Pedals for Fixed Gear Bike

[Chris B .]

On 08 Mar 2004 22:06:59 GMT, David Reuteler <[email protected]> wrote:

>Carl Fogel <[email protected]> wrote:
>> Glad I didn't find out the hard way.
>
>i sure did. i had a minor crash making a hard turn onto
>nicollet mall in minneapolis .. when the pedal hit the
>pavement it messed up my angle into the corner and i hit
>the curb at a little under 20mph.

On the dozen or so occasions where I have struck a pedal on
the ground in a turn, I found that the rear wheel would just
hop to the side opposite to the pedal, effectively
shortening the turn. It has never caused me to crash, though
I still try to avoid doing it.

 

[David Reuteler]

Chris B. <[email protected]> wrote:
> On the dozen or so occasions where I have struck a pedal
> on the ground in a turn, I found that the rear wheel would
> just hop to the side opposite to the pedal, effectively
> shortening the turn. It has never caused me to crash,
> though I still try to avoid doing it.

i had the unfortunate reaction of losing concentration and
straightening out my line. on that instance i had tipped
the bike down pretty low and the impact was hard enuf to
startle me.

hey, to my credit tho i've never come close to crashing by
"forgetting to pedal" .. i believe the classic is after a
long climb doing the little victory coast. oops.
--
david reuteler [email protected]

 

[Chris B .]

On 09 Mar 2004 17:35:20 GMT, David Reuteler <[email protected]> wrote:

>hey, to my credit tho i've never come close to crashing by
>"forgetting to pedal" .. i believe the classic is after a
>long climb doing the little victory coast. oops.

My closest calls have all been while doing bunny hops (I use
flat pedals) because I had always been in the habit of doing
the while coasting.

 

[Rick Onanian]

On Wed, 10 Mar 2004 01:28:13 GMT, Chris B.
<[email protected]> wrote:
>On 09 Mar 2004 17:35:20 GMT, David Reuteler
><[email protected]> wrote:
>>hey, to my credit tho i've never come close to crashing by
>>"forgetting to pedal" .. i believe the classic is after a
>>long climb doing the little victory coast. oops.
>
>My closest calls have all been while doing bunny hops (I
>use flat pedals) because I had always been in the habit of
>doing the while coasting.

It's possible to bunny hop without coasting?
--
Rick Onanian

 

[DiabloScott]

Originally posted by Rick Onanian
On Sun, 07 Mar 2004 14:27:06 -0500, Sheldon Brown
<[email protected]> wrote:
>As an aside, those are _not_, strictly speaking,
>"platform pedals" though this term has lately been widely
>misused to apply to various plain pedals that don't use
>any retention system.
>
>I am probably fighting a losing rear-guard action her, but
>I'd like to see the original meaning of "platform pedals"
>preserved.
>
>Traditional platform pedals are single-sided pedals
>intended for use _only_ with clips and straps. Instead of
>having sharp edges digging

Be a leader, Sheldon. Coin a new word for 'plain' pedals
that is sufficiently intuitive that it will stick. We need
something to describe pedals that are not clipless, not
platforms, and have no retention mechanism except possibly
the ability to add straps and clips. It needs to be as
sticky a word as 'clipless' and 'platform' are. Do it!

Nashbar describes them as 'caged', but I'm not entirely
sure of the accuracy of that term, and it's also not
sufficiently sticky.
--
Rick Onanian

I think the Campy Triomphe and Victory pedals could be called platform - they were sort of triangle shaped things that required special toe clips.

I've heard "plain" pedals called "quill" type but I'm not sure why - they typically have a rounded section on the outboard side. Contrast this with "track" pedals that don't have the outboard rounded section so there's more corning clearance.

Best sneaker pedals I ever had were made by Specialized, I think they were called "commuter pedals" and they had lots of flat area to distribute the forces over the bottom of my shoes. Regular toe clips and easy to flip on.

 

[Dvt]

Rick Onanian wrote:
> It's possible to bunny hop without coasting?

Yep. I can do it on my fixed. Sheldon mentions it somewhere
on his site.

I'm a lot better at bunnyhopping a freewheeling bike, but
it's possible on a fixie. I find that I stop the pedals (and
the back wheel, of course) while in the air. I get a little
skid and jerk when I hit the ground again.

As for pedals, I say to the OP: use what you like. I've used
spd clones, Looks, and Time MTB pedals. None have any
special characteristics that make them better on a fixie.

--
Dave dvt at psu dot edu

 

[Dvt]

Rick Onanian wrote:
> It's possible to bunny hop without coasting?

Yep. I can do it on my fixed. Sheldon mentions it somewhere
on his site.

I'm a lot better at bunnyhopping a freewheeling bike, but
it's possible on a fixie. I find that I stop the pedals (and
the back wheel, of course) while in the air. I get a little
skid and jerk when I hit the ground again.

As for pedals, I say to the OP: use what you like. I've used
spd clones, Looks, and Time MTB pedals. None have any
special characteristics that make them better on a fixie.

--
Dave dvt at psu dot edu

 

[Gonzo Bob]

I put Speedplay X3's on my fixie since I have Speedplays on my other road bikes and am used to clipping in/out of them.

 

[James Thomson]

"Elmo Spam King" <[email protected]> wrote:

[snip description of Shimano Dynadrive pedals]

> I don't have them here in front of me, so the model
> numbers aren't available. But if anybody has some more
> information about these things, I'd love to hear it.

A Google search for Shimano Dynadrive will tell you all you
want to know, and more. There's a copy of the 1982 Shimano
catalogue at:

http://www.sheldonbrown.com/shimano1982/

The idea was that it was biomechanically efficient to
minimize the distance between the foot and the axis of
rotation of the pedal. To do this, the pedal bearings had to
be mounted inboard of the pedal body, so the crank-pedal
attachment had to be enlarged to accommodate the bearing.

James Thomson