Thread: Best Pedals???
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Old 11-10-22, 05:52 AM
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I have pedals that are SPD on one side, platform on the other on most of my bikes. Thus, I can use regular shoes on one side, SPD cleated shoes on the other. But my road bike is SPD only.

I have my pedals adjusted so that the cleat release is as loose as it will go. I have never yet had an accident where I ride up to a stop sign and fall over due to forgetting to uncleat, but I have seen that happen and have heard plenty of stories from others. So, when I first started using them, I tried to get in a habit of having one foot out of the pedal and foot hanging down 20 feet before the point where I stop. I think that helped me avoid falling over because I forgot to uncleat.

You mention often riding on rail trails, that I assume are gravel. I have done several bike touring trips on gravel, some were on conditions much worse than a typical rail trail. There were some days that I correctly anticipated being on very rough terrain where I thought I would prefer my hiking shoes instead, and that is why I have pedals that have both platform and SPD. On really tough terrain there have been several times when I was concerned about getting my feet on the ground as fast as I could, and on those occasions I used the platform side of the pedals. An example would be climbing up a steep hill at 3 or 4 mph in a really low gear, suddenly the rear tire loses traction and you come to a halt almost immediately, I do not want any delay getting my foot off the pedal in a situation like that, thus use the platform side.

I do not know what you used for cleats, but generally shoes with SPD cleats are quite good for being able to walk. On bike tours I have often walked through a lot of grocery stores with my bike shoes with SPD cleats, and often wore my bike shoes for quite a while after I got off the bike at the end of the day on a bike tour.

I do not see the cleats as giving me more power, I like them because when I hit a bump, my feet stay where I want them to stay. A friend of mine hit a pothole that he did not see, he was not using cleats and his foot slid off the pedal. He woke up in the hospital.

My folding bike does not have SPD pedals, I have toe clips on that bike instead. But I would not recommend them to a new user, I used toe clips for decades before I got SPD cleats so I am familiar with them.

That said, everyone is different, there is no perfect answer. If there was a perfect answer, there would only be one kind of pedal.

But shoes, you need stiff soles. My hiking shoes have soles that are stiff enough, on some bike tours I have worn my hiking shoes for a full day on the bike (using platform side of pedals) and my feet did not get sore at all. Soft soles, like deck shoes, your feet might hurt after several hours of riding.
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