Clipless Pedals Thread

Die hard Mallet rider here and have been ever since I first tried them 12 years ago. I like the feeling of the shoe in contact with the pedal, and the fact that you can clip in by sliding your for backwards on the pedal. That's the one thing I can't deal with on other systems. In a CB pedal you just get the clear in sort of the right place and then wiggle your foot around and you'll clip in. I don't like the seemingly constant requirement for new cleats and bearings but I'm willing to deal with it.

Also clipless makes you sound just like owl-x describes above lol. I know what you mean, but saying it doesn't do anything for my opinion of you haha.

The Ali express tip for spare cleats is a good one. Going to investigate that now.

Mallet-E rider here. I use the pedal non-clipped when I can't get my foot positioned in time, and I appreciate the cleats in those instances. They have to be doing something; imagine standing on those pedals without the pins while wearing a shoe with no cleats.... they'd be kind of slippery.

Alright... I need some insight and help here please. Life long flat pedal rider. DH racing, all day high country epics, whatever. Been committed to flats since a kid and scared to take the time to tone it down and learn for a bit and clip in. I ride Chromag Daggas with washers removed on pins so my platform is burly and pins are gnarly! I also ride incredibly duck footed. Im a rather tall guy (6'2") and less than ideal in flexibility( ha, working on that-i hope..).

Years ago, I bought Giro Chambers and HT X2s. Wasn't until about 4 years of owning them, I decided to give em an honest go. Put them on my bike and headed for some rough laps at Purg. Tension down and pins removed. First off, hate the ice feeling! Then I had a pretty big scare. I hit a rough root section with heavy compressions and and decided to ride overly aggressive with optimism now that I was clipped in... well... half way through, I clipped out via my heals! damn duck footed stance... that was gnarly and was grateful I was okay. I rotated my cleats to allow for as much duck footed as possible. I have the 8 degree cleats? I think. Also turned up the tension about halfway. Still having problems though.

I took them off because I just couldn't handle clipping out with my heals, the icy feeling, and also clipping out from apparently how much I move when rotating hips, etc... a bummer because I want to be capable of riding clipped in!



Anyone have any better recommendations for pedals/shoe combo that may help?
Craving:

-Less ice feeling and somewhat better contact feeling like a flat gives (I know it wont be the same!)

-Enough float to let me rotate and not always clip out  (primarily from heel movement- duck footed and move my feet a lot)

alot of clipless pedals have the icy feeling, those who say 'i dont have that' infact do have it but they are unware and/or used to them, especially SPD style, Generally except for the oneup pedals and some of the older shimano pedals 

Theres a reason Crankbrother mallet's are popular even with shimano and other brand sponsored riders, they offer a lot of shoe to pedal platform contact.plus you can get in by standing on the pedal.
before I went to Mallets I messed with heaps of SPD and HT style, shimano did have the DXR which was good as the platform was high(discontinued?)

I wanted to try an SPD style again when someone figured out the 'icy' feeling and found the oneup pedals are good - considerably lighter and thinner.

been running the oneup's since they came out and havnt had any issues but still keep my mallets.

 

Can someone explain the “icy” thing in a different way? I’m lost in the frost

Full side to side movement without resistance. 

SPD pedals suffer from metal on metal free movement, ie no resistance at all so when you stand up or twist hips etc it feels like your feet are not even attached to anything lol.
Oneup set out to address this to remove the effective 'free play'  Their SPD design is better than shimanos.

 

I see. 
Hm. 
Yeah. 
I guess im fine with that. I hear / feel that big ol CLICK and just trust I’m connected. Maybe I need to do some more of my own research 

I have the Hope union tc coming from Saints and XTs and I feel like they don’t have the icy feeling that you describe. 

Still a pronounced click when entering and a bit rotational play with the different cleats, but better „haptics“ compared to SPD if that makes sense. 

Also they’re bombproof. They won’t ever spin as freely under a garden hose as others but I’ve been banging them around over about a year now in all conditions, and they run as smooth as on the first day. Heard enough about shitty bearings on the CB from friends, and the Shimanos were good but adjusting and occasionally cleaning the cup and cone bearing when they got play was always annoying. 

Went through 2 or 3 sets of oneup flats that ate their bearings to the point where one unscrewed itself while riding. Always got a fresh set under warranty because sometimes the axle got stuck from bearing or bushing play, but im gonna stay away from their pedals. 

I usually hate hope parts because their design language is the equivalent of an Orange bike but I love those pedals. 

The "twisting hips" from above post is the big one for me.  If you're used to riding flats, when cornering (on anything other than a perfect berm at perfect speed), you create torque from your feet up into your hips and core, so you're really twisting your feet on the pedals.  When you clip in and try to do the same thing, your feet don't feel stable on the pedals and it feels like you rotate on the pedals.

Obviously, all the top racers are clipping in and have way, way better technique than I do.  Not trying to say anything other than describe the feeling you get when you try to switch.

I've found that the gravity clips with a big platform and softer shoes with grippy rubber really help with this because when cornering hard the shoe will flex and contact the pedal so you can create some torque. It also means you can run the clips a bit weaker to make it easier to pop out when needed.