Review: The New Shimano AM901 Top Shelf Gravity Shoes Promise… and Deliver | Bike Self Locking Pedals

tried every type of clip-in and went flat – never looked back and will never go back. ride fivetens and vaudes with hope f20’s and my favourite crank bros stamps small size. the crank bros never score well in magazine tests (tho usually its the large that get tested) but i’ve found them to be better than the rest. f20’s also robust tho not so grippy but they’re way too expensive to put in the spares bucket. However if flats lose the vote and the pedal police come to confiscate them, i’ll give up the hopes and hide the crank bros in the attic.

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.

Underfoot, the broad platform provides a decent amount of lateral support, though it’s not so wide that it’s overly susceptible to rock strikes. The large body also gives you a big target to aim for when you’re scrabbling to get clipped back in.

The Downs are essentially hewn from a large lump of limestone which stretches from Surrey to Kent, south of London. The stretch west of Dorking, where I’m busy parking the car and trying to find the least puddled bit of gravel to do so, is comprised of a startlingly profuse pile of woodland (I understand the technical term is forest but that’s much too dull) which is, in turn, rammed to the gunwhales with trails. It’s a little slice of heaven that people from the Big Smoke retreat to in times of stress (that’s all the time then) to relax, recuperate, and – naturally – ride mountain bikes.

I didn’t know what to expect when I started using the Garmin Varia RTL510 radar light. Now, I think of it as an indispensable tool that doesn’t only help keep me safe but gives me some measure of peace of mind while riding rural roads. The radar alerts me when a car is approaching from behind far earlier than my own senses would and as a car passes the blinking light ensures I am well visible to drivers. The light is bright and has great battery life. I use to never ride with a light during the daytime but when you have a light this good at your disposal, it’s worth using even on the brightest and clearest of days. Read the full review.

When pedaling, both offer a great platform with lots of support. The bearings are smooth, and during our testing we have had zero issues with either. The Look uses a needle bearing under the platform of the pedal, and from our experience this leads to very little service or maintenance.

First of all, if you’re thinking of trying clipless pedals, just do it. Make the change. Really. The difference is amazing: More power transfer. Better efficiency. More control. Okay, they also cause the occasional fall, but they’re totally worth it!

Speedplay offer a premium option. For anyone with knee niggles, they’re preferable to other styles because they offer a huge amount of adjustability – the release angle and float can be altered independently. The pedal itself is much smaller, but this connects with a significantly larger cleat – creating a wide contact at the sole.  The pedal is double sided, too – making clipping in super quick which will suit criterium races.

I found it extremely difficult to walk into the office or a coffee shop wearing the cleats. The cleats protrude quite far from the front of the foot, so you can’t even feign a normal gait.

The upper is made up of a few panels, with the closed-off toe splitting the two perforated pieces of synthetic leather. A large reflective panel sits at the rear, with a padded interior designed to cuddle your heel. Unlike Shimano’s performance shoes, the XC5 doesn’t attempt to lock the heel in with any special one-way fabric or aggressive shaping.

On road: Speedplay just shit. [Queue outrage from the zealots who use them. But they are.] Having started out on mountain bikes and Atac pedals, used Time for years but never got on them after they switched from RXS to iClic (or vive versa, I don’t recall). Have now been on Look Keos for better part of a decade. They work and you can get a range of different price points.

The X2 uses the same clip mechanism that differentiates HT pedals from all others on the market. This hybrid mechanism combines a tension bar on the front, like Time, but uses a cage at the back, like Shimano (though the HT cleats won’t work with either system). The result is a feel that straddles the two – engagement is positive, with an audible ‘click’ as the cage snaps down over the back of the cleat, but the rounded tension bar smoothens both entry and release. It’s a really nice balance – like riding a set of quality carbon wheels that are responsive, yet nicely damped on the trail.