We spent a week doing carless commutes. Here’s what we learned. | Bike Self Locking Pedals

Go to a safe place—one without traffic—to practice starting, stopping, and unclipping while moving. At a stop, one of your feet will already be clipped in; move that pedal to the top of the pedal stroke. Push down on that pedal to start, and as the bike accelerates, find the opposite pedal to clip into and start pedaling. "If you miss the engagement with the opposite pedal, don’t stress," Compton says. "Just look forward and continue to pedal as you clip in with your foot. If the bike is moving forward you won’t fall over—the faster you go, the easier it is to balance."

“The original DMR V8s, now referred to as the DMR V8 Classic, have been around for longer than some of us have been mountain biking. They are indeed a classic design, but nowadays with so much choice, and so many sleek pedals around for the choosing, perhaps that design is looking a little long in the tooth. Enter the DMR V8 V2, a revision for 2017, more on trend and more in line with its current V12 and Vault pedals…” Read the full review here.

My eastbound train heading toward downtown #Phx, right on time. #carlesscommutepic.twitter.com/5GMyEF7tLK

A 25mm tyre installed tubeless on the 17mm wide Ksyrium rims looks exactly the same as a 25mm tyre installed with a tube. Which is to say it measured 25mm wide.

During this test, we rode 17 pairs of flat pedals, with many being passed out to Singletrack contributors for a while to get as much wear on them as possible. None of the pedals we tested were bad, just different to each other, with varied price points and feature sets, and some more suited to certain types of riding or grip preference over others. As the bike industry gets more experience, it’s getting better at designing pedals than it’s ever been.

In case you’re wondering why they’re called clipless pedals, it’s because pedals used to have metal cages, called toe clips, and leather straps to hold the show in place. Racing shoes had cleats that were slotted to fit the cage of the pedal. To get out, you had to loosen the strap. Falling over at traffic lights behind a busload of schoolkids was not unknown.

You don’t see HT pedals around that much, though their popularity is steadily growing. Launched in 2005 by parent company Hsing Ta Industrial, HT Components is still young. With over half a century’s worth of manufacturing experience in bicycle pedals behind it, however, it certainly isn’t lacking in experience. And thanks to high-profile sponsorship of the likes of Aaron Gwin, Jared Graves and Jerome Clementz, the brand is getting plenty of attention.

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?

Now in my 3rd year of Di2 ownership and it is running as sweet as the day it left the bike shop. Never missed a gear, absolutely hassle free, once ran out of power because I failed to check. Only irritating aspect is remembering where I put the charging cable for safe keeping.

Hailing from the USA, Speedplay take a completely different approach to pedal design then the other three listed. Instead of clipping a solid cleat into a sprung pedal body, Speedplay reverse the system and put the sprung mechanism in the cleat. Doing so affords Speedplay, and its lollipop-like Zero pedals, the clear advantage of dual-sided entry without a cost to cornering clearance.

What shoes you should get to go with your pedals is a whole other article, but suitable shoes start from about £30. Check out the selections at Chain Reaction, Wiggle and Amazon.

Herrigstad, 54, had been considering the purchase of an e-bike for months. He figured he’d save a little time and effort on his commute. With road construction headaches looming, he took the plunge this spring. He’s glad he did, as he shaved a half hour off his one-way commute and still gets a sufficient workout. He also commutes more often by bike.