17 Flat Pedals Tested & Reviewed | Spd Pedals

Reach reporter Jen Fifield at 602-444-8763 or jen.fifield@azcentral.com. Follow her on Twitter: @JenAFifield.

There are two types of clipless pedal. Pedals for road racing follow the original concept introduced by Look in 1984. The cleat stands proud of the sole and is attached by three bolts. This allows an uncomplicated, very rigid sole, but is awkward to walk in.

We’re big fans of electronic shifting here at road.cc and we don’t know of many people who’ve used it regularly wanting to switch back to mechanical shifting, but it’s not without its downsides. Here are some of the little annoyances that we’ve experienced and heard about over the past few years.

Before hitting the trail for the first time, I removed all of the stock pins and fitted the 5mm pins that come inside the box. The threads already come prepped with blue Loctite, which makes them firm to screw in. Once in place though, they aren’t likely to go anywhere.

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At just 120g/pair these race-day-only pedals are Speedplay’s demonstration that the Zero design can be made extraordinarily light. Speedplay has often displayed superlight bikes at trade shows; these pedals help make bikes like those even lighter.

“I wanted somebody who could fix the bike locally,” Grall said. “I knew these guys (at Camas Bike and Sport). I knew they’d be available to help me if I needed something.”

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The only issues I’ve witnessed is with two owners of SRAM etape systems who didn’t charge their batteries, so were stuck with limited years in the Pyrenees, but they could swap the front and rear mech batteries round, so low gears for the climbs and then big gears for the descents. Didn’t seem ideal.

A second option from Look, these are great starter pedals that provide plenty of flat adjustment, and a large contact patch provides power transfer. A suitably priced and easy option for beginners to take their first steps into the world of clipless pedals.

Nobody in their right mind assumes that batteries last forever, so they would assume that the battery(ies) would drain during use and at some point they risk getting a flat battery on a ride. Wouldn’t this be one of the first things you looked into if contemplating getting electronic shifting? How long do batteries last, how do I tell what charge they have remaining, how far can I get if charge is running low and how long do they take to charge up? Oh, and what happens if I have a flat battery (is there a backup/ reserve?)

Granted, I wear a big shoe with a long toe box, so I suppose not everyone will experience this. Also, not everyone unclips the same way; I tend to rotate my heel out, but I know Leah rotates hers in, so she probably wouldn’t experience this issue. My solution is to unclip in the 12 o’clock position which places the crankarm out of the way. Still, I’ve had many close calls when I found myself unable to quickly unclip in my usual manner.