Shimano's venerable XT group sees updates from year to year, as advancements from the XTR group trickle down to the sweet spot of cost and performance. Shimano's revised trail racing pedals feature a wider platform to carry you across undulating trails. Four degrees of float, two-sided entry, bombproof durability of the body and sealed cartridge bearings, and simple, muck-clearing cleat-to-pedal interface -- all the features that recommend Shimano's SPDs as the default do-it-all pedals are still present. As with the previous model, the M8120 is slightly heavier and more substantial than the XC race version, but the trade-off is a wider, more stable platform for confident responsiveness whether you're dropping your own hammer or clearing techy rock shelves on a climb with jerks and hops. They've also got a bit more survivability in the event of a pedal strike.