Gallery: Pedals, hi-vis shoes, and tubeless boosters at Sea Otter Day 3 – VeloNews.com Gallery: Pedals, hi-vis shoes, and tubeless boosters at Sea Otter Day 3 | Bike Self Locking Pedals

I’ve now been on flats for a year (maybe I need a self help group) and although getting use to them I do miss the ultimate control and 360 power transfer that SPD’s bring.

However, nothing compared to my “holy … cow” experience on one of the Specialized e-bikes from Fischer’s collection.

The shoes feel plenty efficient, and only minimal heel slip is felt when making a specific effort to seek it. Where a race shoe’s complete stiffness means your foot naturally wants to pull away from the board-like sole, the XC5’s sole allows some flex to retain the foot.

• 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.

I’ve got the M324 pedals mentioned above on my pub bike. They are great for what they are, but you do have to watch it if you’re clipped in, as it’s very easy to catch the cage on the floor when cornering.

While I enjoyed riding with the Pitbull system overall, there were some drawbacks. The most egregious issue with these cleats is the profile on the shoe. These cleats stick out much more than standard road cleats, and those are a pain already. Because this was a prototype set, I refrained from walking around as much as possible.

The winner of this award doesn’t necessarily go to the thinnest, lightest or most adjustable pedal on test, but one that is able to balance all of those attributes with durability, functionality, and value for money. That’s a pretty tall order, but there were no doubts about the winner here.

“I’ve been toying with the idea of switching to Time, but still currently prefer Shimano. Time offer smoother float and a lower weight. And the cheap Time pedals are pretty damned good. But I’m not switching until I know the bearings are sufficiently durable.”

The Maltese Falcon has a skate-style feel similar to the company’s Freerider Pro but is a bit narrower and has a stiffer feeling sole. Despite the narrower last, it’s still roomier than other comparable shoes, but the padding around the ankle and on the tongue keeps the fit snug. This shoe excels at repelling mud and water, and even when it does end up in a puddle, it dries pretty quickly. While out riding, the only time I was able to notice a major difference between the Freerider Pro and Maltese Falcon was on rock gardens; the SPD cleat on the latter gave me that little extra from each pedal stroke to get me through.

In the box you get 4° and 8° float cleat options. Release angle is 13° and they’re supplied with plastic shims, and metal shims for use with carbon soles. A nice touch is that HT includes an 8mm socket in the box so you can pull them apart for routine servicing. After a wet winter of abuse, I did just that. Five minutes and some fresh grease later, they were feeling nice and smooth again.

Because the platform is slightly concave, more flexible, downhill-orientated shoes are well supported across most of the pedal.

Honorable mentions go to the DMR Vault and the Issi Stomp.  Each pedal was extremely solid, they just lacked the customization of the Scarabs.