Cycling for Beginners: 5 Tips to Help You Get Started | Road Bike Clipless Pedals

Metro Phoenix was built for cars, with sprawling suburbs and dozens of miles of freeways looping through our cities. But as the Valley has added more public transportation options in the past few decades, we’ve mostly stayed in our vehicles.

Time’s Xpresso pedal offers the lightest system weight and the most generous float. It’s also known to be an exceptionally easy system to get in and out of.

I hope there is a solution. I don’t have a problem with the expense but I have not found the info. on the Shimano web site that says it will work. I have seen the XTR Di2 derailleurs but I couldn’t find the information that said Di2 road shifters would work a triple and the info seems to restrict the front derailleur to 40T. What size is your largest chainring?

The Keo 2 Max Blades are a decent weight for their price, and have a wide platform that gives a stable interface between cleat and pedal.

Pearl Izumi X-Alp Launch Check out our review of the X-Alp by John Fisch here. 350g claimed weight, $150 USD.

We would say, though, that in our experience problems like this are rare and Shimano does have very good diagnostics tools.  

The main difference where flat shoes are concerned is in the grippiness of the sole and the lack of cleat recess of course! This varies from manufacturer to manufacturer with the gold star award usually going to FiveTen. The soles are generally more flexible and allow more ‘feel’ on the pedals but not so much that they offer less support or are uncomfortable to wear for long periods. Some riders so say that it is possible to have a shoe that is too grippy, meaning they can’t move about on the pedals if they need to mid trail. We like a pair of FiveTens with these HT PA03 or Bontrager Line Pro pedals best.

I can use SPDs comfortably, did for the first time on a road bike for a week on holiday, took to them quickly and didn’t fall off sideways once when stopping.

Look clearly you’re ranting and couldn’t get to grips with them, which is fair enough. But what’s problematic is that if someone else has a positive experience with them, you try to contort their experience into a negative. That’s a bit childish. 

Within the six-model line of Xpresso pedals, the 199-gram 10 is the first version that uses a carbon pedal body. The 10 features a hollow-steel axle and rotates on steel bearings. Time introduced the patented Iclic design that sets it apart from its competition. This system holds the retention system open until the cleat is in place. The Xpresso 10 utilizes a carbon-blade tension system with three adjustable settings. Time touts their low stack height (from the centerline of the spindle to the base of the shoe) as another key feature.

Everything required was in the box: two wheels, two tyres, two valve stems, two tyre levers, one valve-core remover and one bottle of tyre sealant.

Inflation of the tyre was trivially easy. A few strokes of the floor pump saw the tyre take up a good seal with the rim. A few more strokes brought on the first of (usually) four ‘pop’ noises as the bead moved onto the retention ledge. The final pop usually occurred at 70psi.