Jamie Roy...on it's way...now for the pedals.
 

It's mid-way in the waiting period for the Jamie Roy. It was completed a couple days ago and is not on route to my door-step. One more week, they say.

Anyhow, on to the pedals, I'm a commute-to-work bicycler as well as a weekend warrior. I need pedals that can occasional take the work shoes to work or the sneakers to the market but I also need them to be able to clip into shoes that I'll be using on weekend riding trips (long distance flat-land travel or shorter distances on climbs).

I first considered the Crank Brothers Mallet but upon further inspection at the shop, it seemed like it'd be kinda uncomfortable not to mention slippery. A pair of shimano SPD's appeared in the display case. Seems like a more viable option.

Anybody got any other suggestions besides these two? I was also told that MTB shoes work well with casual walking.

if you already have shoes, or are seriously considering clipless, then it won't bother you that you have to throw work shoes or flops in your bag for when you're off the bike. My 'commute' is of negligible distance and I prefer to ride in soft-soles, so I have cheap track pedals (sylvan lite) and clips/straps. You may wish to try Powergrips on platform pedals, which are comfortable to ride in soft shoes and still gave me a secure feeling.

Powergrips were my first consideration, my LBS also carries them so it wouldn't be a problem getting my hands on them, they also carry MKS Sylvans so I can pair those up.

I've never ridden except for when I test-rode my friend's SPD's on his Trek MTB. They really solid but I'm split 40/60 Powergrips/Clipless right now. Can't make my mind up.

I really enjoy clipless, it really feels a lot better than powergrips when biking.

BUT, i use powergrips.. The thing is, I use my bike to get EVERYWHERE and do EVERYTHING, and with powergrips I can use any shoes to do those things, its just too much of a pita for me to have clipless pedals.

If i get a bike that im going to use purely for "Biking" and never "going somewhere" or possibly just going someplace like work, then I will get clipless.

I throw my shoes in my bag, or I put my belt through my crocs. And using MTB shoes and pedals help with not having to switch out.

True. If I decided to go clipless on a hypothetical bike, I'd get some low-key MTB shoes, or maybe some old-school looking Diadoras or Adidas that look more like my street shoes. Of course the latter isn't much more 'walkable' than a typical road shoe, just with a slightly more flexible sole.

Why did you buy that frame?

Why not?

I use Time ATAC pedals and some shimano MTB shoes w/ recessed cleats. Other than the annoying noise the cleats make when they scrape against concrete or some other slightly uneven surface, I don't have a problem wearing these shoes while I'm at work (sitting on my ass at a computer) or walking around short distances. I do keep an extra set of shoes at work that I change into occasionally, but usually I don't bother. I want to get a pair of stiffer shoes as well, but for now, these work pretty well and aren't too uncomfortable.

I was thinking about using some MTB shoes for work, keeping them on through my shift. However, I work in retail, and in my field of work, a $300 pair of Red Wing steel-toe boots can be torn through in 6 months.

You don' wanna do that missa man, 6 hours on your feet in ANY clipless shoe will not be fun, unless you're a masochist.

Best thing to do is get a pair of hush puppies or some other light shoe and keep them in the bag, then switch out. I live in sandals all summer, but when I take the tourer, I wear mtb shoes with cleats, then I switch out. I suppose having panniers helps, and that could make a good way of carrying it also.

:D

find somewhere to leave boots at work.

sylvans etc suck. They are meant to be used with cleats and close to worthless without them. They are really popular here because they are "track" but that doesn't mean they are a good choice for riding in with street shoes.

This is the way to go.

What kind of retail work are you doing that you will trash Red Wings in 6 months?

I'm a supervisor/receiver at a CVS pharmacy so I handle all the backroom duties as well as any of the regular supervisor duties that AND I handle most of the planograms and resets so theres a lot of work involving kneeling to change and reset shelving (kneeling does a number on my Red Wings, they're already torn in 5 different places, gotta buy new ones soon).

And it used to be possible to leave clothes at work, thats until CVS bought SavOns. CVS has this policy where you can't leave anything in the lockers after your shift, it has to be cleaned out and the lock returned to whoever's supervising the shift. Heck I can't even bring my backpack in past closing time (we leave one hour past closing time) so I gotta find someplace to put my backpack outside before I close the doors and start counting registers. It's a real pain in the ass, this CVS.

What kind of BS policy is that?

Best bet: carry your boots. Or, get a second set of clipless pedals for non-commute riding and save the platforms for going to/from work. Swapping pedals is a 5 minute operation.

It's 3am and I've finally gotten a chance to ride the Roy. I got home at 2am and there it was....tore it apart and built her up, just gotta put the tape on tomorrow. Only problem with the bike is that I asked for a flip/flop with free/fixed (free default) and it came with a fixed gear only so I'm still sort of learning the ropes. Interesting feel.

you can put a freewheel on a fixed hub side but it will only use some of the threads. fine for riding around town but not optimal.

Having just purchased and installed the Power Grips (I got the whole "high performance pedal" deal) I can highly recommend them. I use them on my fixie, which is my "around town" bike; on my roadie I use SPD-SL Ultegras. This works, because I can always swap pedals if I'm going for a long fixie ride, and under all other circumstances the Power Grips seem to work like butta.

So, yeah.

(Oh, gads, does this make me a Power Grips shill too!? :) )

Actually, it will use all of the threads. There's no reason not do it, provided you aren't using incompatible threadings (like a campy hub or something).

i thought that most freewheels had more threads than the fixed cog threading on a fixed hub... it will use all of the hub threads but not all of the freewheel threads...

the wheel's probably dished equally so the chainline may not be absolutely straight...

+1 re: swapping pedals

Swapping pedals over and over and over again is not a great idea, you could probably get away with it but it's not very nice to your cranks.

Get campus pedals, they rule. Business up front, party in the back.

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