Mountain Bike Pedals Recommendation

[wyno70]

I've recently bought myself a new Trek 6700 which came with flat pedals and toe straps. I've been riding it this way for a while now but want to change it to clipless.

Should I go for something as simple as a Shimano M520, or a flat pedal with a clipless bit in it.

Whats the difference/ advantages/ disadvantages??

Any tips much appreciated.

 

[Tim Bennet.]

The Shimano M520 works very well as a mountainbike pedal. Does everything you want. Copes with sticky clay as well as any.

Platform one side pedals are not necessary. Just learn to clip in and out properly.

 

[mickle]

Shi**no peddles are perfectly acceptable but certainly not the only option. Time A-Tac and Crank Bros are loads better. IMV.

 

[bonj2]

M647


imho - time atac, crank bros = harder to clip into. shimano seem to want to be clipped into by comparison.

 

[mickle]

Read any northern hemisphere mountain bike magazine's clip-in pedals group test from the last ten years and you'll be buying Time A-tacs.

 

[Cranky]

Time A-tacs for me, too. I've used them on all my bikes for seven years.

 

[wyno70]

Any particular pedal on the Time A-tac range?

 

[Cranky]

Any particular pedal on the Time A-tac range?

I have Aliums, ROC Carbon, and a single sided type (flat on the other side) which I can't remember the name of and I don't think they make any more.* I haven't tried the newer type with the modified clip design.

*edit: just found them on Wiggle, they're called Axion.

 

[spence]

As they don't make 959's anymore just shell out for some XT's. They're one of those things that just work.

 

[Dave5N]

M647


imho - time atac, crank bros = harder to clip into. shimano seem to want to be clipped into by comparison.

Time Atacs.

Not at all hard to clip into. My lad was doing it before he was seven no problems

 

[maurice]

I switched from Shimano to Time pedals as my knees were getting a bit sensitive, Time's are kinder (more sideways float).

They're not difficult to clip into, but they are not as intuitive as Shimano to clip into. Better once you're in though.

 

[Steve Austin]

Eggbeaters work for me. Great pedals for off road

 

[Simeon Jones]

I've had the same pair of aliums on my bikes (, I swap them from my MTB to road bike) for more than 10 years and I can say hand on heart that though they're heavy, they've lasted and saved me from several serious manglings when taking major offs; they disengage at just the right moments as well as being the very best and easiest to engage. Buy a pair and never worry about the passage of fashion or time.

 

[Panter]

Eggbeaters work for me. Great pedals for off road

Eggbeaters are the pedals most recommened on the specialist MTB forum I use although people have commented that they're not the best for heavy riders (like me )
I use M520's which are cheap and tough.

How are you finding your 6700?

 

[Cubist]

Just got myself a pair of Eggbeater C from Evans. Completely new to clipless I got onto a flat piece of road to learn to fly them. The first one was easy to engage, and after a wobbly few yards found the left one easily enough. I expected to be unnerved and struggling to disengage, but no problems there at all. I also expected to feel kind of restrained but the float on the pedal meant that it was reassuringly easy to move my foot around a bit.

The pedals have a cleat system where you can swap them over to change the disengage angle. At the moment they disengage outwards at 15 degrees, or inwards at 20. You can reverse that simply by swapping the cleats over on your shoes.

I love the simplicity of the design, the fact that they are strippable and easy to regrease, and they look great. I initially intended to use them only when the bike is in "commuter" mode with a pair of slicks, but have got a week off work and will try them out over some of the trickier stuff this week. Where are my tyre levers?