Conor McGregor training on a road bike for UFC 229 with Attaquer and FiftyOne Bikes | Bike Self Locking Pedals

“It’s a lot less stressful” than commuting by car, he said. “I could use the lower blood pressure.”

I’ve run SPD’s for almost all of time …until I had a knee injury. I have found to my cost that badly set up SPD’s can really knacker your knee!

I used Shimano SPD 520 clipless for years, but the hot spots on the ball of your foot they can create permanently damaged the nerves in my feet, causing a complete loss of feeling.  I switched to 100 x 100 mm platform pedals and I now vastly prefer them  for urban riding.  Besides all the advantages of platfroms and avoiding hot spots and nerve damage, there is no more clipity-clop walking around in cafes and shops or on the train or the ferry.  I can now ride in my Converse’s if I want to.  

With Di2, the upshift and the downshift buttons sit just behind the brake lever, one beside the other. It’s possible to hit the wrong one in big gloves, or to hit both together.

If you have a shifting problem with a mechanical system, the issue is usually pretty obvious. You can tell instantly if the cable has snapped, if it’s too loose, or whatever, and put it right.

They are indeed the way to go. I use XT pedals for commuting on the crosser, Saints on my MTB and XT caged pedals on the Cervelo too (the latter does earn me some looks of disgust though)!

What do e-bikes mean to the future of cycling?  Well, cyclists age along with the rest of the population, and as more older people (say, 50 and up) discover e-bikes, I believe they will rediscover the joy of cycling if it’s been awhile since they’ve ridden a bike. Exercise is an important health factor, and more people on bikes to me means a healthier community.  My Sierra Club outings attract a range of ages, but if an older person (like me) is riding an e-bike, they don’t worry as much about being able to keep up and they enjoy the outing more. E-bikes can be expensive, but I consider mine to be an investment in myself. Hopefully, as they become more common, the price will drop.

• The number of bike commuters seen during my one-way, 35-minute commute is up, from low single digits to not-as-low single digits.

If you prefer the Shimano ‘Trail’ design, the M530 pedal is the budget option for you. The cage design provides some impact protection whilst riding, as well as offering a little more support for your shoes when clipped in, or for those loose moments when you have to unclip.

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On the other hand (or foot), dispensing with the ritual of clipping in and out and opting for flat pedals at least some of the time will keep you in touch with why you love riding bikes in the first place. You’ll be able to go just as fast and just as far. You won’t wear out your cleats on the sidewalk or slip in the coffee shop. You can walk deep into the woods and find a place to relieve yourself with traction and confidence. Oh, sure, your non-bike-specific shoes may look funny with your stretchy clothes, but guess what? You don’t need to wear those all the time either. Equipping at least one bike in your fleet will help keep at least one foot planted securely outside the realm of total weeniedom.

On both pedals however, I’ve also managed to fatally bend the most forward and central pin that hangs underneath the pedal while you’re riding. In each case, I’ve managed to not only bend the pin, but actually ovalise the bore in the pedal body as well, rendering that particular thread useless for fitting a replacement pin.