These often-forgotten pieces of kit are really bothering me at the moment. Having three bikes that I use regularly, each with a different pedal set-up, I’m finding it difficult to find a happy compromise between comfort, stability and power.
Standard Bike Pedals
My commuter bike had the pedals that came with it, some black plastic jobs that I rode with for some time until I got to realise that if I did something about them, my ride might be more efficient and less clunky so I quickly replaced with some MKS touring pedals (£26.99, Evans Cycles) with toe clips and straps.
These pedals really are good, with good grip and traction for almost any shoe, but I found the toe clips to be annoying principally because I wear lots of different shoes to cycle in, from ballerina pumps in the summer to trail running shoes and boots. So, I took the toe clips off and bought some Power Grips. Sadly, these are languishing in the black hole of kit because I haven’t bothered to put them on yet! I’m just not sure that they will be any better than the toe clips and you have to adjust these ones with an Allen key rather than just pulling the loose strap when your shoes are too big or small for the loop.
My Mixte has a pair of pedals that came with the bike circa 1980′s and they’re getting rusty and not very nice. I’m thinking of taking the bike up to Racer Rosa for an overhaul and my next job will be to sort out the pedals on her. (BTW, does anyone have experience of Racer Rosa?) Look? Speedplay? Crank Bros? Do I want clipless pedals at all or just a pair of the MKS that I have on my commuter bike? I’m tending towards a clipless pedal but it does limit one’s option somewhat in terms of footwear doesn’t it?
Clipless Bike Pedals
My road bike, the Wilier has clipless pedals. I couldn’t really get a carbon frame and put heavy metal pedals on it, but I wish I could. The combination of entry-level Shimano pedals and SPD-SL cleats isn’t working so well for me. When I’m riding long distances and don’t have to fiddle about, I’m fine. When I have to stop, I’m OK with unclipping, coasting and then making a decision to stop or clip back in and carry on. My saddle isn’t set at a height that makes it difficult for me to place a toe on the ground so that feels more secure than it did when it was so high that I had to hop on and off the saddle all the time. I can almost get away from a junction and clip in immediately, but when it’s uphill and I have to apply pressure on the first revolution, I always miss! When I’m riding in an urban setting and I come upon junction, aggressive traffic and gradient, I’m toast. My mind takes over, telling me ‘you can’t do it, you can’t do it’ and I can’t.
(See also: Which pedals do you recommend for commuting?)
Is it my nervousness? Inexperience? Wrong pedal/cleat combination? I use SPD cleats and shoes in the gym, the same shoes that I use on my Wilier, so I know the shoes are good. They have multi-use holes so I can use any combination of cleats. Theoretically, it shouldn’t be that expensive to change and try something else, but what? I need something that’s easy to clip in and out of, where I don’t have to wait for the pedal to right itself, or am I doing something wrong? Is it just my nervousness?
Maybe I want to use this bike in situations where I’d be better using something else. Is it really only made for long-distance rides that don’t require anything more than hopping on at the start and off at the finish? Could I get used to riding it around town and for rides that involve more of a stop-start route?
Can anyone help me sort this one out?
Thanks all to those Random Cyclists who came on the ride on Saturday. We had one lone male but he was cycling with six other women so I think he felt quite good about that! Details here and details of the planned rides will be on my blog in future, for all those who wish to come along. The more, the merrier….
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As seen on The Guardian, BBC and The Independent.
Please read this http://www.rivbike.com/article/clothing/the_shoes_ruse before getting hung up on clipless pedals and stiff soled shoes – (hint, it’s not actually all that important)
Personally, I’d give your Power Grips a go. And if not, can I have them?
hi ive only had a road bike for 6 months but out of curosity i have just had shimano spd pedals fitted that are flat on one side so i can wear normal shoes/trainers or i can flip the pedal over and clip in with cycle shoes so i just bought a pair of specialised mtb shoes that were in a sale in cycle surgery, still praticing clipping in and out!
Nice article, thanks for the post. Out of interest, how do you find out about a lot of the things you post?
I had a similar series of difficulties and have found a solution that may also work for you.
I’ve tried using clips and straps but I stopped using them for two reasons. Firstly as you say they dont fit all shoes without having to fiddle with them. I”ve never used Powergrips or similar – maybe they are better for fit, but they still share my second problem which is that all the advantages you get from them you get to a much greater extent with a clipless setup. I figure if you’re going to faff about with clips you may as well faff with clipless. Otherwise just buy nice mountain bike flats I suppose.
I have three bikes:
A road bike with SPD-SL shoes, cleats and pedals. I ride this bike purely recreationally and almost never leave it locked up. I also ride this bike on days that are more about the riding than what I do when I get there. Walking about in SPD-SL cleats is a annoying and wears away at the (not very cheap) cleats.
A commuting bike with (This is the clever bit) Shimano A530 SPD Touring Pedals ( http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-a530-spd-single-sided-touring-pedals ) which mean I can ride in my mountain bike shoes (which are okay to walk in) and SPD cleats when I want to go far / fast, or I can use the other side and wear any shoes I want.
My third bike is a another road bike and has normal double sided SPD pedals, so I have to wear my mountain bike shoes to ride it, but as I said, they’re fine to walk about in anyway.
If you find you just don’t like SPD-SL (or don’t want to own two pairs of cycling shoes), then just use SPD exclusively. As long as one of your more practical bikes has the touring pedals you have a bike to ride about on with normal shoes, but you can also ride all your bikes in your road shoes (assuming you swap your cleats to SPDs)
Clipless is doubtless the way forward though – it just takes practice. It’s more comfortable, safer in the wet as you can’t slip, allows you to pull your starting foot up at the lights faster and is generally more efficient. You just have to wear dorktastic shoes sometimes!
With the amount of cycling i have to do on the routes of the Pro Tour Races i find that i have to wear the Mtb shoes and clip into the onesided shimano pedals . With their being flat on the oneside i am able to use down force between the short distance slow mode if needed and fully clip in on the other side when in speed mode .
Your blog post on “Stolen Bikes” has formed the platform for my latest post in http://www.skippi-cyclist.blogspot.com about ” Bike Theft” with of course reference back to your site for the valuable comments that readers will enjoy referring to for further advice !