3 Brands Taking On The Flat Pedal Market: Northwave, Ion and Vaude | Road Bike Clipless Pedals

The speed I can clip in now off the lights is wicked. Actually feels a bit show-offy it’s that smooth and fast. I also rub a little lube on the cleat spring every weekend, that makes it super smooth to clip in too now.

+1 – although I took to the zero straight away. I have them on my aero and TT bikes. Spds for my MTB and commuter/CX/winter bike.

“I like riding my regular bike and still try to commute one day a week on it,” Herrigstad said. “For me, the e-bike allows me to commute nearly every day on it. … It gives me a decent workout and, above all, I enjoy it.”

Disagree with the Speedplay comments above. I moved to them this year and yes I hated them for a few weeks and was considering eBaying them.

First introduced to the off-road world in 1990 by Shimano, clip-in pedals (formerly and incorrectly labelled as ‘clipless’ pedals [Wil is willing to take this assertion to the pub – Ed]) promptly rose amongst the pro ranks in mountain bike racing. Offering more efficiency and better power transfer by way of stiffer clip-specific shoe soles, for many competitive types there is no other choice.

The only other issue I noticed was durability. While the stainless steel pedals will take a beating, the cleats I received were aluminum. This kept weight down (about 1.5 ounces per cleat), but they quickly took on battle scars. I asked Lohmeyer about this too, and he sent along Pitbull prototype 2.0. These are made of stainless steel and are about twice as heavy as the aluminum option. But their strength is far greater.

“Taiwanese company Wellgo tend not to be the first name off someone’s lips when you ask a mountain biker about pedals, but they are in fact the worlds largest manufacturer of them. Of course, much of that is through OEM sales, but they also have a large array of budget, after market components. The rather unromantically named B144 flat pedals…” Read the full review here.

I also tried the Hellcats, sans cleats, with a set of platform pedals and they worked even better. In fact, this worked so well I thought I might like to just run the Hellcats without cleats. Unfortunately the backer plate inside the sole tends to move around when it’s not secured by a cleat. So to be clear, with the Hellcats, cleats are required.

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.

The twin sided pedals mean clipping in is easy, and the cleat is recessed into the shoe which allows for easy walking off the bike. Being made of metal and away from contact with the ground, the cleats can last for years.

Three months ago, I returned to work in downtown Vancouver. And I’m still a bike commuter. Since resuming the Portland-Vancouver roundtrip, I’ve made two important, nonscientific observations about bicycle commuting now compared with then:

All of the above. SPD SL pedals on the road bike. XT trail SPDs and Shimano shoes on the short travel FS Bike which tends to get used for mile munching rather than very tech rides. DMR Vault flats for the big bike and DH riding. I like the efficiency of being clipped in but think I descend better on flats which I much prefer for more technical trails. I believe that’s down to foot and heel position which try as I might I can’t seem to quite reproduce on SPDs.