Clipless pedals — how Shimano’s multi-release cleats make it easy to get started | Spd Pedals

The wide carbon fibre bodies make for comfortable and efficient pedalling, and I found them to be easy to clip in and out of.

The earliest clipless pedals held your feet in a fixed position on the pedals. This soon turned out to be a problem for some riders whose knees got sore, leading to serious problems in some cases. The answer was to slightly modify the design so that the foot could move a little. This rotational float is a feature of most modern clipless pedals. In some it can be adjusted either by choice of cleat or by adjuster screws.

It normally takes her about 15 minutes to drive to work. Her adventure from bus to light rail took her 75 minutes.

I asked Lohmeyer about this, and he claimed to have developed a shoe to specifically house the Pitbull cleats and make them less obtrusive (see image above). That may be a better option for anyone who uses these in town because the cleats are a hassle on any standard road shoe.

Furthermore, consider that the sort of person who plays a Bluetooth speaker while mountain biking has almost certainly driven to the ride, which means they’ve had all that time at home getting ready, plus the drive itself, to pump themselves up by listening to some band that sounds like every member has a braided goatee. Given this, it doesn’t seem like such a big deal for them to take a break from it while they ride their bikes and then fire it back up on the sound-system in the Chevy Avalanche for the drive home. I mean: Why not at least try listening to the sounds of nature while you ride? Taking a shitty bike speaker into the woods with you is like bringing one of those small cans of Pringles to a Michelin-starred restaurant.

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.

Wider platforms also help stabilize your feet to keep them from rocking out of plane, which not only helps with power transfer, but can potentially alleviate joint stress for riders that are more sensitive to that sort of thing.

As a result of this resurgence, footwear brands are newly invested in flat-soled shoes. It’s even spawned some new companies, including Ride Concepts, which debuted its line of both clipless and flat shoes that incorporate 3DO material into the insoles and ankles for added protection on the trails. 3D0 flexes and feels soft to the touch, but the material immediately hardens upon impact.

 I raced for  some time at Cat 1 level, and for a couple of years did all my riding and racing on spds as I only needed one pair of shoes then. Used to get shit about it in the peloton, but it didn’t seem to affect my results. Only downside is if you have dodgy knees, as spd’s have less lateral support.

Yeah, I’m not sure why FiveTen chose to make this style of shoe. I re-read Chris Daniels’ review of the Hellcats from last year, and while he wasn’t quite so harsh in his assessment, his review was pretty lukewarm.

I’ve found platform clip-in pedals ruin my knees. They can effectively remove the free rotation in the clip-in pedal because the sole is in contact with the platform. How good a grip the pedal has on the shoe depends on the combination. I learnt to avoid them many years ago… YMMV

These pedals excelled in ease of use. As Lohmeyer advertises on his YouTube channel, this system is quick to engage and requires almost no extra attention or effort. From a dead stop, the cleats naturally bite into the pedal virtually every time.