Specialized Recon shoe: first look, weight, price, spec | Carbon Fahrrad Umwerfer Installationssatz

The Michelin tread does an impressive job at providing traction from clean tile floors to wet roots. The mid-foot of the sole is covered in rubber, with four lugs protruding from the heel to give a stable stance. Traction at the toes is a little limited in stock form, and you’ll want to buy some toe spikes if you’re planning on running anywhere. Like most mountain bike shoes, none of the lugs are replaceable and to date, durability hasn’t been an issue.

This is the least expensive of the three pedals in the Xpro range and it’s comparable with the price of Shimano Ultegra (second from top in the range) and Look Keo Blade Carbon pedals with chromoly axles (also second tier) – so they are comparably quite expensive.

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.

I can use SPDs comfortably, did for the first time on a road bike for a week on holiday, took to them quickly and didn’t fall off sideways once when stopping.

There is a vast choice of mountain bike clipless pedals available to buy, some are good for all-round trail riding, some are more suited to cross-country riding whilst others are aimed squarely at gravity, enduro or downhill riding. Between us at off.road.cc we’ve tested quite a variety and have listed the best in test here. 

At just 354g for the pair, it is one of the lightest trail clip-in pedals on the market thanks to its weight-optimised design. The pedals use an SPD-compatible mechanism for cleat engagement, and allow for 8° (+/- 4° from the neutral position) of angular float. Compared to smaller bodied pedals, the Vertic platform has a large surface area for more contact between pedal and shoe. Sixpack claims the Vertic have been tested and optimised for many pedal/shoe combinations.

Compared to the smaller racing pedals though, the big platforms on these pedals are designed to provide more support when used with more flexible footwear. And with the addition of textured bodies and adjustable pins, the platform is supposed to increase traction between shoe and pedal.

One of the other advantages of clipless pedals is that you can get more power out of your legs by being able to pull up on the pedal stroke in addition to pushing down however, this highlights the disadvantage of multi-release cleats since if you pulled up on these your foot would come out of the pedal. 

I hope there is a solution. I don’t have a problem with the expense but I have not found the info. on the Shimano web site that says it will work. I have seen the XTR Di2 derailleurs but I couldn’t find the information that said Di2 road shifters would work a triple and the info seems to restrict the front derailleur to 40T. What size is your largest chainring?

Specialized 2F0 Flat 1.0 The 2FO Flat 1.0 has an elastic Lacelock to keep the laces away from your chainring. Claimed weight 347g in size 42. $150 USD.

There isn’t a triple option for EPS. In fact I don’t think there’s a triple option for any e-shifting system.

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