Shimano A530 Questions
 

I'm thinking of the Shimano A530 pedals for my commuter bike. The reason is that sometimes I have to make a short trip from where I work to a nearby facility and I don't want to get dressed in cycling clothing. Plus occasionally I'd like to use my bike to ride to the nearby store or something.

I have two questions about this pedal though:
1) Is it weighted so that the clipless side rests up? I'll usually be using the clipless side.
2) When clipped into the clipless side does the platform make contact with the shoe, essentially providing more stability like the A520 does?

Those pedals are going to be one of the next upgrades to my Trek 7.3FX.

I'm not sure about the weightedness, though, I'd imagine that the non-clipless side is heavier than the clipless side, thus keeping clips naturally up. That's just a guess, though.

I found the thread below that seems to say they don't say "right side up," so to speak.

http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...t=a530+side+up

I did notice that the Shimano site [pdf] shows some optional reflectors you can attach. If they come with the pedals I'm wondering if I could attach one on the back side (front side in the picture) but not the other side to change the weighting? Of course, then it looks really ugly, but maybe it's worth the function over form.

I have a cheap version with the cage style peddles. I definatly like the work with what ever you are wearing part but I do find that for what ever reason the clip likes to be up when you clip out. Great when the temps are over 40f and I am in clips most of the time. Sometimes it fights you getting the platform side on top when not wearing SPD's. It is enough of a hassle that with the cold temps I am not using my SPD's much and about ready to go back to a platform on my main commuter till the temps come back up.

They're not the loosest pedal so if anything they have a slight tendency to stay where you left them. I do sometimes end up on the platform side when riding clipless and sometimes on the mechanism side when riding in regular shoes. Out of curiosity I just walked outside to spin them to see what would happen. Mostly they ended up pointing downward with the mechanism on the front side. It's -4 F out though so they didn't spin real easy.

The platform curves away from the mechanism side so there's not a lot of contact with the shoe in clipless mode.

I got these for the same reason as you. On my commute I would say I have to unclip anywhere from 1/2 dozen to a dozen times depending on lights and traffic. At least one of those times I will end up on the wrong side of the pedal and have to flip it. Not a big deal but it's pretty much a daily occurrence. I used the A530s from May through November so I'm still something of a clipless noob.

I'm on the fence as to whether this was a good purchase for me or not. I have ridden the bike in regular shoes and like that fact that I can do so. However, 90% of the time I use my cycling shoes so I'm not sure having the platform is really worth it.

Thanks for braving the cold get this info! That helps a lot.

Actually, it was a pleasure. I'd come down with a bug or food poisoning and was in the house all day Friday. Even though it was cold, there was little wind and it was bright and sunny. The fresh air really felt good.

Can anyone confirm how these pedals hang?

Maybe tjspiel can give us an update now that they're worn in and the weather is warmer?

Someone on another list said after a short break in, the bearing stiffness goes,
and then they hang vertically.

So you touch the top edge with your toe, and push it forward or back,
depending on what shoe you're wearing.

Cleat forwards or backwards?

From what I remember it seemed to me that they mostly ended up on which ever side you left them, but that may have been due to the original stiffness of the bearing as fietsbob has said. So I decided to go out to the garage and look, just like 7 months ago. ;)

He was right. the tendency is for them to hang vertically just like fietsbob said. They hang with with mechanism towards the back, so you want to push the top of your pedal forward to click in, or backwards for the platform. Note that this is somewhat news to me and I didn't pay that much attention when I had them on my bike.

Yes that's right, they're not on my bike at the moment. Because of some numbness in my feet that I was getting on long rides (never on my commutes) I decided to get some wider shoes with a stiffer sole. They were road shoes but you could also mount SPD cleats to them. The problem is that even though you could put SPD cleats on them, they sucked for SPDs big time. The cleats weren't recessed at all which made walking treacherous and clipping in difficult, but they mostly eliminated my numbness problem. So I switched to a different pedal.

Now I'm in something of a quandary because I miss being able to use my road bike with regular shoes, not that I did it that often. I may end up putting the A530s back on but I haven't made up my mind yet.