Sort of new, looking for advice.
 

Let me give a little history before I go into asking questions. I was looking for a road bike as a daily commuter, maybe 4-5 miles tops at a time. So I tried a road bike with thin tires and loved it. But after a day I knew this wasn't plausible. The road quality here is terrible, ranging from potholes, uneven payment to thin layers of dirt on the road. This made for constant flats, bike sliding out from under me and just an overall miserable ride. I then decided to go with a mountain bike with big knobby tires. This seemed to work wonderful but the drag and effort it took to pedal was drastically greater. I then realized I could adjust the front and rear suspension. I now have both suspensions as stiff as possible. It gives me a nice ride with a little forgiveness on the road. I'm thinking If i switch to a different tire I should be better off, so I ordered a pair of kenda 838. If they are anything like motorcycle tires that everyone is claiming they should be perfect. The only part of the bike I am not happy with is the pedals. I'm looking to find a wider pedal if possible. I currently have some cheapy 4x3 pedals. Since I plan to do only do road commuting I don't care about the weight or how thick it is. This should cut down on the cost. Any ideas ?

Welcome aboard :)

This will undoubtedly fit better in Commuting than Road, so hold on a sec while I move it.

I like big, grippy BMX platform pedals myself.

That's what I want, hopefully a pair in the $40 range.

Here you go:
http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...der=price_asc#

Just remember you need 9/16" for your bike.

Knobby tires are terrible for roads. You need smooth or smoothish tires, whichever style bike or wheels you use. Mountain bikes with smooth tires make good commuter bikes.

Or you could ride a road bike with fatter than normal tires. That's what I prefer. Some road bikes take 28 or 32 or 35 mm tires. Some don't. I'm currently commuting on 700c tires with 32mm widths. Very nice.

Also, you can learn a technique of using your knees as springs, putting less pressure on your hands. I grew up on skinny, hard tires in New York City when potholes were even worse than they are now. It's not for everyone, but it's definitely possible.

And where are you? You can put your location in your profile as many of us have done. It's a considerate thing to do so we know whom we're talking to.

http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=314952
This is the tire I ordered, kenda 838. (26 x 1.95) But from what I've been told only about 1.2 of the tire touches when you're going straight

I'm intentionally trying to put as much pressure on my calves. I do this by standing up and forward. My other "exercise" hobbies are swimming and weigh lifting. Calves are one muscle I struggle to grow and the little biking I've done so far I've felt it more in my calves then I have years of swimming/lifting.

I am from Maine, home of some of the worst roads ever. The state as a whole makes very little money and gets destroyed by frost heaves.

www.universalcycles.com Looks like a great site, but doesn't seem to show the pedal dimensions. And I'm horrible at judging size by online pictures.

I realize that you didn't ask this, but since you have switched bikes once, you should consider a cyclocross for your next bike.

I didn't know the term for "cyclocross" but that is what I considered a "road bike." I had a friend lend me his and I absolutely hated it. I was all over the road and the 1 pothole I hit due to cars coming both ways (55mph zone) and having no where to go I decided against those.

You tried it so fair enough. I was thrown off by your original description of thin tires. Road bikes will typically have 23 or 25 mm tires where cyclocross generally start 10 mm wider than that.

This is slightly under 3 1/2 wide, I really need to find a 9/16th pedal that is 4+ inches wide

http://oi44.tinypic.com/2aaacll.jpg

What kind of bike do you currently own?

I mean what brand and model is your bike?

Its a cheap bike, I only paid $150 for it new. The only thing I don't like about the bike is the width of the pedals. I didn't know if anyone knew or had a pair that was over 4' and was 9/16th. The pedals I have on the bike are cheap $8/pair ones. They are considerably better then the stock ones but still not wide enough.

Go to: www.nashbar.com

Ask customer service to get actual pedal sizes:

1-(877)-688-8600

I doubt they'd know, I asked another website by e-mail and this is what they said

Unfortunately most pedal companies do not list the dimensions of their pedals, but we have photos
that you can compare to your current pedals. Here is a link to all the platform pedals we carry:


http://www.universalcycles.com/shopp...p?category=114


Have a good day,

Well in that case, use their website to locate a good candidate pedal. Get the name of that specific brand and model, then call that company for the detailed specs.

Try this place. I haven't called with a question, but I have used their 'ask a question' function for a rack once. IIRC, they had a response up within 24 hours. http://www.treefortbikes.com/home

Also, quick question- why the desire for a larger pedal? Are you wanting/needing to move your feet out a bit from the crank arms? If so, then maybe pedal extenders will be the ticket.

The balls of my feet are really wide. I want to have my entire foot engaged. An extender would just push the pedal over, causing the inside of my foot to not fully be engaged.

I think your on the right track with the tires. I ride the same roads and 1.5 slicks does the trick. The mountain bike will be far more stable especially in those conditions. I use platform pedals during the snowy months but clipless the rest of the time.

I absolutely love the tires, they give the bike a real stealth look while giving me a smooth ride over bumps and cracks. I am still looking for bigger pedals. Anyone know of 4' wide pedals ?

Not to beat a dead horse, but a proper cross bike can be exactly what you're looking for (and this coming from someone that regularly commutes on 26" tires). My single speed cross bike can get over or through anything. With semi-knobbies, you can trek across any gravel or sandy strewn stuff, and still have lower rolling resistance than pure knobbies when out on the pavement. No way your friend's bike should have been "all over the road" unless there was something else going on with the bike. Oh, and FTR, you will need to learn how to negotiate pot holes when there is no way around them--getting familiar with the bunny hop will go a long way to prolonging your wheels...

These tires make packed dirt and road feel like you're driving on air

http://oi41.tinypic.com/acs61e.jpg

Without a doubt !
Never leave home without 'em :thumb:

Danscomp.com has a great selection and info, but Im sure you know that.
Ive even basement rigged straps and clips on a set of Easterns.
I find Primo Tenderizers to be the best for me, but if you worry about weight,
maybe not for you.

And ...... The LEFT pedal is reverse threaded !!!!

It's a good thing that you learned early on that tires are the most worthy upgrade to any bike. Components matter much, much less. I'm a tire *****.

Oops. The filter took my word away. OK, I'm a tire person-who-takes-money-for-lewd-purposes.

Does anyone' know of decent front adjustable shocks/suspension/forks (whatever its called) for under $80? The ones I have now are not adjustable and are too soft for me.

https://fbcdn-sphotos-c-a.akamaihd.n...67224089_n.jpg

I feel strongly that you're heading in the right direction from your description a big, fat, "slick" tire.

However...while I agree with getting that type of tire, I looked up the tire, and it's $15 / tire - with no mention of flat protection.

I would NEVER go back to the days of riding a tire without good flat protection again. Never. Since I started using tires with flat protection, like the Panaracer TServ's that I have on my bike, I've never gotten a flat from a puncture (gotten a few from a few different defective tubes, or a burr on the inside of my tire rim). It used to be that I'd get 2-3 flats per year - that went to 0 when I got puncture resistant tires.

Unfortunately, the biggest size I could find in a TServ was 1.75" -
http://www.amazon.com/Panaracer-T-Se...anaracer+tserv

Schwalbe has a very good reputation to, I found their Marathon tires for $45/tire on amazon -
http://www.amazon.com/Schwalbe-Marat...thon+26+x+2.00

I realize that $15/tire vs $45/tire sounds like a huge difference in cost. And all I can say is that it's **definitely** worth it - in my opinion. The difference between 2-3 flats a year, and 0 flats per year, was completely worth it for me - even in my broke college student days. (You should still carry flat repair stuff, because it's not impossible to get a flat, but it's way way more difficult.)

If you do some research, there might be other slightly less expensive tires that would work to, I'm not sure - the Panaracer is the one I buy and I've read many good things about the Schwalbe. But I would **never** go back to the days or getting 2-3 flats per year in exchange for saving $60. Like I said - not even when I was a broke college student.

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These are probably to expensive, but fyi, I ran across them and they are 4" pedals -
http://www.specialized.com/us/en/ftb...latform-pedals

$80 though. Just thought I would mention that they exist.

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If you're looking for advice overall, my advice would be between a mountain bike with no suspension - but big 2 inch tires (slicks, like you mentioned, not the knobby kind of tire), or a bike with front suspension but no rear suspension.

People often think of suspension as something that makes your road smoother, but it's really there for doing things like plowing into logs on a mountain bike trail. Usually fatter tires gives you as much suspension as you'd ever need for anything you find on the road, including potholes. Yeah, a skinny tire doesn't like a pothole, but a 2" tire will ride over a basketball sized pothole (in my limited experience).

If one does need suspension front suspension even covers most of that. Even professional mountain bikers often ride with only front suspension (for efficiency reasons).

The drawback of rear suspension that - unless you buy the expensive stuff - it causes you do lose a lot of power to the suspension. I have a $1500 full suspension mountain bike, and there is a very noticeable difference between having the rear suspension on, and having it off (locked out) in the speed that I'm going with the same amount of effort.

Yeah the rear Is adjustable and I have it so there is almost no give. The rear suspension I am iffy about. I wanted to buy a cheap bike so I could see what I liked/disliked. All the parts I've bought so far can easily go on another bike if i plan too. One thing I do that I doubt 98% of the road bikers do is there is times where I'll go from 1 level surface to another and it's about a foot drop. This doesn't sound like much but I did that 4 times today and I know if I had a stiff bike i would have felt it. I do agree the power lost from having suspension is there. This is why I want something adjustable so I can find the sweet spot.

At this point If I could find 4' pedals under 45 for a pair I'd do it.

95 degrees outside and I managed to do 15 miles in under 2 hours. And the riding had quite a few ups and downs. The only thing my bike really lacks now is more places for water. Gonna buy the dual bottle rack for the back so I'll have 3 bottles.

Lol, your route sounds crazy. :D 1 foot drop? Most of my mountain bike trails don't even have that...

If it was me, I'd get off my bike and carry it over the drop for that, lol...