FGF 392: Sticky shoes from Giro, flat pedals from Shimano, and a weird expanding tubeless foam thingamabob | Road Bike Clipless Pedals

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

There isn’t quite such a firm ‘snap’ as you get when clipping into a Shimano pedal (the sound is a bit more subtle, like I perceive most Look-compatible pedals to be), but I think it’s easier to ‘find’ the Time pedal without having to really look down. This is helped by the improved pedal surface area compared with the Xpro’s predecessor, now a nice and wide 725mm2.

661 Filter Asymmetrical construction with raised inner ankle protection prevents the ankle from hitting the crank arm and chainstay. $109 USD.

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.

Say you come off and wreck a Shimano Ultegra Di2 rear derailleur, for example: a new one is going to cost you £244.99 at full retail price, compared with £84.99 for a cable-operated model — nearly three times as much — and you can’t save money by downgrading to Shimano 105 like you could with mechanical because there’s no Di2 version available.

We won’t touch on these shoes too much, suffice to say they are a ‘clip in’ shoe with a three bolt mount to fit road style cleats to. They are usually very stiff to offer good power transfer, they are hard to walk in and wouldn’t be used on a mountain or gravel bike. For more on road shoes, including the best ones to buy, head over to road.cc here and read their buyer’s guide to road shoes.

ONZA HO Titanium clip-less (pukka vintage) with Shimano shoes ((and clip-less because they came after toe-clips!!)) On a Marin hardtail plus.

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The CNC machined cromoly spindle rolls on a big Igus bushing and an outboard needle roller bearing. On the end of each spindle is a tiny little thrust bearing preloaded by a wave spring, which helps to mitigate lateral play while accommodating axial loads. It’s all very neat, but the guts are only sealed with a single O-ring, so wet weather riders will want to clean them periodically. If things do get crusty, service kits are available for £11.99.

These criticisms are not without merit — the SPD sandal has a kind of naff normcore-dad-on-holiday aesthetic that I think is thus far unmatched in the cycling world. An admirable feat in a sport where silly clothing is pretty much a prerequisite.  

The A600 pedals even manage to impress on the scales. Actual weight for a pair is just 292g, plus another 51g for the cleats. For comparison, a set of current Shimano Dura-Ace R9100 pedals and cleats weighs in at 305g — a saving of just 38g with a huge increase in cost.

Ride Concepts Hellion Another sweet flat pedal shoe with very few stitches to wear out, and some solid vibration dampening. Claimed weight 421g. $130.