Buyer’s guide to mountain bike and gravel shoes | Spd Pedals

The key thing to remember about pedals is that the left and right ones are threaded differently. The right pedal has a normal thread, so that you tighten it by turning the pedal spindle clockwise in the crank arm. The left pedal has a reverse thread, so that you tighten it anticlockwise. This is so that it doesn’t tend to unscrew when you’re riding.

Ridiculous as that may sound, signs of change are a(bare)foot — beloved B-list Instagram cycle-touring celeb-influencer Ultraromance has done the seemingly impossible in raising Bedrock Sandals to a status of coolness in certain circles. Stranger things!

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

That said – definitely not a beginnner setup. Tightening the cleat screws even .5nm too much and you can compress part of the housing enough to give you issues with the spring. Breaking in the spring must be a hell of a time for a light rider, and if the missus moves on to them (I have bought her some, but after realising the initial learning curve she lost interest), I’ll have to break the spring in for her. Also actually finding the pedal isn’t just step down and go – you have a few cm wide circle under you foot that you need to mount so like Keo’s etc, you still need to develop muscle memory.

For regular and technical trail riding, I use Shimano XT clipless and Specialized Comp Mountain Bike shoes.

Time pedals have historically had issues with bearing durability, though, and while that aspect seems to have improved, it’s still a big unknown. And even more troubling is the fact that they’re technically not user serviceable. While the retaining collar for the axle assembly can be removed at home, the official tools aren’t made available to consumers.

As you explore, you’ll find that shoe stickiness, sole stiffness, pedal shape, pin length and pin shape all contribute to (or detract from) grip. Extreme combinations of pins and shoes can create so much grip that you can’t even reposition your foot without lifting it, and preference on this varies between riders. Particularly if you’re practising tricks, when you may find you want to get off the bike faster than an extreme pedal-shoe combo allows.

Advantage 2: Flats are forgiving. While they may readily show flaws in your technique, they also give you a saving grace: you can dab, even at speed, without having to worry about clipping back in. When cornering, you can throw your inside foot out moto-style to get your centre of gravity further forward, giving more grip to your front tyre. If things go really wrong, you can even throw the bike away. If you’re trying something new, flat pedals are ideal for giving you the security to bail.

Yet again Canyon has no idea about their own mudguards and recommend clip-on guards as a temporary solution… for a bike out for a year with…

You can of course adjust the grip levels by mixing and matching the short and long pins, but I just went full-length all round for maximum grip. And boy are these pedals grippy! Combined with the large platform and the concave shape, the steel pins hold onto your shoes with vicious traction, providing plenty of small edges to bite into soft shoe soles. The DMR Vaults are known for being one of the grippiest out there, but I’d say these XT pedals are at least on par with the Vaults.

 Clearly you’re triggered by my positive reaction and descended into some maddened state ranting about damascene, puns and post-purchase-rationalisations. 

Jeff, you’d think that FiveTen would have spent a bit more time on the design before releasing something like this. Heavy, can’t easily unclip, and can’t take cleats off – all for $150. What a (BAD) deal!