What to wear on a mountain bike ride: off-road cycle clothing guide | Bike Flat Pedals

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Under a recently announced UCI rule that takes effect Jan. 1, all racers under 13 are banned from using clipless pedals in BMX races.

Rode it from Innertkirchen in June, having first done the Grimsel pass in freezing rain & fog. It’s a long old climb, but never feels overly…

I run Time ATAC pedals on both hardtail and FS bikes, as I have for many years. I find they clear well in my local Cotswold mud. I wear stiff shoes with these: Sidi Dominators & Northwave GTX for winter.

So again, calm down and accept that I, and several others on this thread now, bought Speedplay pedals and love them. 

None of this is to say there isn’t a time and a place for listening to music out loud on your bike. For example, if you ride around the city with a speaker on your bike, you’re part a noble tradition of kooks going back at least as far as the days of carrying a boombox while roller skating. Also, the entire soundscape in the city consists of human-generated noise so all you’re doing is adding to its texture. Anyway, you’ll never be able to complete with the sheer obnoxiousness of a driver having a loud conversation about their colonoscopy results on their hands-free car audio system, so it’s not like you’re actually annoying anybody.

Going to unbox the missus’ set soon and try lubing the spring and see if it’s easier from the get-go (took me a while to pick up that tip). 

For obvious reasons, I’m doing all my riding in winter boots at the moment. I treated myself to a pair of Shimano MW7 boots. Nice and comfy, stiff soled, but not impressed with the new design. I used to be able to get away with the odd ‘dab in a stream’ with my old MW80’s, but the new ones have a lycra tongue hidden under a flap which quickly lets water in when they’re submerged, as opposed to the older design with a waterproof leather tongue. Summer riding is done in a pair of Lake SPD boots.

Love your clipless pedals? Then by all means keep using them. After all, there’s no denying the thrill of that first "click" as you roll out on a cycling adventure. At the same time, don’t lose sight of what they can and can’t do. Clipless pedals won’t eliminate the dead spot from your pedal stroke, but flat pedals will eliminate the dead spot from your cycling enjoyment.

Just wondering how you set up the cleats with the new am9 because I can’t seem to get them to mesh nicely

Each pedal consists of a stainless steel bar with an inner flange and slight taper at the outside edge. The pedal is a little wider than the cleat, so there’s some fudge room to clip in. But I found the strongest bite when the cleat butted up against the flange.

Weighing 278g for the pair, they might be heavier than some but this trade-off is worth it because they are such good quality, reliable and durable pedals that don’t break the bank.