pwarre20

I'm a clipless convert, I know many on this forum aren't, and that's fine by me. For the past year or so I've sunk way too much money into clipless pedals, trying to find the ideal solution for my needs. I ride both road and fixed, and I'm starting to make the move to the track.

What I need in a pedal is:
The same cleat system for all of my bikes
Easy/unobtrusive to walk in while running errands
To be able to stay clipped in while doing an emergency stop while riding brakeless on the street
To stay clipped in while sprinting at the track
To be comfortable during a century ride on the road bike

Eggbeaters
This was my first clipless pedal. (standard cro-mo, no platform) I felt confident on the street for the most part, the float was a little too much for me, but I never had an accidental clip-out. The problem with these was long distance riding, I began to get hot spots after thirty miles, even when I tried changing cleat systems.

SPD
My next pedal was a shimano road spd. (one sided) I used two different types of cleats, the first was a floating cleat. Because of the larger platform, this pedal was much more comfortable on the road bike, and was fine if used with a brake. I also tried the non-floating cleat for riding the fixed gear. While I felt more confident without the float, It was prone to accidental clip-out during excessive resistance, which resulted in both a nasty crash and getting thrown onto the hood of a car. I DO NOT reccomend this pedal for riding brakeless.

ATAC
I recently bought a set of Time ATAC alium XE's. The cleat retention is amazing, definitelty the most secure that I have yet to try. BUT, I made a mistake of buying the XE's, they don't have any float adjustment, which makes sprinting and skidding very cumbersome.


So... what do I do now?
I've basiclly given up on having the same pedal systems on both of my bikes. I could drop over a hundred for the atac xs, which has float adjustment, but I am also thinking about trying the track specific speedplay's (I know, they don't have a recessed cleat, And I would have to buy a pair of road shoes, BUT, they are totaly fixed, and supposedly have an amazing level of cleat retention)

Thoughts, Comments, Suggestions?

hyperRevue

How did you sample all these types of pedals and cleats?

helmets save

Speedplay zero's I am currently thinking about getting these for my fixed gear. I was looking for a pedal that was double sided and had a way to restrict float.

pwarre20

I bought them, This review process has been going on for about a year now.

hyperRevue

Ah.
I was just curious 'cause you said you were sick of wasting money on clips and I was like "you could have bought a lifetime's worth of clips for the price of all these pedals and cleats."

pwarre20

I didn't intend for this to become a clip vs clipless thread. I like to ride clipless, lets leave it at that.

hyperRevue

I'm sorry.
I wasn't trying to make it one.
Carry on.

Thor29

You missed the obvious answer - the Candy version of the eggbeaters. That's what I use on my Steamroller and my Crosscheck. I've done rides as long as 60 miles with no hotspots.

noumena9

i love my Look 3.1s. Love them. I ride the no-float black cleats, though -- does anyone have additional thoughts on why float helps in sprints and skids? I'd think the opposite would be true.. with the red cleats (14 degrees of float, I think) I found out of the saddle sprints to feel a little less secure, which made it hard to go 150% all out.

dolface

i ride spds for fixed, and spd road for geared.
i think your point about trying to make one pedal do too much stuff is a good one, there are different types of pedals for a reason, and it's not ALL marketing.

b00sh00

What are hot-spots?

Jesse M

i'm pleased with my cro-mo eggbeaters so far. i usually commute and ride around town, but also did a 70 mile ride with them fairly recently. haven't had any problems in either situation. i'm using a older pair of diadora geko mtn shoes with them, btw (the black and red ones).

LóFarkas

I actually sold my eggbeaters after a week of use. Way too much float for me, and too soft spring as well. It was never a secure-feeling attachment, even though I had no accidental clip-out. I wasn't even riding brakeless.
SPD is the bomb.

roadfix

I like to be able to use the same system for all my bikes as well....road bike, fixie, commuter, tourer, mtb.... as I have on occassion taken with me the wrong shoes for the bike.

I use mtb shoes on most bikes now. Road specific shoe days are almost over now....I like to be able to walk in comfort. I don't road race.

You were getting hotspots with your Eggbeaters maybe due to the soles of your shoes not being stiff enough. I use both regular and stiff soled mtb shoes.

I mainly use the Eggbeater system now, but am currently still using the original Speedplay X (road) and Frogs (mtb) from the early nineties. I still like the Frogs. I don't like the SPD's....don't use them anymore, both road and mtb.
Since most of my mtb shoes are cleated w/ Eggbeater cleats my next logical pedal purchase will most likely be the Candies..........and once and all finalize on ONE system. I like my life to be simple.

pwarre20

Fixer-
When I was running the eggbeaters I had a stiff soled shoe, but I'm interested in trying the candies, do you know if there is a way to lock out the float?

I'm also interested if anyone has tried either the ATAC Alium XS, how much control over the float do they allow?

ImOnCrank

I just picked up candies/Sidi dominators before I came to england and I like em. They're great for riding in, but like you said, the float is a bit unnerving. However, the control you get more than makes up for it. Haven't done any significantly long rides yet though. (OCT 8th London ride will be the first. Everybody around should come dammit.)

fatbat

I myself love my frogs. Super durable. Very secure attachment- you literally cannot pull out of them. Lightweight. Low profile.

They do have a lot of float, tho, and clipping in/out is a little wierd if you're used to spd.

baxtefer

i think you'll have a bit of a problem satisfying all your criteria....

eggbeaters - floaty
SPD - cleat retention just sucks
Time - XS, do these really have adjustable float, not just release angle? if so, they might be your best bet, but i don't think i'd want to ride a wide MTB pedal on my track.
Speedplay - Zero/X, walkability. Frog, floaty
LOOK - adjustable float (2 ways), but poor walkability

so lemme throw out another suggestion...SPD-R
Now you'll have to buy road shoes with a semi-obsolete mounting pattern, but you'll end up with a pedal system that was discontinued basically because it was too hard to release out of them. Even when you wanted to. 2 different cleats, one with no float. Low stack height too.

A3rd.Zero

Time has 8 pedals for MTB.

Time ATAC XS Ti Carbon (13 to 17 float)
Time ATAC XS Carbon (13 to 17 float)
Time ATAC XS (13 to 17 float)
Time ATAC XE (No adjustment, between 10 and 13 depending on cleat wear)

Time ATAC Alium S (non replaceable bearings old spring and clip design)=poo
Time ATAC Alium (non replaceable bearings old spring and clip design)=poo+1
Time ATAC Z control (Alium with platform)
Time ATAC Z (Alium with platform)

Anything below the XE is no worth the money IMO. I have ridden the XS and they feel exactly like the XE's that I own (I did not adjust float on the XS at all). >= XE are a bit more postivie then the Alium's because the clip holds the cleat in the center rather then letting it slide left and right.

Hope this helps. Ridden the ATAC XE's for about a year brakeless in Pittsburgh, DC, Appalachian mountains, Colorado, and now LA.

Milo

baxtefer

^ you're confusing float with release angle.

A3rd.Zero

Float is the amount of rotation that is free before release, so they are co-dependent. At least in the case of the ATAC's.

Milo

baxtefer

Float is the amount of free rotation you have before you hit spring tension.
You can rotate further under tension, until you hit the release angle. Then pop.

The amount of free float doesn't change when you swap the cleats over and change the release angle.

dolface

isn't the ritchey logic pro pretty much the same pedal as the spd-r? (just as another option i mean)

baxtefer

I think they're similar. They're both SPD-R compatible, and they both get the same tension complaints

andylago

times actually have 2 types of float: angular and lateral. angular being the rotational play, and lateral is the side-to-side. they are different but affect each other, as well as release angle