Spd pedals (loving them)

[gradeAfailure]

There's no downside to using spds.

http://www.bikejames.com/wp-content/upl ... sto-v3.pdf
Worth a read... Unless you're sure you already know everything?

And I have no skills shortage for the riding i do. Which whilst generally wheels on the ground, still includes a lot of DH tracks. On an xc hardtail......

<swoons>
;-)

I'm not against SPDs at all, quite the contrary - I just don't blindly subscribe to the false wisdom that they're inherently better than flat pedals in all spheres.

 

[mattr]

Worth a read... Unless you're sure you already know everything?

Well, everything in there I've seen before. Much of it is disputed. Nothing new under the sun is there.

I'm not against SPDs at all, quite the contrary - I just don't blindly subscribe to the false wisdom that they're inherently better than flat pedals in all spheres.

No they are just better for racing/fast XC work.

 

[petitpal]

Basically if my saddle was down I preferred flats, if my saddle was up I preferred SPD's.

I think that was always pretty much my attitude as well. If I was off tatting around and practicing wheelies and so on with the saddle down then I tended to whack on a set of flats. For XC (which was pretty much all I did) and general riding over the local hills I always used SPD.

I always feel a lot more connected to the biek with SPDs and the flick your foot out, stamp it back in comes quite naturally after a whle. The only problem I really used to find was, and this was particularly at Bob's Bash coming out of the water spalsh, if you had to touch your foot down onto something muddy then the cleat could be a right bugger to get back in. With Bob's Bash, half the time I'd end up touching a foot down accidentally and then try to climb up the muddy hill on the other side with one foot balanced on top of the tiny SPD and sliding all over the place.

(As for bear traps, btw, I've got the shins to proove it - look like an old washboard. )

 

[Twisty]

http://www.bikejames.com/wp-content/upl ... sto-v3.pdf
Worth a read... Unless you're sure you already know everything?

I read the first bit of that actually. This stuff is generally contested but I think what he has written is well considered.
What he is saying about lifting up too hard on SPDs being less efficient makes sense. However, conversely I think with flat pedals it is easy to get into the habit of actually pushing down with trailing feet in order to keep them planted on the pedal which is definitely inefficient - it is of course possible to train oneself to lift trailing feet when using flat pedals, but it doesn't feel natural and is definitely harder to pick up than when with SPDs.

When cycling with SPDs I would always find I would naturally settle into a gentle lift, then every so often when static cycling I would actually catch that my pedalling was not 100% smooth because I could hear the pitch of the turbo rising and falling every pedal stroke, which I thought was bad so I would concentrate more on circular pedalling and pulling up harder on the trailing leg and get a 100% steady pitch out of the turbo. So I was doing the wrong thing, but it wasn't all bad because exactly the same thing would happen in winter races, I'd hit a patch of goopy mud and find that my wheel was slipping a bit every pedal stroke, so I would concentrate more on circular pedalling which would stop the wheel slip - it doesn't matter if you are using your muscles 3% more efficiently by not pulling up hard if this also means you are wasting 10%+ of your energy on wheel spin

Doing some riding with flat pedals is certainly not a bad thing, I usually have at least 1 bike with flat pedals although not at the moment :|

 

[legrandefromage]

I have around 8 pairs at the last count. Fell off twice. The day I first used them and once when very very drunk.

Have always run them very loose so my feet can move around a bit. I even have a set of those aero style single sided ones on my road bikes. My oldest set still in continuous use is a 2nd generation xt as I found the originals a bit bulky.

I feel a bit insecure without them

 

[longun]

Re:

Bmx- flats
Mtb - spuds, unless I'm shredding dem Alps or cruising to town
Road - spuds


Love them, pros and cons for both but I'd rather be clipped in than not in most cases. And no handed bunny hops are fun........