Which Pedals Should You Use for Cycling? - BikeFitTuesdays

welcome to a brand new episode  of bike fit tuesdays in today's   episode we're going to be covering pedals all of these pedals here most of them are  clip-less the clipless pedal thing thing's   quite confusing isn't it because they're  not clipless they clip in so we're going   to run through one by one each of these  most popular pedal systems and hopefully   that will help your decision making process if  you are looking at using one of them number one   this is the original clipless pedal it originally  came out with a with a fixed clip like a black   cleat and that that tends to cause problems for  quite a lot of athletes way back when in the 1980s   uh not none of it was fixed until time  i'll talk about in a minute um developed   a free flight system they come in a multitude of  different materials they come with a multitude of   different axle options in terms of the material  so you can have chromoly axles or promoter steel   or a titanium axle you get a number of  different bearing options and uh some of them   offer adjustability a lot of the high-end ones use  this uh carbon leaf spring to offer you retention   uh i i personally i actually don't like this  because it lacks any adjustment and uh it can   wear out so the system i tend to recommend the  keyo2 max which is an adjustment um uh adjustment   to it for the for the release tension uh i tend to  recommend these for lighter riders for a lighter   or smaller ride as as the um the resistance isn't  quite as strong as it is on some of the other   systems we're going to look at today uh it's also  kind of brand neutral so if you've got a campag   bike or a sram bike it's a little bit of a faux  pas to have shimano pedals on your bike um but so   this offers a brand new alternative it's very very  similar to an spd sl in terms of its engagement   performance functions not quite as stable  though because it develops rock quite quickly   three different cleat options a gray four and a  half degree float a red nine degree float and the   illustrious work of the devil the black zero flick  never use those and if you cherish your knees   they've got a number of different price points  starting from like 30 40 quid going all the way   up to 250 quid for a top end titanium axle with  middle roller bearings they also interestingly   have slightly longer threads on them which allows  you to stance them out a little bit more than you   can with their other counterparts so that can  be useful uh in a bike fitting scenario we now   have um some specific two millimeter thick pedal  washers that we got from our friends at form iron   this brings us on to uh our next system which  is one of my least favorite systems the time   system is the very first system to offer  any form of float just to be clear float is   the amount of rotation that you see in the cleat  in the pedal it allows the the foot to travel a   slightly more natural movement uh and it tends  to save your knees a little bit so these are the   first people to develop a pedal which had any  amount of play between the cleat and the pedal   the reason i dislike this is that it doesn't  really have any adjustment in terms of starts   at the cleat so the cleat is basically fixed  in one place from a medial lateral perspective   and it can't really be adjusted furthermore  there isn't really much rotational adjustment   uh benefits are it's mutually balanced and  mutually weighted which means that it's quite   easy to clip into uh it's very very popular with  riders who who struggle with clipping in and out   so again it's a light action system similar  to the look system which means that newer   riders might benefit from them uh more seasons  riders i mean i certainly speak for myself here   where i find i used to pull out them all  the time uh so if you if you're putting   quite a lot of power through it it tended not  to be quite so good in retaining the retaining   the cleat uh again multitude a plethora of  different uh materials and and tensions and   bearing qualities but like i say it's one of my  least favorite but might be good for a beginner   this brings us on to my favorite system and  without shadow of a doubt our most popular   system in the store shimano's spd sl uh sorry  these are my old pedals they are minging comes   in a multitude of of different materials starting  with a plastic pedal so actually starting with a   metal pedal sorry which is an r540 which you  can pick up online for probably 20 30 quid   all the way up to the uh carbon fiber japanese  needle roller bearing dura ace pedal this is by   far and away the most stable system it's got the  widest contact patch it's also the most durable   the bearing quality on these is second to none  it's better than basically every other pedal   here in my opinion and uh the the cleats is also  extremely durable one of the best options about   the spd sl is the sle which is an extended  axle four millimeter axle extension this is this probably comprises about 95 of our  pedal sails is an spd sle on the grounds   the bicycles typically are designed around  20 year old athletes who weigh 60 kilos and   need to pedal through corners doesn't represent  the individual that buys them who are typically   individuals of a slightly larger proportions  and older generation anyway this is one of   my best-selling pedals it tends to result in a  much better connection with the pedal it's very   good at relieving symptoms like pressure  on the outside of the foot and ultimately   a certain a certain take egg and heart start  using these recently on my recommendation so   that's my favorite bearing quality is fantastic  uh really good levels of stiffness super durable   the cleats are super cheap to replace their own  about 20 pounds as with the look you have uh three   cleat options you have the yellow which is six  degrees the blue which is two and a half degrees   and the work of the devil again the red  which is zero degrees which fixes your foot i've had to move location because people  keep coming into my shop and spending money   bloody customers my perhaps well not perhaps it  is my least favorite uh this is an old version   it's now being taken on by um the people at wahoo  uh speedplay now there are a number of benefits   to a speedplay system it offers the most  adjustability i would argue too much   uh but it does offer a dual sided uh entry system  so you you basically can just stamp on the thing   and away you go these have enjoyed the myth  that they cure knee pain for a very long time   we actually see a stronger correlation between  these causing knee pain and the other way around   but ultimately i wouldn't go as far as to say that  any pedal system causes knee pain per se uh it is   our least favorite system on the ground that has  a much reduced contact patch uh there's a lot of   people who this is gonna be quite unpopular but  uh there's a lot of people who will talk about   a shoe being like a carbon fiber sole offering  the same level of stability but frankly the   pedal still isn't as stable as something like a  shimano actually the lack of stability tends to   come from the c-spring that retains the cleat  on the pedal wearing at quite an alarming rate   usually within a thousand miles or so which  means that the pedal tends to develop rock so   with large riders it tends not to be a great  system furthermore since wahoo took the system on   it they have removed the two major benefits  from behind using the system one was the four   off extender plate which enabled you to get the  cleat significantly further back on the shoe so   if you had a shoe that was perhaps too big or it  didn't the cleat location didn't really work for   your foot then this plate enabled you to get  the cleat much much further back on the shoe   taking pressure away from the the dense capillary  structure of the forefoot this no longer exists   you can also no longer get different axle lengths  once upon a time speed plate was available in in   as much as four or five different axle lengths  which enabled you to increase the stance quite   dramatically in some cases which enabled you to  optimize the rider's pedaling dynamics uh i'm sad   to say that that has now gone so unfortunately  sorry wahoo by far away my least favorite pedal   system we find ourselves removing a lot of these  and replacing them with the schmoyer they come   with a little aero covers that go over the cleats  they probably are aerodynamic the other thing that   people quite like the fact that they're a very  light pedal but that's then accompanied by a   very heavy clean so it sort of outweighs the the  weight saving but you know if if if you want to   be really fastidious about your about your clean  setup i don't believe you need to be but if you   do want to be then this could be a good system for  you because it offers a huge amount of adjustments there are lots of other road systems this this  key win and all these other kind of slightly   more obscure brands campaniolo used to do a  road pedal as well uh but those are the main   ones that are that are worth noting those are the  ones that you'll tend to find in the marketplace   we probably want to talk about particularly with  the rise of gravel uh off-road and mountain bike   cleats that have a uh or pedal sorry that  have a recessed cleat when we say recess   cleat the clutch you don't actually walk on  the on the surface of the cleat you walk or   the the cleats it's recessed up underneath the  sole of the shoe uh this is probably the most   popular one this is a shimano spd uh these  again come in several different iterations   it's got much shedding ability dual sided entry  and again comes in a plethora of different options   some of them i ride them on a mountain bike with  a kind of little cage around the outside which   tends to improve stability a little bit it's also  a much bigger it's a bigger target for your foot   so when you're trying to clip in particularly  mid trail if you if you pop out accidentally   then it makes it easier to get get on get onto the  pedal again huge amount of adjustment with these   really really great system starts about 30 quid  and goes all the way up to a couple hundred for   your top end xtr jobs with titanium axles there is  also now this is quite a rare or uncommon sighting   this is an sq lab extended axle spd you probably  won't need these on your mountain bike because   a mountain bike's bottom bracket is wider than a  road but going back to what we were talking about   earlier about bicycles all being a little bit  too narrow for a lot of consumers that ride them   this is again it has the same benefit of the long  axle shimano spd sl that we were talking about   earlier in that it offers an eight millimeter  it's it's a six or eight millimeter increase in   the stance i can't remember which is fundamentally  exactly the same as a standard spd at the moment   you can't get them uh i have been trying for some  months to try and get about a boatload of them to   sell them via our webstore uh we're gonna put a  link to our webstore down there i must say that   if you're thinking about going to long axle pedals  it's worth employing the help of your bike fitter   asking them whether it whether it's going to you  know work for you or not if you're a really super   skinny individual that's relatively short might  not be the right thing for you but then again   you know i've fitted small people on the with  these and have gotten really great results so in   conclusion slightly smaller pedal the cleats very  small as well so slightly smaller contact patch   which tends to yield slightly less stability as  we've discussed with the speed play but uh so   you might want to think about getting a stiffer  shoe or more supportive shoe particularly going   to be using it for bike packing or gravel riding  that kind of thing but it does enable you to walk   around in them because of the recess cleats set  up so something just worth thinking about as well   i'm only talking about this because  francis is making me this is a flat   pedal this is what we all used to ride with um  toe clips and death straps uh once upon a time   this in performance cycling i don't think  has much place it basically enables you to   just stand on it and pedal the benefit of a  clipless system over this is the well let's   talk about the reason why i don't believe in  this ultimately it enables your foot to move   around on it it doesn't keep your foot fixed in  an optimal place and but and that is probably why   a lot of riders who use these over eclipse pedal  don't get so many issues because it enables their   feet to sort of self select so for example if  you need a wider stance your foot will sit on the   outside if you need more rotation or not few very  few people do but if you need loads of rotation   you can sit with your feet like so uh furthermore  it doesn't require there aren't any ramifications   behind using a poor quality shoe uh other than  the fact that this is usually quite soft in   when using conjunction with these that's  sort of the benefit but it doesn't keep your   foot in an optimal place so your foot moves  around which influences your sample height   influences your foot uh stability frankly it'll  even influence your saddle comfort if you're   just kind of popping down the shops that sort of  thing then this is absolutely fine maybe you know   chasing the kids around the park this is also fine  if you're going to be doing longer distances the   softer sole associated with shoes that tend  to be used with these tend not to offer as   much stability and support so as a result you  tend to get kind of foot problems that sort of   thing as a result of using this sort of system  that marks the end of today's episode of bike   fit tuesdays let us know in the comment section  down below what pedal system that you're using if   you have any questions please put them in the  comment section as well and we'll do our best   to answer them if you would like to book a fit  with james website is in that description down   below thank you for watching please like  and subscribe and all that stuff and bye

Channel: Cade Media

Views: 106,679

Keywords: cycling, bike, cyclist, bicycle, road, francis, cade, pedals, bikefit, pedal, cleat, shoe, power, commuter, commute, best, tips, roadcycling, performance, james, bikefitjames, fit, fitting

Id: 25QCrNZNlkM

Length: 13min 5sec (785 seconds)

Published: Sun Jan 23 2022