feet first biking
 

what kind of shoes and pedals are you running on your bent--and why???

I've got Shimano SPD pedals and use Specialized Tahoe shoes. The Tahoes, having laces instead of three velcro straps, allow me to adjust the fit better.

Most of my bents have SPD, which I use with Shimano M088 shoes. My NoCom has Look-compatible, for which I have R088 shoes.

Why? Most of my rides involve getting off for a food stop mid-way in a club ride. On the NoCom, I'm more likely to ride through because I'm likely to be 20 minutes or more in front of the lead group at the 30-mile mark.

Speedplay Zeros. (Need the float). My kids have Zeros, Speedplay Light action, or SPD . I usually start them out on SPD's and they switch later.

I like the Crank Bros pedals. I ran "eggbeaters" for a lot of years, but lately have been running "candy" and "smarty" pedals that have a little bit of a platform with them to support the sole of my shoe. The shoes are mountain bike shoes, as you can walk in them when not on the bike, or trike, unlike most road shoes....

Tractor Tom in Okeechobee, FL

I just wear normal shoes because I don't want to change my shoes at work. I use traditional toe clips and straps.

I use SPD pedals and either Lake or Keen biking sandals. In cooler weather, I use wool socks with the Keens, which are a bit more enclosed and have more toe cover than the Lakes.

I use SPD pedals on my trike, and a high quality platform pedals on my Stratus.

I wear Shimano mountain-style SPD shoes and have different generic SPD pedals from Performance/Nashbar on three bikes. All are mountain platform styles with SPD on one side and plain on the other. All probably made by Wellgo. (??) Almost never use the plain sides of the pedals.

soooo, it seems that no one is of the opinion that it's better to pedal with the arch of the foot, rather than the ball of the foot. I ride DF's with SPD's, but in test riding the bents (and working out on exercycles) I'm sliding my feet farther forward on the pedals.

is that bad form?

I'm a fan of the mid-sole foot position. But I can't find satisfactory foot retention for that foot placement on a 2 wheeled recumbent. I've seen people modifying shoes, but I'm not ready to do that yet since I have such a hard time finding cycling shoes I like. On my trike, heel slings worked reasonably well.

I ride 'bents exclusively and do have the cleats as far back in the slots on the shoes as they will go, but that still places the ball of the foot over the axle.

Usually, putting the cleats all the way back in the slots is good enough; but once or twice I've used my Dremel to elongate the slots and move the cleats a quarter-inch further back. I think the proper position for recumbent riders is just *behind* the ball, and moving the cleat too far back can affect the smoothness of your pedal circles. Like any other adjustment like seat angle and crank length, though, the recommendations are only a starting point. What feels good always trumps 'rule-of-thumb.'

I gave up clipping in all together,,,

I used SPD/dual sided pedals for 4 years and switched to Eggbeaters by Crank Brothers a year ago...they give your knees a bit more float...I have the regular eggbeaters on my Musashi and the mallet eggbeaters on my 700

I tried eggbeaters for awhile on a tandem but the non adjustability of the clip in and occasional trouble unclipping led me to sell them to some afficionados I rode with.
I use Speedplay frogs, mainly because, when I first started riding the bent with BMX pedals I was reading stories of riders feet slipping off the pedals and falling down
with various disasters ensuing, worst was a guy with a femur fracture. So after a few dicey moments with my hard sole road shoes and Speedplay X1s I switched to
ATB shoes with thin rubberized soles and the Frogs. Frogs have lots of float and the shoes don't slip off and are easier to walk in. Eventually the tandem, two DF and
the bent all had Frogs, which are my permanent pedals. An anecdote: 10yrs ago I had an opportunity to spend 10days in Wash DC with the bent and at that time the
bent-Frog shoes and the X1-road shoes were side by side in the closet. When loading up I picked up the middle two shoes: one road, one bent and tossed in car. That
did not penetrate til I was 40 miles up the road, had to go back and get the right shoes.

eggbeaters and MTB sandals except for 3 months of winter where I switch to pinned platforms and non-cycling insulated boots.

On my trike I use SPD m324s and clip in. IMO you should never bike on a tadpole trike without clipping in for safety sake. On my Stratus bike I just bought new large platform pedals.

I was clipped in for two years,,never saw/felt/found any advantage at all..
,,,Rydabent is correct about tadpoles,,Tried a Tad,,didn't like it at all anyway..

I prefer the freedom of flats..

I wear the same shoe on all my bikes and have almost the same pedals..

Specialized 2FO flat out's:
That's bike tire rubber for a sole,,sticky good...
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They are so comfortable I wear them at work,,on parking lots alot, they are wearing like Iron


http://bikeforums.net/attachment.php...hmentid=445052

These pedals are quality,, They bleed me now and then on the mountain bike when I make a mistake,,I play ruff !