Trek recalling about 10,000 Bontrager flat pedals | Bike Self Locking Pedals

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.

I didn’t see any brands making flats specifically for riders with wide feet while doing this research, but I will certainly keep an eye out. I have tried some ION shoes that were too wide for my feet, and maybe they would work well.

I’ve run SPD’s for almost all of time …until I had a knee injury. I have found to my cost that badly set up SPD’s can really knacker your knee!

The most significant stiffening is usually around the heel. This heel cup is shaped to hold your heel down in the shoe so it doesn’t slip on the upstroke as you pedal or as you walk. The toes are usually reinforced against scuffing, especially in shoes intended for mountain biking. There’s usually padding at the heel and top of the shoe for comfort. You also need to keep an eye out for lots of mesh and ventilation holes. Good ventilation will be great in the summer and, of course buy these shoes if you plan on only wearing the shoes in warmer weather. But beware as too much ventilation in winter will lead to cold feet pretty quickly. It was one of our complaints with the Shimano ME7 shoe. 

“It’s a lot less stressful” than commuting by car, he said. “I could use the lower blood pressure.”

Shimano shoes are generally quite generous with who they fit, and the XC5’s relaxed nature only adds to this reputation. With a more open heel design, a forgiving upper and a pliable sole, there’s certainly more leeway here than with a race shoe. However, a lack of width choices is perhaps as much a sign of the price as it is of demand. If your foot shape is at one extreme of the bell-curve, you’ll likely want to pursue something with additional width options.

That said – definitely not a beginnner setup. Tightening the cleat screws even .5nm too much and you can compress part of the housing enough to give you issues with the spring. Breaking in the spring must be a hell of a time for a light rider, and if the missus moves on to them (I have bought her some, but after realising the initial learning curve she lost interest), I’ll have to break the spring in for her. Also actually finding the pedal isn’t just step down and go – you have a few cm wide circle under you foot that you need to mount so like Keo’s etc, you still need to develop muscle memory.

For some, e-bikes are changing the way they perceive personal, in-town travel, said Steve Frothingham, editor of  Bicycle Retailer and Industry News.

"We have heard of this issue before but only on a few occasions, and given how popular these pedals have proven to be it’s clear that it’s only affecting a small amount of customers. Time have been made aware and are investigating the issue to determine what is the root cause in these small amount of cases. However, from what we have found it would appear the noise is stemming from the interface between the cleats and the pedal body. Given the large platform area of the XPro pedals we feel that with some people’s riding style and shoe set-up it’s possible for the cleat and pedal platform to cause some friction causing the squeaking noise that you report. We have found that a small amount of Teflon spray to the main pedal platform can often resolve this issue. It’s important to stress that this does only seem to be affecting a small amount of users as you have found yourself."

There are four well-sized, widely-spaced, replaceable pins on each side, which offer plenty of lateral support but don’t restrict movement so much that unclipping strains your knees.

Want to know more about all the other pedals on test? You can get your hands on the full feature from Issue #117 of Singletrack Magazine, which includes all reviews of the winning pedals along with a guide on what goes into making a high performance clip-in pedal. Head here to get a preview of the magazine, then get it shipped right to your door!

You’re pretty much guaranteed to live your life at a slower pace in sandals, so I wouldn’t be surprised if someone claims they’re the next must-have accessory for a more wholesome life on a bike.