Specialized Bicycle has had a long relationship with the Japanese pedal maker Mikashima Industrial Co., or MKS. MKS makes for Specialized a pair of pedals in two variations, these are the Direct Drive Titanium, and the Direct Drive Pro. They are not a clipless pedal, and can be used for MTB, Road or Hybrid use. The Titanium model comes with an aluminum cage, sealed cartridge bearing assemblies, and a Titanium spindle. The Pro model comes with an aluminum alloy pedal cage, uses ball bearings with cup and cone race bearing construction and has a Cro-moly spindle.
The Direct Drive pedals use a one-piece, molded composite plastic body. A steel nutsert with a serrated exterior has been pressed into the end of the brace, for the cage fastening bolts to be screwed into. The braces have diagonal slots through them to accommodate toe straps, with space for the traditional twist. The pedal relies on sealed bearing cartridges for both the inner and outer bearing set. The inner bearing has a 19mm outer diameter with a 7mm depth and has no markings on it. The outer bearing has a 19mm outer diameter with a 6mm depth and is a NTN 698Z bearing. The Titanium spindle has been machined from rod stock, and has 5mm by .8mm threads tapped in hole on its outer end. A Black plastic dirt seal to shield the inner bearing is put on the spindle, which then slides through the body and the bearings. A Black steel machine bolt with a 4mm hex head fitting is turned counter clockwise into the spindle, holding the spindle, bearings and body together as a unit. A custom molded Black plastic snap-in end cap closes off the outer bearing and spindle end from dirt entry. The cage is made from die cut 2.6mm thick sheet aluminum. The cage piece has the bolt holes drilled with a counter sink so the fastening bolts fit flush to the cage surface. The front of the cage has two holes tapped with 5mm x .8mm threads so toe clips can be bolted directly to the cage, without the added weight of steel nuts. The top of the cage has teeth cut into it, for grip surface, and the lower rear of each cage has two toe flips to assist toe clip entry.
The cage, which is anodized in a Titanium Grey finish, relies on four recessed head Chrome machine bolts with a 3mm hex fitting. A pair of Direct Drive Titanium pedals weighs 245 1/2 grams. No longer available through Specialized, we sold these pedals for $199.99 a pair.
The Direct Drive Pro pedals use the same cage, cage fastening bolts, and plastic dust caps used in the Titanium model. The pedal body is the same, except that the nutserts for the cage bolts to thread into are made from brass rather than steel. This produces a negligible difference in weight and no real loss of binding strength. The spindle is made of Cro-moly steel with a Nickel or Chrome finish. The interior of the pedal body has a bearing cup stamped sheet steel pressed into each bearing side. The cone races, are both polished after manufacturer. Both the inner and outer bearing assemblies uses twelve 3mm ball bearings. The spindle and bearings are greased and properly adjusted. However, they are not nearly as smooth as the sealed ones used in the Titanium model. These pedals can be overhauled by the user, the outer bearing locknut is 10mm. The pair of Direct Drive Pro pedals weighs 301 1/2 grams. No longer available through Specialized, we sold these pedals for $42.99 a pair.
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