merziac

In light of the recent spirited discussion I encourage you all to venture whats wrong with these pictures.

Aside from the straps not being very tight.

Feebly channeling DD a bit.

fender1

Toe clips are Soma reproductions?

merziac

Nope, genuine Soma's and Zefal/christophe straps with stalwart tough as nails MKS Sylvan pedals.

I did buy some All-City double gate double strap clips today just for fun.

panzerwagon 

Is the pedal coming loose in the crank? (perhaps it's just different crank angles between the two photos)

Pedal spindle not as slender as your crank. Those wrench flats are quite visible.

Also, how's your stance width?

merziac

No pedals coming loose, I know those extenders are scary but the makers really stand behind them and I have minimal power output most of the time. Never had any problem with them.

The stance is crazy wide, dictated by my left ankle that is very crooked and turns my heel way in so it bangs on the chainstay without them, have tried running just the left but that aggravates more other things so I run both for balance and it works good with no problems.

Here's my rant from one of the other threads,

Clipless pedals. I just don't get 'em.

repechage

Dura ace dynadrive crank set with the 9/16 x20 Reducers- no one makes a pedal shaft extender only 10mm
those are out there

merziac

Nope, does kind of look like that and I do have that on the pink Merz in my avatar, this one is Campy racing triple with 9/16x20 throughout.

panzerwagon 

A steel see-saw accident left me with a broken right ankle when I was a wee one. Osteophytes formed near the joint, slightly limiting my freedom of movement (no Brexit required). Yes, I'm going to refer to them as "osteophytes" instead of the more colloquial "bone spurs". The latter has gathered a bit of a stench of late. My bikes have a variety of pedal setups (clips, spd, looks, flats, shin-straps, missing, etc), but I've never really established an ideal. Lately, I've been riding a couple bikes without the straps, only toe clips. Apparently old crusty leather strips are old and crusty-- who knew? A little adventurous at times, but lots of ankle movement allowed, and hey, life is short and you never know when next you might ride a see-saw.

merziac

So far I've been lucky, the double gate clips with the straps a bit loose corral my feet very well, no extra fumbling with the setup starting or stopping.

I'm very glad it works like it does.

steve sumner

I see the end of the strap going back through the buckle which doesn't allow you to tighten and loosen properly

Narhay

Oh, ooh I know.

You're riding garden hoses instead of proper tires.

pcb 

1. Legs not properly shaved.
2. Shins not properly bleeding/scarred from unintended contact with sharp non-retentive platform pedal pins.
3. Below 70-deg, knees not properly covered.
4. JBL sucks. (Note, this is totally Jokey McJokester, I have no stance in audio wars.)

ofajen

Pretty sure it’s the Lawrence Welk music playing on the portable speaker. 😊

Otto

merziac

You're kind of on the right track but no.

nlerner

Given how far your foot is from the crank arm, that's a really high Q/tread. For some, knee pain will result.

merziac

Possible but since I don't know any better, no.

I get great use out of the Gators, rain, shine, commuting and all else, cheap , ride fine for me.

merziac

You would think but 7-8 years and some 30K of riding plus all the riding when I was younger and none yet, left ankle is very crooked from a break at 14 that wasn't set, knee blew an ACL later from that and actually calms down on the bike when it is hurting.

Micheal Sylvester does fittings here, he was a friend of Merz and went on to design the fit systems and training for Big S, Trek and others.

I think he's a Dr. of some of it now so I may get his take on the whole mess before it goes bad.

merziac

That and the AC/DC, Zep, Sabbath, etc.

merziac

Well the JBL only sucks for others if their not classic rock fans but you are partly correct, I have not gotten the service from them I would like, so it goes.

Plenty of scars not seen in the pics and never raced or shaved so.....

I typically ride shorts down to about 40+, knees, legs and feet seem to do just fine if the head and hands are good.

merziac

That makes 2 Gator dissenters, I know they have plenty, I get great service from them, very few flats and don't think the ride is bad, especially these 32's.

merziac

Hint, no need to tighten and loosen.

pcb 

If I put on my Sherlockian hat and smoke my some-other-kinda pipe, I deduce that either you didn't properly give the strap a half-twist underneath, inside the body of the pedal, in which case the "Christophe" logo wouldn't be visible, since you'd be looking at the underside of the strap, or---

Straps are reversed right/left, as the proper orientation would be to have the Christophe logo oriented rightside-up from the rider's point of view, looking down.

For the record, proper etiquette is a full-twist within the pedal body, so the strap logo does indeed appear on top. But there are some pedals with bodies too tight to fit a full twist, though, in which case a half twist must suffice.

The Campy racing triple crank photo, for example, shows shocking strap untwistedness. The strap should be fed between the slots in the pedal body, twisted betwixt, then pulled through the slot on the crank side. A proper pedal will have a cage bend or pin behind which to guide the strap, to keep it from rubbing the crankarm. This MKS Urban pedal is thusly not quite a proper pedal. It does have a relatively narrow platform, so the need for strap minder is somewhat lessened, but still.

Proper strap installation may require the use of pliers, and the straps will be somewhat marred by the tight passage. But that is how it is meant to be. Merziac uncharacteristically shows a craven indifference to How Things Are Meant To Be. I must answer, however, to the absence of toe strap buttons. Why are they not attached? There are holes in the strap ends from previous installations. Where is _my_ respect?

Thusly:

merziac

pcb

Yep, craven indifference, guilty, could probably be my middle name.

No twist is for making adjustment when necessary for different shoes and comfort on the fly to adjust the strap and not have the buckle run into the clip which is easy to do with the double gate.

I normally don't run the whole thing outside the pedal, probably extra lazy that day and these can be tight to get them through, I will correct that.

So, still no but kind of in the ballpark.

Hint, probably a trick question.

I also do give the straps a wipe down of conditioner to minimize the rashing getting them in and it helps a lot.

OldsCOOL

Too much hair?

merziac

steve sumner

See this for more background.

Clipless pedals. I just don't get 'em.