Ask Pinkbike: Back to Flats, Inches of Squish for Enduro, and Pondering the Next Upgrade | Bike Flat Pedals

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When it comes to choosing pedals, many people stick to what they know, but pedal technology, like everything else in the cycling industry, has evolved considerably, even if the aesthetics haven’t. Smoother float, larger pedal/cleat contact and reliability are all places that we notice the greatest improvement. That’s not to mention that the weight of both these systems is incredibly light as well. The French have led the clipless pedal business for decades with their designs, quality and attention to detail, but it’s their passion to deliver the highest-performance products that keeps both companies on the innovative edge.

Just wondering how you set up the cleats with the new am9 because I can’t seem to get them to mesh nicely

“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.

So they take a long time before you can use them with confidence, they are mechnically delicate (even before you factor in mechanism wear from putting your foot down at lights/walking in them, vs replacing a plastic cleat) and the real advantage – is this a real advantage* – comes when you are pulling away from the lights. [If I am riding my road bike the number of times I stop is pretty small, so marginal benefit of marginally faster engagement - I think I'm pretty good with my Keos - probably not so important for me. YMMV.] This is before you get to the fact that they are quite expensive (because they aren’t very popular so unit volumes not high) and (again because unit volumes not high) finding spares is a pain in the arse. I tried them and wouldn’t recommend them to anyone.

Also into my third year but with EPS. Haven’t regretted it for a second. Effortless and trouble free gear changing especially when braking. I’m thinking of replacing my touring bike and I hope I can get it fitted with triple electronic shifting.

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.

Sixpack has drawn on many years of expertise when it comes to the pedal body and bearing, using only high-quality materials and components with the aim of providing reliability and durability. The pedal body is made from 6061-T6 CNC milled aluminum. Hardened coated CrMo steel is used for the axles, and the bearing consists of a combination of sealed industrial bearings and IGUS bushings.

One of the other advantages of clipless pedals is that you can get more power out of your legs by being able to pull up on the pedal stroke in addition to pushing down however, this highlights the disadvantage of multi-release cleats since if you pulled up on these your foot would come out of the pedal. 

My understanding of current thinking is that you should not be trying to pull up (damaging to knees being the reason) only "getting your feet out of the way" during the up stroke. You should still be actively kicking forward at the top of the stroke and pulling your foot back at the bottom – these would be sensible reasons why a cleat would seem to be an advantage over flat pedals. Having said that good flat pedals with decent raised grips (the little bolt style ones especially) used with flat rubber-soled shoes are nearly as good for kicking  forward and pulling back.

Staff at The Arizona Republic took on a carless commute to explore public transit options in the Phoenix area. (Photo: Joshua Bowling/The Republic)

None of this is to say that I’m above putting on unsophisticated music in order to psyche myself up for a ride; in fact, I was listening to Carcass while wrangling myself into a pair of bib shorts as recently as two weeks ago. And while you may now not be able to unsee that horrendous image, at least I had the decency to do it in the privacy of my own home.