Winner Of ‘Most Durable’ – Time ATAC DH4 Pedals | Bike Flat Pedals

Bottom line, says a national e-bike advocate, is that bicycling in general has to become safer and be perceived as being safe for a substantial increase in participation. Meantime, says a Portland State University transportation research expert, e-bikes will become a bigger player in the Portland-metro area multi-modal scene.

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

I’d like to not argue doctrinal points, and World Cup leader boards aren’t necessarily a great place to look for data to apply to people who aren’t racing World Cup courses. The fact is that both pedal systems have advantages for mere mortals. If you’re already a flats rider, feel free to skip ahead to the reviews, though if you’re flat-curious, then let me take you through a couple of points to help you unclip that toe and dip it in the water.

Chances are that you won’t need to adjust an electronic shift system often so it’s easy to fall into the trap of thinking that you never need to touch it at all. 

Despite being soft enough to absorb bumps they were supportive enough to make high speed corners feel good. The more I ride these tyres and wheels, the more I like them!

These are indeed awesome: I still use 520 pedals with the SH56 cleats for my commute; I don’t think they can be beaten for stop-start over mixed terrain.

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No. I was confident with them on the first time I took them onto the road. When I said I hated them for a few weeks I simply meant that the first few times I stuck them on the trainer to play around with them the spring was stiff. Nothing more, nothing less. I was exaggerating anyway, I didn’t actually hate them. Confidence however will vary with any pedal system depending on the person, so it’s irrational to try and argue that ‘it takes a long time before you can use them with confidence’. My confidence on the road has increased since I bought them – my final bugbear on the bike was being able to clip in and out without thought, as hard or as fast as I wanted. And I’ve solved that, for 80 quid. 

Time’s retention system is courtesy of a carbon blade as opposed to a spring as found in most clipless pedals, and this has three adjustment settings to alter the tension. The cleat has a standard three-bolt formation, and Time told me at the launch that it’s been toughened up after some reports of the previous versions wearing out a little too fast. I’d concur with this: after a long test period, they’re still pretty much intact after lots of heavy use and inadvisable, awkward cleat-walking. Speaking of which, they’re not even that awkward to walk in because the surface area of the cleat is pretty large, so they’re quite cafe stop friendly. They’re left/right-specific, but switching them around actually gives you a slightly wider stance, if you prefer some extra Q factor (the width between your pedals).

Speedplay pedals are always touted as being super light, but the cleat on the shoe looks like it weighs a lot more than a simple plastic look type cleat. Out of interest what is the total system weight including cleats for the lightest from each brand?

Yeah I guess within the garment industry it is an extreme guarantee but it’s one that a lot, if not most, cycling companies offer. It’s actually a…

Here at BikeRadar, we’re certainly not afraid to challenge dogma in the name of making cycling journalism great again — last year, for example, my colleague Matthew Allen boldly swapped his drop bars for wide flat bars on his fixie (the horror!) and found his riding was much better for it.