of the pedals. There is no need for studs on the bottom side. This gives you plenty of extra replacement studs, and greatly reduces the chance of ripping up your leg if your foot comes off the pedal (and with toeclips, your feet don't come off the pedals very often). ½  toeclips are a nice compromise for making it easier to get in and out of pedals, especially in a crash. I use Mt. Zefal half clips because they accommodate thicker/taller shoes/half-boots (compared to road bike toe clips).

NOTE: when considering purchasing toeclips for mounting to wide MTB platform pedals, you will likely only need SMALL sized toeclips; LARGE sized toeclips will put most riders' feet too far forward on larger/wider pedals. On a road bike pedal, large sized clips would likely be more commonly used, because the pedals are thinner.

The packaging label for the pedals says that the model name for these pedals is “Rock BROS Light.. 16” Black 2017-12CBK." The UPCs are 663274800921 and 663274709170.

I printed in white PETG, at 0.20 layer height and 100% infill (I ran out of black PETG, and I forgot to order more; but, it does make it easier to see what part of the assembly is the adapter verses the clip or pedal). No supports, brim, skirt, or raft are necessary.