Bike Fit: Here’s What You Need to Know to Make Riding More Comfortable | Bike Self Locking Pedals

While it may not seem like it at first glance, the platform width of the Shimano PD-A600 is actually better than many dedicated road systems out there. There isn’t much support lengthwise, though, so it’s still important to pair these pedals with stiff carbon-soled shoes.

However, in more recent years it’s been Crank Brothers that has dominated the platform pedal market. And so when the current Saint 820 groupset was launched with the first Saint MX80 flat pedal back in 2013, the Japanese brand began development on a dedicated Saint SPD pedal. Being a brand that takes its time with R&D, it is only now – five years later – that Shimano is ready to unleash the Saint SPD pedal.

After cobbling together a few hundred quid during his student days off the back of a hard winter selling hats (long story), Jack bought his first road bike at the age of 20 and has been hooked ever since.  He joined road.cc in 2017, having previously worked for 220 Triathlon magazine. Jack’s preferred events are time trials, sportives, triathlons and pogo sticking (the latter being another long story), and on Sunday afternoons he can often be found on an M5 service station indulging in his favourite post-race meal of 20 chicken nuggets, a sausage roll, caramel shortbread and a large strawberry milkshake. 

For the industry and retailers, it means that the niche market for kid-sized clipless shoes may all but disappear. On the other hand, it may lead to some new sales of platform pedals and flat shoes to the 12-and-under set.

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.

Not gonna lie, "oh-shit-I-can’t-clip-out" falls can and do happen. Even 13-time cyclocross national champion Katie Compton has had it happen—most recently while she was recovering from a sprained knee. "I waited until the last minute to stop and couldn’t unclip," she says. "And I tipped over." But you know what? Not a big deal.

HT’s PA03A pedals might not have the snappiest of names, but when it comes to getting boatloads of grip from a durable and comfortable platform at a bargain price, it’s a name worth remembering as they’re the ones to beat. They are pretty cheap and fairly light too at 351g for the pair. That makes it eminently easy to overlook any small flaws and if you’re into the whole colour matching thing, there’s a huge palette of finishes to choose from.

Even the cheapest pedals have never really been better than now, and prove they don’t have to be generic to come in under a budget. At the more expensive end of the scale, companies are engineering everything right down to the smallest details, experimenting with and creating features that might become standard in future.

Despite the general trend for racer types to use clip-in pedals, we’re noticing that more and more everyday trail riders are trying out flat pedals – perhaps after years of using the clip-in variety. Flat pedal users cite the added flexibility as the main advantage of using flats, plus you can easily pop a foot off in the turns if you’ve pushed your talent too far. In theory, flats should also teach better technique – you can’t bunnyhop just by tugging your feet on the pedals to lift the whole bike upwards.

This isn’t to say I don’t like clipless pedals or that I don’t use them. I do and I do, quite often. Here’s why:

Morat, IMO? I agree. I have 540s and XTs on my road bikes. Walking like a duck and falling over on slippery surfaces isn’t my beverage of choice.

The toe area is lightly reinforced, with some protection given to the big toes. I managed to test this out on both gravel and mountain bike rides, where rocks flipped up were deflected away without a stubbed toe.