Hayes spins off ProTaper brand, expands Road Show dealer training | Bike Flat Pedals

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. 

The pedals use a three-bolt design, with a large surface area to the cleat that can make walking a little cumbersome but does provide a good contact patch.

And there you are, still attached to your state-of-the-art suspension bicycle at the bottom of a ravine.

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.

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.  

Expectations were high when Shimano finally released a clipless pedal in its top-end Saint gravity group. The M-820’s bring Shimano’s characteristic cleat engagement, familiar to many loyal followers of the Japanese brand, to a downhill worthy pedal. They’re not perfect, the 2.5 mm steel pins could be taller, and the platform will not be wide enough for some riders preferences. The pins are an easy fix for those who want more traction. I found the platform wide enough and appreciated the pedals durable construction. After six months of abuse and many rock strikes, they’re showing inevitable external signs of abuse. Functionally, they still spin smooth with zero play in the axle and cleat engagement feels like new. Read the full review.

There haven’t been many changes in road bikes in the last 50 years that actually make a big difference (electronic shifting, disc brakes, tubeless tyres, integrated shift levers and clipless pedals are my top five). I’m calling tubeless the second most important (after clipless pedals) with lower rolling resistance, lower weight, greater puncture resistance and better ride quality.

What do you think of Shimano’s SPD sandals? Are you a fan or a hater? I’m sure you’ll let me know in the comments.

He’s got a hill behind the shop. I pedaled up the hill with ease. I sped up to 20 mph on flat city streets with far less effort than on any of my own bikes.

“I got sick of them clogging up with dirt. There was one specific ride; I remember it clearly. I forgot to pee before I left the house, was out riding on local dirt roads, pulled into the first porta potty, saw that the ground was muddy, and had a decision to make: unclip and risk clogging up the cleat, or continue riding and hold my bladder. I refused to have my bladder held hostage by my equipment. I unclipped, got off, peed, and could not clip in for the remainder of the ride. It wasn’t the first time something like that had happened, but it was the last straw. When I got home, I ordered three sets of Shimano pedals. Haven’t switched back since.”

If you want to get into the sandal-toting life you can buy the Shimano SD5 sandals pictured from Evans Cycles. If you really want to complete that look, the jazzy socks come courtesy of Stance and the more austere waterproof stockings are from Bridgedale.

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.