Crankbrothers Stamp 2, 3, 7 and 11 flat pedals | Bike Self Locking Pedals

Dan Bendiksen rides his e-bike along the Columbia River as part of his commute from his Salmon Creek-neighborhood home to his job at HTG Inc. in Vancouver. Photos by Nathan Howard/The Columbian var objLink = new myC_Remote.BuyLink(); objLink.LinkContent = "<span" class="btn btn-warning btn-xs pull-right btn-buyphoto">Buy this photo"; objLink.IsAboveImage = false; objLink.LinkTarget = "_blank"; objLink.Render();

off-road.cc Editorial and general enquiries: info@off-road.cc Advertising and commercial: sales@off-road.cc

A surprisingly good all around tire. Looking at the tread pattern I had these initially pegged for mud duty, but they’ve performed surprisingly well on mixed surfaces. A closer inspection shows a consistent line of center knobs that roll surprisingly well on hard ground, making this a great choice for gravel racing and cyclocross where you’re hopping between different surfaces.

All material © Farrelly Atkinson (F-At) Limited, Unit 7b Green Park Station BA11JB. Tel 01225 588855. © 2008–present unless otherwise stated. Terms and conditions of use.

But transitioning a car commuter or two or 20 or 300 to an e-bike can’t hurt, right? Bicycling advocates in the U.S. see e-bikes as an opening for increased cycling participation. E-bikes are a minuscule part of overall U.S. bike sales, but the e-bike sales are the only segment in the industry showing robust growth. Advocates point to the growing popularity and acceptance of e-bikes in Europe, helping relieve pressure on their car-congested urban centers. Other signs of mainstream acceptance: General Motors’ exploration of e-bike production as well as endorsements of e-cycling by Oprah Winfrey and William Shatner.

This research would reveal that Sram’s system is wireless, Di2 and EPS are not. They would presumably therefore realise that they would need wires for the non wireless systems. Oh, and a battery. Unless they thought the battery was disposable they would probably realise that they would, at some point need a battery charger. If they thought it was disposable they would wonder how long the charge would last and how much would replacement batteries be.

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.

Flats for fun, on my jump bike and trail bike; clipless for distance, on my road bike, commuter bike and occasionally on my trail bike. All based on need for efficiency vs need to bail!

"An idiot looking at his cell-phone veered into the bike lane right in front of me, forcing me to flip him the bird," he wrote.

Finally, FiveTen has done a good job with the cleat recess on the Hellcats. Walking across concrete in a pair of clipless mountain bike pedals tends to sound like a tap-dance routine, but I find the Hellcats to be quite stealthy. That’s because the cleats — at least the Crankbrothers ones I run — are at precisely the same level as the sole (or maybe just a hair lower).

First introduced to the off-road world in 1990 by Shimano, clip-in pedals (formerly and incorrectly labelled as ‘clipless’ pedals [Wil is willing to take this assertion to the pub – Ed]) promptly rose amongst the pro ranks in mountain bike racing. Offering more efficiency and better power transfer by way of stiffer clip-specific shoe soles, for many competitive types there is no other choice.

Shimano pedals are among our favourites and, luckily, they can often be found with generous discounts. Here, we’ve rounded up the best UK, US and Australian deals on Shimano SPD and SPD-SL pedals from around the web.