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

Our news director, Kathy Tulumello, also raved about how much she was able to get done on her bus and light-rail commute. But it did take her 90 minutes to get in.

Road pedal performance is often heavily influenced by the the shape and amount of contact between the cleat and pedal. The cleat on the Shimano PD-A600 pedals is miniscule, but the wide pedal helps make up for that by supporting the lugs of properly chosen shoes.

The tread pattern, called “Dotty,” is one that’s familiar to FiveTen fans. It’s basically big circles, and while the tread isn’t deep, the rubber more than makes up for it with good grip on solid surfaces.

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.

Even better, the cartridge-style axle assembly is well sealed and very easy to service, with proper steel ball bearings throughout instead of plastic bushings that will wear out over time. The forged aluminum bodies have proven impressively tough, too. Whereas some carbon fiber or plastic pedal bodies would explode on even moderate impacts, these A600s have shrugged off a number of direct rock strikes.

Earlier this year, Bendiksen purchased an e-bike for $2,299 from Cynergy E-Bikes in Southeast Portland. When weather is fair, Bendiksen commutes on the bike about three times a week to HTG Inc., in Columbia Business Center near the Columbia River, where he is a senior systems administrator.

If you’re more of a trail rider, but want the best of the best, this is the pedal for you. It’s the previous generation, but that shouldn’t have any impact on the performance.

The open architecture allows the system to still be fully functional when caked with mud, snow, and debris, which definitely isn’t the case with traditional road pedal systems.

Flat in shape, the laces offer a little stretch, enough to help lock them in place. Annoyingly, the laces themselves are obscenely long which, I suspect, is due to Shimano using the same length lace across its full size range. Laced up and tucked through the elastic lace holder, the loops would sit over my toes and flap in the wind. Make smaller loops and the plastic crimped ends would tap against the crank arms. At least with my EU43 samples, the laces are simply too long.

While his first preference is Shimano, James did throw in a suggestion for Time pedals. They’re very lightweight, the lower-priced options are very appealing in terms of value for the money, their unique retention system is especially easy to engage, the float is particularly smooth in feel and generous in range, and recent changes to the cleats have made them nearly as good to walk in as Shimano.

The unobtrusive mechanism means that out of all the pedals, the X2s were the grippiest and most flat-like if you’re not clipped in. When you are clipped in, stability is insanely good. Knowing that you’re not going to be accidentally ejected off the bike is a huge confidence booster in rough terrain.

The 10 adjustable pins provide ample traction, but I couldn’t feel any noticeable concavity at all. At times, the pedals felt like riding on giant square blocks. The large footprint also proved to be an issue when riding tight rocky trails.