Cycling Pedals

Simply put, there are three types of cycling pedals: pedals with toe clips and straps, ``clipless'' pedals that have a cleat on the shoe clicks into the pedal, and pedals with neither.

Toe clips work best if they are made of plastic and have two prongs that the strap threads through, to prevent them from bending sideways. The strap should be twisted one full revolution inside the pedal to keep it from shifting. The lock at the strap end should be near the outer clip end such that the other end of the strap (without the buckle) points up, where it is easy to grab and tighten when riding. I found that during a longer ride, I had to tightening the strap frequently.

It is also often necessary to untighten the strap manually before removing your cycling shoe from the pedal, especially if the shoe has a cleat with a horizontal groove that fits into the rear pedal edge. This, IMHO, makes clips dangerous because you may not get out in time in an accident or you might forget when you come to a sudden stop. And most of us have experienced this embarrassing mistake a time or two much to the delight of our riding partners.

Clipless cycling pedals come in a variety of shapes. The two most popular ones are Time and Look, which require a large cleat that makes it hard to walk with the shoe, and Shimano SPD, where the cleats are recessed in the shoe to make it possible to walk normally. There are various clones and other more exotic systems.

Racers prefer Time/Look because they hold the shoe more tightly while Shimanos seem to get more float and play (which is side to side movement). Clipless cycling pedals have two advantages that make them useful for anyone except the most casual riders:

You can apply force during the entire pedal stroke, especially while the pedal is moving up in the rear. This is often called pedaling in circles. You will develop an entire new set of muscles that help you pull the pedal on the back side of the stroke while you push down in front. Learning this takes some concentration and practice on pulling (pushing down works by itself). I found that taking spinning classes really helped me learn to pedal in circles.

Being clipped in improves speed and acceleration significantly. Pedaling in circles helps reduce knee stress, makes it possible to climb steeper hills, ride in tight groups, and generally improve performance. My experience tells me that I can increase my speed easily by 1 to 2 mph when clipped in and more importantly pedaling in circles.

Pedals with clips also allow you to stay in contact with the bicycle. Losing contact with the pedals when hitting a pothole or other obstacles, or when riding fast over cobblestones can easily cause a crash. If there is a crash with clipless cycling pedals, you will disengage the pedals practically automatically. There is virtually no danger of being hurt because the pedals fail to disengage. (Clips with tightened straps, on the other hand, can twist the ankle in nasty ways in a crash.)

Personally, I prefer the Shimano SPD system because I have clipless pedals on all my bicycles and never ride without cleated shoes. Riding to a grocery store and amusing the shoppers by helplessly staggering about like a duck because of the cleats is not my idea of convenience. If I raced competitively I would probably feel differently about this.

Shimano pedals can wear out in two ways: the little nose under the front part of the plastic cleat can be worn down, which makes it very hard to disengage from the pedal. This is dangerous but rare. More commonly the front U-shaped back-facing grip of the pedal gets worn from its U shape to a soft curve, which makes the pedal disengage unintentionally. In this case you can either replace the worn part, if you can manage to unscrew it after years of use, or buy new pedals. I have been using the same set of cleats on the same pair of shoes for more than 5 years and have experienced no problems.

content by Thomas Driemeyer, www.bitrot.de
Edited by Reg Gupton



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