The pedal market has been a little boring in recent times, with the market-leading brands offering very little innovation. No company is more dominant in this space than Shimano, and its SPD-SL road pedals have been path breaking in technology and build quality.

Shimano’s Ultegra pedals are one of the best pedals, which have hit the right notes when it comes to excellent performance. They are not much heavier than the top-end Dura-Ace pedals and have a similar design and ease of use.

At this price you get a fancy carbon composite body that looks sleek and reveals an impressive lightness on the scales, helping to split the difference between the Dura-Ace and 105 models.

A bonus with Shimano pedals is that the weight of the release mechanism means the pedals are always pivoted nose up, which makes locating the cleat into the pedal much easier. This softens the learning curve when it comes to getting used to clipless pedals for the first time.