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

While the shoes and cleats were new, I also removed the pins to begin with to limit interference. As everything settled in though, I added the pins to increase traction.

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. 

i was interested till i saw the price.. google says £96 delivered. think i’ll stick to the M520 £20 delivered. the bearings seems to last forever on the shimano too..

Wil and the clip-in crew have spent the last few months trying to work out which are the best platform clip-in pedals. For this group test, they took eight of the latest platform clip-in pedals to see what each brand has to offer. Each pedal has been tested under various riders with a variety of shoes and in a range of conditions, to determine four category winners: Best Feel, Most Durable, Best In Mud, and Best All Round.

"But the ride was quick and enjoyable," she said. "A couple of kids on a playground I passed even said I was ‘so cool.”’

Now I couldn’t use anything else. They are just pheneomenal compared to the various Looks I usually use. They need broken in first of all as the spring is super stiff, but once done then it only takes a little force to clip in. Actually finding the insert point is a few weeks of muscle memory (I stuck them on the indoor trainer first which sped this process up).

Ride Concepts Wildcat The Wildcat model brings the medial collar to the outside of the foot as well, creating solid protection from a mid-height shoe. Claimed weight 418g. $120 USD.

Sounds like a bit of creative accounting occurred before the sale, with a load of “assets” now written off

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. 

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It can be more difficult with an electronic system. road.cc technical editor Dave Arthur had a Di2 battery fail while out on the road, for example (it stopped working entirely; it hadn’t just run out of charge). It took a while to get to the root of the issue and he was left with an unrideable bike until he’d sourced a new battery. That could be a big problem if you’re in the back of beyond.

If you’re the type who likes to kick a leg out in high-speed corners, or if you’re not yet confident on your clipless pedals, flats are certainly a good option.