Specialized Recon shoe: first look, weight, price, spec | Spd Pedals

It’s all about freedom and control. Crankbrothers took the opportunity to release its Stamp pedals at Interbike 2018, in large part because they make a lot of sense for beginner and intermediate riders. For starters, it’s easier to pull a foot off the pedals in a high-speed corner when the rider isn’t clipped in. And flat pedals are now a lot lighter than they used to be. When compared to clipless pedals, flat pedals also tend to be far less expensive, or at least they can be.

+1 – although I took to the zero straight away. I have them on my aero and TT bikes. Spds for my MTB and commuter/CX/winter bike.

Five Ten Sam Hill Named after the formidable EWS Champ, these shoes are designed to stomp stages. The soles are so thick they look like short hiking boots from a distance and are likely just as durable. Claimed weight 549g. $160 USD.

With its hybrid mechanism, the X2 combines the snappiness of an SPD pedal with the smoothness of Time’s ATAC system. The high tension level can be intimidating to begin with, but get your cleats and pins dialled in and you’ll be rewarded with confidence-boosting grip and speed-friendly stability.

The pedals use a three-bolt design, with a large surface area to the cleat that can make walking a little cumbersome but does provide a good contact patch.

Ordinarily, when it comes to uninspired gifts, nothing underwhelms like a pair of socks. It’s the present that says, “You exist, and you have feet.” Cyclists, however, get genuinely excited about socks: they’re our “pieces of flair,” and sock choice is really the only way we get to express ourselves stylistically (unless you count really bad calf tattoos), especially if we’re on a team and all have to dress the same.

a relaxing route i don’t take nearly enough — light railing it into work (and giving in to old man pasttimes of crossword puzzles). #carlesscommutepic.twitter.com/wpoPqdmf5M

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.

Manufactured from big hunks of forged alloy, the XT flats get a very robust platform for stomping your foot down onto. The body is hollowed out through the middle for mud-shedding, and chiselled around its perimeter to reduce weight. Chamfered edges aim to help the pedal slide off of rocks rather than jam onto them, though the angle of these chamfers isn’t as obvious as what you’d find on say, a DMR Vault.

Advantage 1: Flats are unforgiving. Things you’d just be able to do with your feet clipped in, you might not be able to at first with flats. Any flaws in your technique will show up more with flats than clipless pedals. If either your weighting or foot position is wrong, the chances of foot and pedal separating are massively increased, and, as a result, over time, this will teach you to ride in a way that keeps you more connected to the bike: weight down in the bike rather than on top of it, reading trail feedback, and smoothly guiding the bike where you want it to go rather than just pulling on it.

Look clearly you’re ranting and couldn’t get to grips with them, which is fair enough. But what’s problematic is that if someone else has a positive experience with them, you try to contort their experience into a negative. That’s a bit childish. 

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.