What do you folks think?



Image from a store website: https://storesense4.megawebservers.co...lve/Detail.bok

Apparently, a strong little magnet holds your foot onto the pedal.

Upsides: the pedals would probably work fine with normal shoes. The proprietary Mavic Wanderer shoes are probably fairly comfy and don't have to have huge thick soles, and there's no cleat to click-click-click when you're walking.

Did a quick search here and didn't get any info. Anybody try these? BTW, Nashbar sells em.

Please don't post pics of your combo SPD/platform pedals, I'm sure we all know those exist...

I have a hard time believing that the magnet is strong enough to hold very well. Its a clever idea, but if I were really that worried about my shoes I think I would just ride with toe clips or power straps.

I'm thinking mud or snow would cause problems but otherwise it could be a good alternative. I can't decide from the picture how well a regular shoe would work.

It looks like it would hold your foot straight on the pedal just fine, but disengaging your shoe from the pedal is done by just pulling your foot off, as opposed to rotating it (like normal clipless). Isn't that the motion that you DON'T want to result in disengaging?

Yeah, that seems right. And I think I would want a pedal to release if I kicked my heel out.

Crank Brothers cleats on both mtb shoes and Shimano sandals are very walkable.

hmmm neat idea but the proprietary nature of both shoe and pedal assure a fail in the market. Time almost blew it the first couple years into the clipless market with ATAC, designing cleats and shoes that didn't support SPD cleats. I had to buy new shoes when I wore out my original Time ATAC cleats, because the new cleats supported the Shimano blot pattern.

I don't like it for four reasons:

a) the pedal is a lot smaller than any platform pedal I'd want to use with regular shoes--those plastic bumps around the edges of the pedal fit into pockets on the shoe.

b) this system looks like it's more sensitive to shoe/pedal alignment when clipping in than an SPD.

c) apparently, you clip out by pulling up your foot. That's much easier to do unintentionally than the twisting motion required to unclip an SPD.

d) the shoes are a proprietary design and the Mavic site (linked from the link) has exactly two options--men's and women's.

There's no way that's strong enough even when clean; there's no way to twist out, so you have to pull against the magnet to get out. If it were strong enough to work like normal clips, you'd never be able to get out.
SPDs on mountain shoes are so walkable I usually forget I have them on.

Clipless for the faint-of-heart? Seems like it's trying to be a bridge product, kinda like powerstraps, not quite clipless and straps but more than platforms. For the ankle twist-out impaired.

The magnet in the shoe is going to load up with iron particles in no time at all, requiring frequent cleaning. To demonstrate this, simply drag a magnet through sandy dirt.

It's all well and good until...

That's some scary stuff, although how it applies to a very simple (maybe useless) form of foot retention other then the brand name I'm not sure.

Here's the article on the wheel if anyone is as interested as I was.
https://santaclaritacycling.wordpress...esponsibility/

The male "X" on the pedal interfacing with the female "X" on the shoe probably has as much (or more) to do with keeping one's foot securely on the pedal as the magnet itself. It looks interesting. One concern is that it looks like you wouldn't have much (if any) lateral float and, unlike clipless pedals, you can't adjust the position of the "X" on the shoe to get the angle right.

I'd like to try 'em but I ain't gonna buy 'em.

My thoughts exactly.

Certain things may indeed be posted with a lack of seriousness.

Both products designed by the same big brains in R&D

+1

Too proprietary at this point - only one shoe available currently.

Here is a link to the manufacturer promo site.

Really, really, really bad idea, imo. If you are pedaling hard, especially while hammering up a hill, you will certainly pull out. If not, you won't be able to pull out when you need to.

Go with some comfy spd mtb shoes. I could walk around in my tahoes all day long.

I'm thinking it's the brainchild of the Mavic Zap/Mektronic groupset designer...

*snikker* must be related to one of the big bosses then or he'd have been fired ages ago for the Zap alone.

Seems more like the brainchild of some idiot marketing guy and a big brain R&Der.

Takes a village of idiots approach to product development?

someone needs to buy the pedals and shoes, use them for a while, then report back.
I'll chip in $20 sent as an jpg attachment to the email of the volunteer.
any volunteers?

That's an interesting criticism. I wonder if perhaps the shoe doesn't have a magnet at all, just a steel button for the pedal magnet to be attracted to.