Mountain Biking - My first pair of shoes and clipless pedals.

Well, I have been biking for a few months now and I think I want to go clipless so I'm buying some pedals and some shoes online. While I was looking at some shoes I noticed they have "Options" like: 34, 35, 36, ect.. What does this mean?

Also, when looking at pedals I see it says different degrees of "float". I think float is the degree you have to turn your shoe to get out of that specific pedal? If so, what is a good float for a new user like myself.


Thanks, and I love this sport!

The "options" might be sizes. I know that when I bought my Specialized shoes they didn't use the common sneaker sizes to measure the shoe. The degrees of float is the amount of movement that your foot can move around on the pedal while pedaling without the pedal releasing. People with bad knees or who are worried about their knees often get pedals with more float because they don't lock your foot and leg strictly in place. Others just like a certain amount because of how it feels while riding. Release tension(how easy or difficult it is to release from a pedal) is adjustable on almost all pedal models. An adjustment screw is turned to make the pedal easier or harder to release from. As a beginner clipless-user, you would want to set this relatively light. As you get more used to them, you could set it so that they were slightly harder to get out of, but you would experience fewer accidental releases. Hope this helps!

-Moab

My personal favorite and same for all the folks that I've talked into trying them are the Time ATAC pedals and cleats. I know of 6 people in our local riding group that have switched from SPDS and will never go back.

As a newbie you wont want a pedal with a lot of float because you're just learning how to get in and out and you wont want to crank your leg way out unless like mentioned before and you have knee problems. 34.35,36 is your shoe size, but that seems awful small to be in centimeters since i wear a 54 1/2, just send an e-mail and ask

Pedals are something that you dont want to skimp money on. The better sets are definately worth the extra cash since they work better, and they're lighter.

The best pedals going right now are the Shimano 959's, Crank Brothers Eggbeaters(i have a pair) and any of the TIME ATACs. all of the TIME ATAcs designed the same the differance is just weight in variation to the price

IB He busts his ass

:D

Well I bought some yesterday! I got the Time Z Pedals and some Specialized 03' Sport Mountain shoes. I can't believe how easy they are to use! I really thought it was involve a learning curve but I thought wrong. However, I just tested them riding up and down this big hill my house is on. Tomorrow I'm going to a Single Track Trail at my local state park, to really get the feel of them.

Geez.. I dunno why I didn't go ahead and get this setup when I first bought my bike!


Thanks for the feedback and advice.

thats cool that you got the hang of them quickly and you did buy a good set. Good Job. Most people ususallu do have a learning curve with them, but i guess you already have the "skillz"
Good luck and dont forget the ride report!

BTW clipless pedals are THE best upgrade you can make to an XC bike

BTW clipless pedals are THE best upgrade you can make to an XC bike [/B]

I could not agree with you more!

I too just went with clipless, 01 sport mountain sneakers with eggbeater pedals. What an improvement over the toe clips!!!! (I just used the plastic cage on the clips... not the bands to tighten it around ones foot)
I had my first "incident" the other night. Came up on a stop light next to the Mrs. and I was rubber necking some police lights I saw. Went to pull my foot out of the cage.. woooopppssss no cage and down I went LOL
I caught myself in what has to be the best save ever (with witnesses LOL)
As I was going down I did the funky duck literally yanking my foot out of the foot vice errr.. clipless pedal and landed, on my feet, with the bike flat below me... would have been funny as hell to catch on tape. I didn't get hurt at all but about a mile down the road I asked the wife "did that look as funny as I think it did" YEP!! LOL
:rolleyes:
Doug

Originally posted by Dougmt

As I was going down I did the funky duck literally yanking my foot out of the foot vice errr.. clipless pedal and landed, on my feet, with the bike flat below me...

I've seen 2 people sprain their ankles doing that in group rides. Basically they were trying to stand up as they fell over with their foot still in the pedal...and ended up "standing" on their ankles.

Best to just keep your leg and foot straight and go down. At least that way only your pride is hurt :)

I've been riding clipless for months and I still crash now and again. I think my Time ATACs are just naturally harder than most pedals to release from.

Well during the 16 mile loop around the single track trail at the park, i only fell twice and that was when I first started out! I learned real quicly that you have to be ready to clip out when you really need to :) I think I did very well considering some parts of the trail is extremely hard.


I do have a question reguarding my pedals. It seems like I'm having to turn my foot out too far to get them to unclip. How can I adjust this? ( i think its called float? )

With Time's, you cannot adjust the pedal, or spring tension. You can however, swap the cleat from side to side. There is a little star stamped into one of the cleats. If you put the "starred" cleat on the left, it makes for a stiffer release.

I can't remeber if it increases float or what. Anyways, I've got mine on the left shoe!

Check your's and see.

L8r

There is an allen screw on the outside in the middle of the middle, i thought maybe that was an adjustment?


I'll try the cleat thing, thanks!

the first time i went clipless:

i decided to ride my normal after work route. usually, it's no big deal - around an hour or so. just enough to clear the cobwebs from the day. my ride starts with a hill, i start pedaling, no problem. i'm going up a little faster than normal, because i finally realized how to pull. "this is great. why didn't i buy these things earlier?", i thought. i approach the top of the hill and i decide to stop before the downhill section to catch my breath. as i stop, i try to put my foot down, but for some reason, my foot is stuck on the pedal! i fell right over. of course, there was a chick right there who saw the whole sad episode. so, my bruised ego and i get up, dust ourselves off and proceed downhill. i repeated that sorry scene about 10 times that ride. towards the end, my confidence was totally shaken. i was walking more than riding at that point. i approached the final hill on my bike as another rider was coming down. Afraid of falling, i got off my bike and waited on the side of the trail. at that moment, i thought about selling my bike. i was nearly sick from my fear of falling. i must have had this look of total disguist on may face because the downhill rider stopped and said, "are you ok?". i told him it was my first time riding clipless and i was just frustrated. he burst out laughing. then he said, "i'm sorry, i don't mean to laugh, but i remember my first time. you'll get used to it. just keep riding." just keep riding. that's exactly what i did. now, 2 years later, i still fall, but it doesn't bother me as much. it's part of the sport. you ride, you fall, you get up and ride again.

And I say again for the 1,000th time...PRACTICE makes (nearly) perfect with clipless. For a clipless noob - don't start out on the trail. Find a wide open, flat, grassy field.
1. Pedal around
2. STOP.
3. Pratice unclipping.
Go to step #1.

Do this for at least an hour straight. You'll get this built into your muscle memory, I unclip without thinking about it - and faster than I could even think about it now.
The only time I have problems now is when I've neglected my pedals. They should be cleaned and lubed along with the rest of your bike...

well i tried swapping the cleats around on the shoes but it didn't help much. Can I buy a different set of cleats that will release sooner? What am i looking for? less float? or what?

Originally posted by zorafex
well i tried swapping the cleats around on the shoes but it didn't help much. Can I buy a different set of cleats that will release sooner? What am i looking for? less float? or what?

Tension and float are independent of one another. You can't adjust the tension on the ATACs per se but they will "auto-adjust" by way of cleat wear. The cleats need to wear in and will eventually release at an appropriate level. Additionally, you'll eventually "auto-adjust" yourself. As far as float/release-angle, you may be able to increase it by filing the cleats but I doubt you can decrease it.

i think somewhere there's a Ti spring kit thats supposed to release easier and be a lot lighter. I think stans makes it

I don't know about you guys but I havn't ever had a problem unclipping at speed. If I wipe out they automatically release.

It's ALWAYS when I'm stopping or trying to start out. I remember on a recent group ride I had two flat tires in a span of half a mile and was pretty down about that, fixed the 2nd flat got back on to take off and as soon as I clipped in I started to lean too far to the side that I just clipped into and fell.

Ever notice when you clip out one foot to stand on when you stop, you somehow unclipped the wrong foot, because you're going to lean the opposite way and fall!

there's probably some scentific law of the clipless pedal that governs this

Originally posted by PeterG1185
i think somewhere there's a Ti spring kit thats supposed to release easier and be a lot lighter. I think stans makes it

I have these. I bought my ATACs direct from Stan's No-Tubes so I wouldn't [1] have to wait for two seperate deliveries and [2] have to bother disassembling and reassembling them. The Ti springs and spindle definately make them lighter and although you seem to need about the same amount of force to engage and disengage, the action does seem "smoother".