Clipless pedals

[syncrogt1]

I have search this forum and haven't found what I would like to know. I'm getting ready to buy my 10year old clipless pedals and shoes. Do the cleats come with the pedals? What pedals have you liked and disliked? I'm on a budget so I was going to go with a Shimano 424/520 or a Wellgo 727/823.

[Scott Mckay]

My 10 yr old runs shimano and he likes them however I see a lot more kids of late going to time and I may try some on my next purchase. You can't go wrong with either but I wouldn't recommend any other brands other then those two. The cleats from what I remember come with the pedals (shoes do not come with cleats). Call performance bike parts 801-842-3885.

[dilleyboys]

Hello, I have been running the crank brothers mallet II for the last few months and like them a lot. my boys run the shimano pedals and they seem to need more attention. Time, Crank Brothers & Look all use the same spring type locking system, I like the float on the crank brothers lets your foot move more. after testing several different types i found that most of the high end pedals perform very well, spend the money on good ones and just learn to ride them they all have good qualities. hope this helps i spent a lot of time looking, the worst part was finding some to try be for you buy, if you are at the track on sat you are welcome to look at my set up, "shoe might be a little big for him" LOL but you can see how they work.
Kevin

[jayson_gray]

I have TIME clips that i bought off ksl for 25 bucks and i love them. They are real easy to get into and let my foot turn a reasonable amount. Cleats were 15 bucks which wasn't to bad. I would suggest them to any rider switching from flats.

[joker75]

If you are on a budget the shimano pedals are definitely a decent pedal. I know I paid $50 for my the ones I am currently running. My son ran them for a year and a half, and now I am running his old ones. We just bought my son a set of Time ATAC-z pedals, and he loves them. They have a sort of platform around the clip mechanism so you can supposedly ride better with regular shoes, if you decide to ride around the block and don't want to put on your special shoes. I have also looked long and hard to try to find out which pedals I want to try next. I am still having a hard time deciding between the time ATAC-z and the Crank Brothers Mallet IIs that Kevin has. I paid $80+ shipping for my sons Time ATAC-zs and have found the Crank Brothers Mallet IIs for $100.

If you are not worried about the extra platform I would suggest also looking into the Time ATAC aliums. You can find them for about $60+ shipping online.

[Jackie]

Shimanos have been reliable and last about 2 seasons. I would steer you away from the wellgos they just do not hold up as long. Ksl in the mountain bike section you can snag pedals for 15-40.00. Good luck and I am not sure if you said what type of pedals dad is riding?? Come out and play with us old guys!

[gwwaller]

My son and I went from Shimano (too much attention needed) to Egg beaters (we beat them) to Times Atac Z pedals...If I would have went with the Times to start with, I would have saved major money! My son rides his bike like he stole it and I am a 200lb COG and the time pedals are worth their weight in gold....no problems at all and I got mine off of Ebay for $45.00 and got a set of cleats for $10.00...I've also seen the deals out on KSL....just gotta keep your eyes open.

[JAlvey]

We race 6 classes and run Shimanos on all our bikes. If you don't take care of the Shimano's, then they won't last for a year. If you take some time after every 2-3 races to clean/lube the springs and tighten the end caps (takes about 30 seconds/pedal) then they will last a long time. My son is on year 4 on his (and races enough for about 7000-8000 points/year).

The shimano's have less float than the Time's. This means you will clip out more easily and get mad at them quickly if you are not spinning with correct form. That obviously also lets you know that your not spinning correctly. Since the Time's have more float, you are less likely to clip out, but upon a crash, you are more likely to get a knee injury with them if they are not set up loosely enough. In the MTB world and at my practice, I see far more knee and ankle injuries related to Time's/Crank Bros than Shimano's (2 to 1 at least), even though shimano has a bigger market share.

The Time's seem more popular overall and will last longer with minimal maintainence. Buy extra clips though, as the clips on the bottom of the shoes will wear out a few times each year. The clips for all the brands come with the pedal, not the shoe, or can be bought separately.

[sspencer]

Great information Dr. Alvey!

I too am a loooong time Shimano user and agree with all of Justin's points especially about proper form. Clip set ups in themselves can teach a rider a lot of bad habits (i.e. poor body & power position, relying on them for jumping, etc) and if you are on a pedal that allows you to develop a poor spin technique then that just compounds a riders inability to properly progress.

Another point to consider is look at most of the top Pro's and Am's out there... they are on Shimano's.

Steve

[syncrogt1]

This is great help, i really appreciate the discussion on this topic.

[bnd]

Iv'e got to ask, what class does your little racer ride in? How long he/her been racing?

Yes, this is leading up to a "keep them on flats until their halfway thru inter" thread.

b.

[syncrogt1]

He hasn't won in 10 INTER yet but he's qualifying for the mains.

[bnd]

Now this is just my opinion but a 10 inter that hasn't won yet shouldn't be running clips. I'm a firm believer that any novice should not be running them at all either.
Racers are still developing skills as a novice/new inter & putting them on clips is only going to hurt them. It's a fact that clips lend themselves to bad form. Can a younger newbie even take advantage of clips? Is it worth the trade off of being comfortable on the bike & being able to handle certain situations without backing off for the percieved "extra pull" out of the gate? Not hardly.

b.

[bnd]

Read this thread going on at Vintage right now........

http://www.vintagebmx.com/community/ind ... 42488&st=0


b.