Longterm Review: Shimano XC7 vs XC9 SPD Mountain Bike Shoes | Spd Pedals

Also into my third year but with EPS. Haven’t regretted it for a second. Effortless and trouble free gear changing especially when braking. I’m thinking of replacing my touring bike and I hope I can get it fitted with triple electronic shifting.

Rachael is happiest on two wheels, she’s been riding bikes for a good few years now after horses got too expensive! Partial to a race or two Rachael also likes getting out into the hills with a big bunch of mates. She’s been writing for a long as she’s been riding and is equally happy getting stuck into a kit review as she is creating stories. 

‘Flat pedals are for beginners’, goes an insult I’ve only rarely heard. People can get staunchly tribal about it, pointing all the way up the leader boards to justify their stance. It used to be that downhill World Cup podiums were dominated by flat pedals, but, it seems, no longer, with more riders nowadays running clipless (Sam Hill being a notable exception). At the same time, bike geometry has become more aggressive, and cross-country courses, mostly dominated by clipless riders, have become more extreme than they used to be. In the midst of all that there seem to be plenty of recreational riders who prefer flats.

As an old roadie, I can’t conceive of riding flat pedals. It feels so wrong not being connected to the bike.

Really I’d only recommend them to riders who will find that learning curve worth the touch of extra speed off the lights or side of the road. To me it was.

The contact patch is smaller than that available on road specific pedals, offering a little less power transfer – but some roadies do enjoy the simplicity.

For the industry and retailers, it means that the niche market for kid-sized clipless shoes may all but disappear. On the other hand, it may lead to some new sales of platform pedals and flat shoes to the 12-and-under set.

Now I couldn’t use anything else. They are just pheneomenal compared to the various Looks I usually use. They need broken in first of all as the spring is super stiff, but once done then it only takes a little force to clip in. Actually finding the insert point is a few weeks of muscle memory (I stuck them on the indoor trainer first which sped this process up).

“The stuff they never tell you about electronic shifting”. Really? Or is it just me who thinks the writer was scrabbling to find something make a story about an issue that isn’t really an issue?

It may not have some of the fancier features like colour mapping or a touch screen. But what the Wahoo Elemnt Bolt does do, it does really well. The menus and buttons are intuitive and easy to use. The mapping is incredibly simple to read and understand on the fly, and it pairs super easily with heart rate monitors and power meters.

At the top of the pile sits Shimano Dura Ace. If you need the best that money can buy, then this is the option for you. Thankfully we’ve also managed to find a bit of a discount.

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