New pedals & bike shoes for the Rockhopper Pro

[Cackalak Han]

You can disengage faster on platforms, but having had my fair share of falls clipped in, it really teaches you NOT to fall!

You will appreciate the pedaling efficency of the clipless. Granted, it does take more practice with clipless, but so did going from a tricycle to a bicycle. I think you'll enjoy the clipless pedals. I'm using Shimano MTB on all my bikes (mtn, road, ss), and love it. 520's on all but one (XT).

How do XTR's compare to XT's? I'm still running v brakes and can't tell much difference between xt/xtr. Xtr of course, is lighter.

 

[FreeManDan]

Times are so easy!

http://www.pricepoint.com/detail/13531-285_SET644_KIT-176-Combo_Deals-769-Mtn-Shoes/-Pedals/Sette-Element-Shoes-w_-Time-Atac-Alium-Pedals.htm

You never come out unless you want to, OR you THINK you want to....
They will teach you to manage your fear in order to be a better cyclist. But you wont fall much as they are easy to get in and out of.

I wish I had more hands, so I'd give egg beaters and SPDs 4 thumbs down!

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

I was in the same boat as I grew up with toe clips and then switched to clipless. It took me a pretty long time to get used to them but I'll never switch. I run Time pedals which are basically beefier slightly more durable Crank Brothers. The Crank Brothers are awesome because they clip in on 4 sides, and probably what I'd run, but I weigh a little too much and they clip out too easily for me. The times are 3-4 times more $$ but are killer and last for a long time, I've found. They also now have a 3 click adjustment for different stiffnesses. I ride mine on 'medium.' I have three sets including one from 2001 with probably thousands of miles on them and no issues... I ride all sorts of technical stuff clipped in. I'm thankful as they release perfectly, when I need to put a foot down (taught me not to do that which I love), when I bail or head over somehow they come right out, but are super solid.

All of my buddies and particularly technical rider buddies ride clipless, usually crank brothers, but Time as well particularly for tall guys..

A Shimano clipless didn't release (bad in mud, too many adjustments) and tore my wife's ACL. That was brutal and I lost her from MTB for life despite that she rips and has been on a bike her whole life and is a hell of a road biker...

 

[Corey]

I looked up those Time Atacs earlier in the week as they were mentioned in the Candy review thread over on mtbr.com.

Will they work with my Specialized shoes that have the two sets of two holes on each shoe?

The Candy pedals showed up yesterday, so I pulled the Shimano cleats off of my shoes and put on the brass Candy ones.
I will not get around to putting the pedals on until Saturday morning, but I did engage one pedal onto the shoe, and it was pretty easy.
Strange not having an adjustment screw.

I set the cleats to the stock 15 degree release, not the 20 which requires more rotating.

I am not much of a rock smacker as I am getting older.
When I was younger riding my old mountain bike I took a few spills on it as I pushed myself a lot riding trails in the mountains.

But now that I am older I have to watch what I do, I do not want to be injured and miss mass days of work.

I like her accent
http://www.crankbrothers.com/support/video_cleat_setup.php

 

[Christophe Noel]

I do like the Time Atacs for all the reasons Andre mentioned. They have an extremely solid reputation. I think cyclocross racers have the highest demands with regard to pedals and for the better part of a decade, all the primo cross racers in the world used Time Atacs and Shimano XTR pedals. Shimano's pedals to favor cleaner conditions and mud certainly can be an issue, but if a world champion can win on XTR pedals in the mud of the Czech Republic, they'll work fine for me.

 

[dieselcruiserhead]

If I remember correctly Looks are pretty awesome now again also... But the Times are cool. The weight difference between them is pretty minimal so don't blow a huge about of $$ for 40 grams. I have the carbon ATACs which I bought by accident if I were smarter I would have bought the medium priced ones which are around $150 I think retail? Basically their cheapest "grey" ones. The aluminum ones are noticeably heavier and clunkier. They work great but I like the grey plasticized ones. I don't think the spring material matters too much which I know changes also...

The crank brothers I basically consider to be 'disposable' about a set a year I figure and at least 2-3 cleat changes. I think the C are their cheapest, definitely avoid them as they break very easily. Then after a few years you have plenty of mismatches sets to put on your beater bikes and have a good platform going . The SL and higher are generally better but break also but SL is bare min in my opinion... I don't think the platforms (Candy) are required, I remember thinking and going through a lot of what's posted in this thread but again if I weighed maybe 50 lbs less (I'm a 6'5 230 clyde) I'd ride the Egg Beaters in a heartbeat. That 4 sided entry is great and I don't even think the platform of the candys engages your shoe anyway when clipped in... Also even though they look small even when they're not clipped in they hook up with your sole just fine and you can stand on them, just like the times. It is often I'll f-up the insert with 1-2 cranks before something technical and ride it as is, not a big deal at all. Clip in is just one more thing to challenge yourself with the bike, one more thing that's enjoyable....

My advice is use the clips, just know that there is a learning curve and even at the end of it you won't get it right all the time. I do have a friend on egg beaters that can get in so fast its not even funny... But he's also the best technical biker (and telemarker) I know, super human athletic precision.. But just know its part of the deal with MTBs and worth it until you start going freestyle or noticeably DH... Putting on any mileage I think it's pretty much mandatory in my opinion...

 

[Corey]

And shortly after putting on the platform pedals I decided to try out the same pedals that Bob (BT17R on YotaTech) has on his new mountain bike.
They are the Crank Brothers Candy pedals.
Got the cheapest ones called the Candy X for $45.
Was looking at the Shimano XTR M970s, but those are going close to $200, so I figured I would rather drop 1/4th of that to see if I want to stay with clipless or go back to the Straitlines again.

There is an advantage to clipless such as power on the upstroke, but I also am a little leery of running single track being clipped in and falling.
At my age a bad fall can spell major downtime with no paycheck coming in from work.
At least with non clipless pedals you stand more of a chance of jumping ship or getting one of you feet down to help stabilize you out of a sticky situation.
Been there done that many a time in the past I would yank one of my feet out of my old pedals with the Power Grip straps on them to help.

Here are a few pics of the new pedals.

The obligatory grease on the threads

6 mm allan wrench to install with
These pedals are not made to use the 15 mm Park wrench I used with the Shimano M324 and Straitline pedals.
I kind of like it this way, as using the pedal wrench was kind of a pain trying to get the pedal to stay stationary when putting the others on or taking them off.
I think that is how I ripped my arm last week.

Shoe snaps in very easy
I find it much easier to snap in with these than the M324s I ran.
Getting out is very easy too.
They do have some float to them as the instructions say there should be a little side to side float with them.
I have them set to the 15 degree stock release to when pressing the heals outwards.

Pedals are much smaller than the previous two sets and the stock ones

These are very easy to clip into, and you can do it from front or back.
No adjustments to the pedals are necessary.
I had to take off the Shimano cleats from my shoes and install the Crank Brothers ones.
Here are a few good videos from their site on them.
Candy pedal installation
Cleat installation (listen to her accent)

I just went for a quick ride in between rain showers here, and I can say I like them much better than those Shimano M324 hybrids I ran for awhile.
Easy to clip into and out of them.
Only time will tell if I stay with these or switch back to the Straitline platform pedals.

With winter fast approaching here in the Pacific Northwest and spelling many a rainy day, I think my riding will be slowing down outdoors.
I am looking forward to some snow riding if we get snow like we had last year.
Might have to got for an indoor trainer.

Crank Brothers Candy X clipless pedals
$45 through Universal Cycling online for the Candy X pedals

 

[Trail Talk]

New record for reviving a zombie thread ? Let’s keep it going! Looked at a newer bike yesterday with the usual platform pedals and the seller remarked how similar they were to those on my 2004 model. What goes around comes around…