mintyai

I currently use eggbeaters and want to upgrade to something a bih better so looking at some track/road pedals for use on the street and the track. I saw the MKS RX-1 that come with an optional cleat (here). Is this cleat as good as the ones on clipless shoes, will I still need clips and staps, or is it a better idea to go for something by time or look? I am tempted by people raving about the bearings on the RX-1's or is it just bling?

dutret

long ago before there were clipless pedals that was what everyone used. The slot on the cleat fits over the back part of the pedal cage and the strap clamps the foot to it. It is about as secure/solid as clipless systems but you have to reach down and tighten or loosen the straps to get in or out. Now noone uses them off the track and very few do on. There is a reason for that.

Overall they are worthless for riding on the street and not worth the hassle on the track.

Once again there are no road system you can walk around in and none of them provide enough of an advantage to be worth it for your needs. I know you don't like hearing things that contradict your crazy schemes(like riding a suspended folder on the track) but you're going to be better suited by getting different mtb pedals if you don't like eggbeaters. You wouldn't be the only one that thinks they feel sloppy.

Yoshi

What you could do is use those pedals with slotted cleats on the track and regular sneakers on the street. However I'm not sure how comfortable it is to ride the MKS RX1 pedals with regular sneakers.

11.4

Actually, those MKS cleats have a prong on the front that inserts into a slot in the front plate of the pedals, while the main rear slot on the cleat drops onto the back plate of the pedal. This means you are pretty well locked in place once your toe strap is tightened -- no sideways slipping, no tapping of the front part of the cleat on the pedal. It feels essentially as solid as a Dura Ace 7400 does but without the problems of the 7400 cleat. MKS is changing their other pedals (slowly, because this is NJS country) to use the cleat as well, but the RX-1's are fine for almost any purpose.

Riders for many years rode stage races and everything else in toe clips and straps. I grew up that way. When you're used to it, you just reach down and flip the strap loose -- it's automatic and while not quite as fast as clipless pedals, it's pretty close and pretty easy. I wouldn't necessarily encourage reactionary thinking just to ride old-style clips and straps instead of clipless, but it does work fine. Bear in mind that you have to keep the slots on the cleats free of dirt or they won't seat properly and will also grind up your pedals quickly.

Many match sprinters and other power riders still like to use clips and straps like that. When you strap in really tight, your foot is clamped down to the sole of the shoe, which is clamped down to the pedal. Nothing is going to move. The tension over the top of the foot isn't comfortable for some people and they have gone to pedals like the Dura Ace 7701 SPD-R, which has an extremely strong and reliable clamping system with an all-metal pedal that will never break or give problems. For most riders, including those riding longer events or massed start programs, these are probably just overkill -- you can use standard road clipless pedals and not have any adaptation from road to track bike.

If you are considering these on a road fixie, perhaps the biggest (albeit petty) issue about clips and straps is that on the road, you chew up cleats, straps, and clips fairly quickly (compared to the track), so you just have to replace parts more frequently. It's not worth buying cheap straps -- I'd encourage at least MKS Fit-alpha's and ideally Toshi's if you want long and reliable life from them. But on a road fixie you don't need the gripping power and freedom from stretch that you want on the track. In contrast to a couple other comments above, I wouldn't say "no" to clips and straps, only "why?"

Six jours

11.4 said it all. I'd only add that A) the MKS pedals and cleats are among the best available for the track, and that B) I still ride clips and straps on my road bike and have no problems, other than occasionally explaining to someone that no, they're not dangerous.

mintyai

Thanks for the information. Am I the only person that wants a really high performance pedal with shoes that you can walk around in? (yes I know there are good ATB pedals, but if road ones weren't better, then everyone would be using ATB)

Yoshi

Plenty of people use clips and straps on the street. Just check the Singlespeed/Fixed-gear forum. However pedals designed for slotted cleats often have sharp "lips" on them for the cleats to engage which would be very uncomfortable to ride on with normal shoes. I don't know if the MKS pedals you mentioned in particular have this problem though, so I'd check them out first.

dutret

the question was about clips and cleats. Hardly anyone still uses those on the street and if he is unhappy with the feel of his eggbeaters he definitely isn't going to be happy with sneakers.

High end mtb shoes are pretty stiff. Maybe not as stiff as certain road shoes but more then stiff enough for general use. For most people that is high performance enough for shoes you plan to walk around in. Either way the advantage of road pedal systems is that they can have bigger cleats and so a larger interface between the shoe and pedal. This is also precisely why they cannot be recessed.

More importantly though are riding on a FOLDING bike with REAR ****ING SUSPENSION. Any minute performance improvement you'll get with road pedals is going to be masked by the incredibly inappropriate choice of bikes.