Hey everyone, after decades of flat pedals, I’ve decided that I am going to make the switch to clipless for reasons I have identified. Mainly I like bombing tech and my feet struggle to stay firmly planted. My riding is predominantly black trails and flow trails on a modified Kona Stinky.
I am also autistic, so the thought of having my feet ‘attached’ to the pedals gives me anxiety at the thought of it to be honest. I’m sure that will be fine once I try them out.
That said, I have clipless shoes en route, but now need the pedals to match them.
I am looking for advice about pedal selection, what do you like, and not like, why? I like the thought of adjustable tension with SPD style but then I like that the Egg beater looking ones are sort of both, it ahs flats with pins but also clip in. I like that flexibility so if I want to just hop on and ride, my shoe choice is less of a concern.
Opinions! Opinions everywhere!
EDIT: forgot to add, not looking to go top of the line, this bike isn’t worth the expense. If I could keep them under $150 that would be ideal.
I’ve got both XTR and XT, both equally as capable. XTR has 3 year warranty XT has a 2 year. Only pedals I’ve ever used. No complaints. My current XTR I only chose over the XT because I got them for the same price.
XT pedals with the platform around them are bombproof as was said. I still have a set of 20 year old XT pedals that are on my trainer right now. EggBeaters are horrible in my experience. The brass cleat wears out if you look at it wrong, they are much too loose (I ride flats full time now, but when I rode clips, I wanted them as tight as a ski boot binding).
I’ve got 30 year old shimano SPuDs, bombproof. I’ve used everything from their $40 (give or take, dunno what they cost now) bargain basement pedals up to their XTR and both worked fine.
Maybe look at their clipin dh pedals if you want a platform.
You really can’t go wrong with Shimano PD-M520, the bargain basement SPDs if you’re budget conscious. There are trail style pedals with the bigger platform at the low end, too. The PD-M530 and PD-ME700. They’ll all work pretty much just as well as XTR or XT, just cost less and weigh more.
I snapped the axle on a 13 month old pair of XT 8120s. I also kept blowing out of them despite new cleats and having the tension maxed.
I switched to LOOK Pedals which use shimano spd cleats and seem just as durable. The bearings definitely spin 10x smoother than any shimano pedal I have ever touched and you can get the release tension much higher than shimano offerings.
@JoshM I snapped an axle on a pair of 2 year old XTR’s. Shit happens. That’s what warranty is for. Mine where covered as I’m sure your XT’s should have been. I still buy them.
I was using spds. But lately LOVING my look enrage pedals. Competitive price to shimano, better connection and cool gold colour. Xpedio is another brand that is spd compatible, with large platform and excellent performance.
Crank Bro, Enduro Mallets. Your clipped in, you have float, they are easy to get in and out of. They have replaceable bearings kits. If you slip a clip the platform is wide enough you can pretty much ride anything unclipped with a foot on the peddle. Ive used XT, XTR, look (the same as an XT) and Death Grips and they dont come close to as good as the crank brothers.
Returned and went with the Look pedals. Maybe I got a defect or lemon pair, but between the low max tension and snapped axle I decided to spend my money on another brand. Even with brand new cleats and max tension I will still blowing out of them at the worst times.
There is nothing like clipping out when your not expecting it. I’ve had that issue with Shimano’ in the past and tried the HT T1 which were a great pedals but a pain to service. I’m back on Shimano but have been looking at the Looks. Anyone riding the Nukeproof clipless?
