Pearl Izumi X-Alp Launch SPD shoes review | Spd Pedals

At 45, I recently started using cleats (having used old-style clips as a teenager) and have ended up with exactly the solution suggested here – double-sided pedals and multi-release cleats.  Fabulous combo – works really well for me.

Weighing in at 430 grams, the Vault isn’t the lightest pedal out there, but the large platform, and thin profile make it a solid option for most riders. Measuring 105mm x 105mm wide with 17mm of concavity, they disappear under your feet when riding rough, technical terrain.

But my message to Shimano and those bold enough to rock these bad boys is this: keep doing you and ignore the haters, maybe you’ll be laughing when we’re all proved wrong.

Still, there’s a small learning curve — especially for those used to orienting road pedals before snapping in. But once you’ve mastered pushing forward into the pedal, it’s easy. And because the pedals are round, riders can virtually always engage the pedals without looking down.

Not gonna lie, "oh-shit-I-can’t-clip-out" falls can and do happen. Even 13-time cyclocross national champion Katie Compton has had it happen—most recently while she was recovering from a sprained knee. "I waited until the last minute to stop and couldn’t unclip," she says. "And I tipped over." But you know what? Not a big deal.

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Can someone explain to me why I find it significantly harder to disengage on the 8* cleats then on the 4* cleats, if release angle are supposed to be the same 13* ?

Shimano’s PD-A600 SPD road pedals have never managed to be much more than a niche product, but the rise in gravel riding is making them more relevant than ever.

Tension is adjustable, though accessing the 3mm hex bolt is awkward. The level varies from tight, to really-friggin-tight. I certainly wouldn’t put a new rider on these pedals, because their tenacious hold can be intimidating. As the cleats wore in and I got used to them though, I steadily increased the tension to about halfway. Any more than that and you might dislocate your knee trying to unclip.

Reporter Paulina Pineda said it took her about an hour using a Grid bike, in part because it took her a while to figure out how to undock and dock the bike and adjust it. And she said she rode it pretty slowly.

Clipless pedals have a spring-loaded mechanism that grabs a specially shaped stud, known as a cleat, on the sole of the shoe. You press the cleat down to click it into the mechanism, and twist out to release.

Shimano’s listed dimensions are a little off – I measured the usable platform of these at 108mm long and 110mm wide, and not 110mm x 115mm as claimed. Being the M/L size, these are recommended for shoe sizes from EU 43 and above. If you’ve got smaller shoes than that, the S/M size drops the platform length and width by 10mm each way.