Any Road/Trail/Leisure Cyclists here?

jbylake · Mar 21, 2016

After a few years off, due to some cracked vertebrae and ruptured discs in my neck, I'm waiting for my new Cannondale CX3 my local bike shop has ordered for me. There's a good chance that if you're doing the type of riding I am, or especially if you are a hard core road racer, BMX, MTB, XC, Downhill racer, or technical rider, you have to change out parts, even on a new bike, to get things just like you want them.
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At my age, and with the metal in my neck (stupidity) and knees (courtesy Military)...I'm pretty much stuck with the road/trail/adventure rider. Most of the stuff I wanted for the bike, they had there at the store, but I wanted a pair of clipless pedals, but I wanted the dual platform style that Shimano makes so you can wear serious clip in biking shoes, or just ride the flat side of the pedal in a decent pair of New Balance or whatever trainer/walker you want.

Since pedals aren't something you can mount, adjust, etc.. then ride for 50 miles, take apart, inspect and then return, it's pretty much buy and your stuck with your selection.

I ordered a pair of Shimano M645 DX pedals, based on specs and reviews, but like many other forums, the bike forum reviews are all over the place. Seems no one can agree on anything. Just wondered if any cyclist here, on a non-related forum might have something to say. Hoping I didn't make a mistake.

Thanks ahead,
J.

Village Idiot · Mar 22, 2016

I used to ride a lot but haven't gotten out much in the past two years. My bike is a Gary Fisher 29er from probably about 10 years ago. I have Time ATAC pedals like these:

The bike came with the standard Shimanos and I ended up with the Time because they allow a little more freedom of movement with foot rotation without having your feet pop out of the clips. It's just how my legs work that they're not comfortable pointing directly forward the entire time.

jbylake · Mar 22, 2016

Actually, I had considered the Time ATAC X4's, but opted out. I know Time has a great reputation, but this pedal, in particular is very close in design to the Shimano's I bought. I went with the Shimano's for 2 reasons. The ATAC's appear to only give you two options, 13 deg. or 18 deg. for exiting while watching a tree getting closer to your face. :boogie:

The other reason was that for tooling around in regular walking/running shoes in comfort is not really a selling point for the Time, nor do they advertise it as so. The cage is basically support for your foot to exit or relocating entry to clip back in. The Shimano's mechanism is recessed, so you can use one side as regualar ol' pair of platform pedals and ride in your flip flops, if you so desire. I am anxious about that choice, as these things are always a trade-off.

I like Shimano's wider range for exiting the pedals while freaking the heck out on a trail section going very badly. That said, the true (in my opinion) difference in the two pedals is strictly a matter of personal taste.

Cool that you brought that particular (Time) pedal up, as I think the two are direct competitors.

As an aside, a friend of mine's son is a super hard core Mountain Bike downhill racer. He rides stuff so steep and scary that I'd be afraid to walk down it. He had a super high end (about $300+ USD) carbon fiber Time pedal set. He went off of a blind drop of about 70 feet or so, and the pedal's axle, which was hollow to save weight, snapped on landing, sending him crotch first into the frame (ouch!), which snapped, which put him into a whole world of hurt for about 6 months. That's not to blame the Time pedals, it could have happened to any pedals, or crank or whatever, but he doesn't use hollowed axle pedals anymore. Besides, those guys are just plain nuts in my opinion, and catastrophic crashes are all part of the game.

Thanks for the reply, didn't know if I'd find anyone on this forum into this type of gear or not.

J.

tirediron · Mar 22, 2016

I ride for fun, but I'm just a plain old pedal sort of person. I refuse to be attached to the bike in any way, shape or form. If I need to bail, I'm going NOW!

b_twill · Mar 22, 2016

I was just looking at those same Shimano pedals last week! Like you I was looking for something that I could wear regular shoes for those weekend rides with my wife or biking shoes for the commute to/from work. The guy at the bike shop recommended getting some "Candy 2" pedals and "mountain bike" shoes instead. Still debating about it.
Good luck! Plan on tipping over a few times if these are your first clipless! :smile-new:

Biking - Yet another hobby fighting for what little cash is available.

jbylake · Mar 22, 2016

b_twill said:
I was just looking at those same Shimano pedals last week! Like you I was looking for something that I could wear regular shoes for those weekend rides with my wife or biking shoes for the commute to/from work. The guy at the bike shop recommended getting some "Candy 2" pedals and "mountain bike" shoes instead. Still debating about it.
Good luck! Plan on tipping over a few times if these are your first clipless!
Biking - Yet another hobby fighting for what little cash is available.

Not sure why he'd recommend the Crank Bro's Candy 2 pedals, if you're going to be using them with regular shoes also. That's the whole point of having a cage around the pedals. A lot of mountain bikers like the cage type clipless pedals, because on hard landings, there's still plenty of "platform" under their boots to keep the foot from flying all over everywhere, or getting a nice dose pedal bite on the shin. Sure you know that sucks.

These aren't my first clipless, but first dual purpose, and for street touring, easy to moderate trails, and "reasonable" XC, dirt/rut roads and gravel, they make perfect sense. Or, I can just throw own some comfortable old reliable New Balance, and tool around on a bike path.

But on a road bike, yeah, back in the day, I've tipped over a time or two. It's as embarrassing as hell when you do it pulling up to a group of friends that have stopped for a chug of gatoraide and a quick breath, or stop at a crowded 4 way stop sign. You don't have to be new to them (clipless) either. Ask me how I know..... :icon_eek:

J.

jbylake · Mar 22, 2016

tirediron said:
I ride for fun, but I'm just a plain old pedal sort of person. I refuse to be attached to the bike in any way, shape or form. If I need to bail, I'm going NOW!

Ha..ha...ha..ha... oh hell, you aren't planning on living forever are you? :highly_amused:

tirediron · Mar 22, 2016

jbylake said:
Ha..ha...ha..ha... oh hell, you aren't planning on living forever are you?

*Checks list*

Ummm... yes, it would seem so... right here, number sixteen on my 'To Do' list... "Live forever".

b_twill · Mar 23, 2016

Yeah, not real sure of his reasoning saying there was enough of a "platform" on the candy 2's to ride with normal shoes. Didn't seem like it would be very comfortable to me. Hence, still pondering.
The mountian bike style shoes do have actual soles, so they aren't as awkward as typical biking shoes are.

jbylake · Mar 24, 2016

b_twill said:
Yeah, not real sure of his reasoning saying there was enough of a "platform" on the candy 2's to ride with normal shoes. Didn't seem like it would be very comfortable to me. Hence, still pondering.
The mountian bike style shoes do have actual soles, so they aren't as awkward as typical biking shoes are.

Yeah, I've thought about a pair of them for riding on muddy trails, and not clipped in. If you have to put a foot down, you stand a better chance of not ending up on your ass when your foot shoots out from under you. Then they have the recessed clips for riding down a deep dirt road, where the up stroke boost from a clipped in pedal will keep you from bogging down, or in deep gravel.

The candy 2's look a whole lot more like a road bike pedal where your clipped in all the time, in a "road" type shoe. I'm not sure a regular shoe would get much traction on it. I'm wearing a pair of Specialized brand road shoes all of the time because I have occasional problems with Plantar Fascia sometimes when I over do it, or ride somewhere where I have to crank down really hard. The stiff bottoms keep my feet from over flexing. In combo with the Shimano "dual purpose" clipless/platform pedals, they should work very well. Just tooling around the bike/walking path that runs through my condo unit, and connects it to the other surrounding units, then a 2.5 mile path, or about 5m total, I'll still just pull on some walking/training shoes, with gel inserts that help with the Plantar Fascia problems and feel nice and broke in and comfy, without being "attached to the bike", as Tirediron alluded to. :allteeth:

J.

table1349 · Mar 24, 2016

Leisure Cyclist

jbylake · Mar 24, 2016

tirediron said:
I ride for fun, but I'm just a plain old pedal sort of person. I refuse to be attached to the bike in any way, shape or form. If I need to bail, I'm going NOW!

Don't think of it as being "attached to the bike". Think of it as becoming "one with the bike". A fluid, synchronized unit. However I have proven that it's not very dignified for a 58 year old man becoming "one with the sidewalk", occasionally. Happy riding... :allteeth:

J.

jbylake · Mar 24, 2016

gryphonslair99 said:
Leisure Cyclist

Uhhhh, yeah.
J.

Watchful · Mar 25, 2016

Personally for family rides with my wife and 2 children with me, I just use strapless clips on the pedals and street shoes.
The main thing I recently improved was to dump the old style derailleur shifting for an internal shift hub. Did you look at cafe type bikes like Motobecane? Shifting without pedaling, though it takes getting used to, is awesome.

jbylake · Mar 25, 2016

I Haven't owned a Motobecane since the late 70's. I was in the military then. I could take a few days of leave, hop a flight on a cargo plane, fly overseas and buy one for about half what a U.S. dealer could buy one for, and have the loadmaster stash it on the plane coming back. Had a couple of them at once when I was stationed in Denver. But no, I didn't look at road bikes. I wanted a hybrid bike, since I don't do really long rides, and it can handle trails too. Also a much more comfortable, but not very aerodynamic riding position. Again, not trying to break any speed records that wasn't important at all for me. My condo has a one car garage, so I don't have room or the need of a fleet of bikes, so I settled on the Cannondale, which wasn't easy because there are so many really nice hybrids out there on the market. No "café" bikes, or road bikes, were on the radar this time.

J.