Best New Cycling Gear 2018 | Bike Flat Pedals

Things can get a bit fiddly with pulling the bearings out to clean them, but it’s really not that difficult to do. And technically you do require a very small 10mm cone spanner to retighten the bearings, though I ended up improvising with some needle-nose pliers to get the job done. Once tightened up and reinstalled into the pedal body, the play had disappeared, and the bearings were back to spinning smoothly again.

Shimano’s single-sided PD-A600 SPD road pedal isn’t new; far from it, in fact. First introduced in 2010, it was originally billed as an Ultegra-level alternative for roadies who wanted the stability of a traditional three-bolt system but the walking convenience of a recessed two-bolt cleat.

Shoes come at various prices and can be found for a lot less than retail if you look carefully. Around £60 will get you a reliable pair of Shimano trail shoes with Velcro straps, a little more will get you a nice looking XC/trail shoe from a brand like Giro. Start inching up towards the £100 mark and you will find stiffer shoes that are designed for longer periods in the saddle or for racing or in terms of flat shoes, you might be able to find a pair of last season FiveTens for flat pedals. Head towards £150 and the shoes might offer great features such as the storm flap keeping fastenings clean as on the Shimano ME7’s or as on the Scott MTB AR shoes, Boa fastenings. Head upwards from there and the shoes will be more specific in terms of winter proofing or efficient shoes for racing, those Shimano XC9 shoes we mentioned retail at a massive £319!

By the way, I’d suggest adding the Deore XT PD-T780 or PD-T8000 pedals – they’re top dog as far as trekking SPD+FLAT pedals are concerned. My pair of T780s has been excellent since day one.

You can get a basic pair of clipless pedals for less than£50 – and they’ll do the job. Spend more, and the mechanism will be fine tuned, giving a stronger grip in the cleat – which will be a welcome improvement for racers, but beginners might actually want a little more float.

Barney rediscovers the fact that riding bikes is totally ace, regardless of how techy the trails are. And how bad the weather is.

Even the pros have the occasional slow-motion spill when using clipless pedals. Here’s how to get it right from the start.

To start with shoes with laces will usually have a Velcro strap to cover the knot or some sort of elastic strap to hold the laces in place and tuck free end such as these Specialized 2FO Cliplite Lace shoes. Laces can be a bit fiddly, but laces allow you to spread the tension evenly over your foot, which can make them very comfortable.

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.

Speedplay’s ‘lillipops’ are road specific pedals that gain their power-transfer-platform from the cleat, as opposed to the pedal. This means the cleat needs looking after as it’s integral to an efficient pedal stroke.

*Claimed weights are per shoe, and come from manufacturers’ provided info. The size of the shoe that was weighed is listed below if available.

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.