Pedals for new bike

[tdcadillac]

Hello all

I am almost decided to buy a new bike (Emonda ALR5 or Giant defy advanced 2)

what type of pedals are good for training ( I am new to biking) and this bike will be my first bike. I used to do spinning with my normal shoes on. but now with new road bike I think it will be better to have the right shoes and pedals.

any feedback is much appreciated.
if you want to give me advice between Emonda and Giant above as well that is great.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

Depends on what you want.

The hard core race type with the big block that makes you walk like a duck during rest stops etc. I tried them, hated them! Also ride a tandem so putting my feet down on wet pavement at times was not secure enough for my taste. Many riders say the big block helps deliver power to the pedals. Honestly, I tried them and I don't see it. One sided pedal. I see many riders fiddling with them trying to get started after a stop at intersections.

Then the comfort guys like myself. I like mountain bike shoe types. The cleat is recessed in the rubber sole so the metal connection part never touches the pavement when you walk. Like walking in sneakers imo. Double sided pedals (connect on either side) so easy to engage at intersections after a stop.

I've seen plenty fast riders using both types so imo, it's a matter of what is comfortable for you.

 

[tdcadillac]

Depends on what you want.

The hard core race type with the big block that makes you walk like a duck during rest stops etc. I tried them, hated them! Also ride a tandem so putting my feet down on wet pavement at times was not secure enough for my taste. Many riders say the big block helps deliver power to the pedals. Honestly, I tried them and I don't see it. One sided pedal. I see many riders fiddling with them trying to get started after a stop at intersections.

Then the comfort guys like myself. I like mountain bike shoe types. The cleat is recessed in the rubber sole so the metal connection part never touches the pavement when you walk. Like walking in sneakers imo. Double sided pedals (connect on either side) so easy to engage at intersections after a stop.

I've seen plenty fast riders using both types so imo, it's a matter of what is comfortable for you.

do you mean you like the SPD and not the SPD SL. I assume the mountain bike shoe type are the SPD right?

 

[Mr. Beanz]

do you mean you like the SPD and not the SPD SL. I assume the mountain bike shoe type are the SPD right?

Yup, spd's are what I use. Never used SPD SL.

But one of the big racer types are the "Look" Pedals. This is what I tried and did not like.

 

[Froze]

Really the two bikes are very similar, it's going to come down to you test riding each bike and see which one is the most comfortable for you to ride. When I say test ride, I don't mean making small circles in a parking lot, but take it out onto the street and go for at least a mile, and take both bikes on the exact same route.

As far as pedals go, you don't need anything expensive, unless you have money to blow, but the best pedal for the money is the Shimano M520, very reliable and highly rated; it's a multi purpose pedal as well so don't let the MTB definition fool you, it can handle cross, gravel, commuting, dirty, training, etc. so it has a high walkability factor to it, and it doesn't cost much. Or if you want a more traditional and limited to road riding only and not ever walking pedal then heck the Shimano 105 pedal is a great pedal and won't kill your bank account yet will last a very long time.

 

[tdcadillac]

Really the two bikes are very similar, it's going to come down to you test riding each bike and see which one is the most comfortable for you to ride. When I say test ride, I don't mean making small circles in a parking lot, but take it out onto the street and go for at least a mile, and take both bikes on the exact same route.

As far as pedals go, you don't need anything expensive, unless you have money to blow, but the best pedal for the money is the Shimano M520, very reliable and highly rated; it's a multi purpose pedal as well so don't let the MTB definition fool you, it can handle cross, gravel, commuting, dirty, training, etc. so it has a high walkability factor to it, and it doesn't cost much. Or if you want a more traditional and limited to road riding only and not ever walking pedal then heck the Shimano 105 pedal is a great pedal and won't kill your bank account yet will last a very long time.

From the description you have I will go with the Shimano M520 that will be enough for me. Thanks and Have a nice week end

 

[tdcadillac]

Really the two bikes are very similar, it's going to come down to you test riding each bike and see which one is the most comfortable for you to ride. When I say test ride, I don't mean making small circles in a parking lot, but take it out onto the street and go for at least a mile, and take both bikes on the exact same route.

As far as pedals go, you don't need anything expensive, unless you have money to blow, but the best pedal for the money is the Shimano M520, very reliable and highly rated; it's a multi purpose pedal as well so don't let the MTB definition fool you, it can handle cross, gravel, commuting, dirty, training, etc. so it has a high walkability factor to it, and it doesn't cost much. Or if you want a more traditional and limited to road riding only and not ever walking pedal then heck the Shimano 105 pedal is a great pedal and won't kill your bank account yet will last a very long time.

For the helmet what do you suggest something that is not expensive but reliable. I went yesterday to a store to test a bike and they don't have a spare helmet because of Covid! I need to buy a helmet now before the bike Thanks

 

[Froze]

Cost wise the Specialized Chamonix MIPS is about $80 on Amazon or at any bike store due to price fixing, but it is up there with the highest protection of even more expensive helmets. That is the helmet that I bought but I haven't tested it in crash...

The Bell Draft has been discontinued.

I would not consider any helmet without the MiPS feature, it's so cheap to add to a helmet, like it might cost a helmet manufacture a $1.00 at the very most to put the system in, so I'm really confused why all helmets don't have that.

 

[tdcadillac]

Cost wise the Specialized Chamonix MIPS is about $80 on Amazon or at any bike store due to price fixing, but it is up there with the highest protection of even more expensive helmets. That is the helmet that I bought but I haven't tested it in crash...

The Bell Draft has been discontinued.

I would not consider any helmet without the MiPS feature, it's so cheap to add to a helmet, like it might cost a helmet manufacture a $1.00 at the very most to put the system in, so I'm really confused why all helmets don't have that.

awesome I will start looking on that. Thanks Froze

 

[tdcadillac]

Cost wise the Specialized Chamonix MIPS is about $80 on Amazon or at any bike store due to price fixing, but it is up there with the highest protection of even more expensive helmets. That is the helmet that I bought but I haven't tested it in crash...

The Bell Draft has been discontinued.

I would not consider any helmet without the MiPS feature, it's so cheap to add to a helmet, like it might cost a helmet manufacture a $1.00 at the very most to put the system in, so I'm really confused why all helmets don't have that.

Hello Froze,
I am not sure if I asked you this question before in the forum or not. my apologies if you already answered it. Rim vs Disc, which one you prefer? for somebody like myself investing in the new road bike which one do you recommend? Thank you

 

[dabac]

...Rim vs Disc, which one you prefer? for somebody like myself investing in the new road bike which one do you recommend? Thank you

Well, I PREFER discs.
Whether I’d insist on them or not depends.
The one thing you’ll ALWAYS notice about discs, particularly hydros, is that you need less effort at the levers for a given amount of braking.
While nice, this is rarely a hugely important feature.
One thing you SOMETIMES notice is that braking is less affected by rain.
One thing you SELDOM notice - for a road rider - is the absence of rim wear and immunity to dents and dings.
Now me, I’m an all-year, all-weather rider.
For a bike I intend to use all-year, all-weather I would insist on discs.
It will get ridden in rain, sleet and snow. I will need to maintain good control with cold and clumsy hands.
OTOH, if I’m looking at a 3-season, fair-weather bike, I would not consider discs critical.
If the choice is between an entry-level disc bike, or a top-of-the-line rim brake bike, I’d probably go for the top-of-the-line rim brake bike instead.

 

[tdcadillac]

Well, I PREFER discs.
Whether I’d insist on them or not depends.
The one thing you’ll ALWAYS notice about discs, particularly hydros, is that you need less effort at the levers for a given amount of braking.
While nice, this is rarely a hugely important feature.
One thing you SOMETIMES notice is that braking is less affected by rain.
One thing you SELDOM notice - for a road rider - is the absence of rim wear and immunity to dents and dings.
Now me, I’m an all-year, all-weather rider.
For a bike I intend to use all-year, all-weather I would insist on discs.
It will get ridden in rain, sleet and snow. I will need to maintain good control with cold and clumsy hands.
OTOH, if I’m looking at a 3-season, fair-weather bike, I would not consider discs critical.
If the choice is between an entry-level disc bike, or a top-of-the-line rim brake bike, I’d probably go for the top-of-the-line rim brake bike instead.

Thanks. is there different type of disc? you mentioned hydros what are the other one? what is the difference?

 

[dabac]

Thanks. is there different type of disc? you mentioned hydros what are the other one? what is the difference?

The two main groups are hydraulic brakes and mechanical brakes.
With hydros, the brake lever push on a piston, puts pressure on a fluid. This pressure is transferred by a hose to pistons in the brake caliper, where they cause the brake pads to pinch around the brake disc.
Mechanical brakes, the lever pulls a wire, just like with rim brakes. But now, the wire pulls on an arm on the caliper, bringing the brake pads to close around the brake disc.
The main difference is that hydros develop more clamping force for a set amount of lever effort than what mechanical brakes do.

 

[tdcadillac]

The two main groups are hydraulic brakes and mechanical brakes.
With hydros, the brake lever push on a piston, puts pressure on a fluid. This pressure is transferred by a hose to pistons in the brake caliper, where they cause the brake pads to pinch around the brake disc.
Mechanical brakes, the lever pulls a wire, just like with rim brakes. But now, the wire pulls on an arm on the caliper, bringing the brake pads to close around the brake disc.
The main difference is that hydros develop more clamping force for a set amount of lever effort than what mechanical brakes do.

Thank you very much

 

[tdcadillac]

The two main groups are hydraulic brakes and mechanical brakes.
With hydros, the brake lever push on a piston, puts pressure on a fluid. This pressure is transferred by a hose to pistons in the brake caliper, where they cause the brake pads to pinch around the brake disc.
Mechanical brakes, the lever pulls a wire, just like with rim brakes. But now, the wire pulls on an arm on the caliper, bringing the brake pads to close around the brake disc.
The main difference is that hydros develop more clamping force for a set amount of lever effort than what mechanical brakes do.

Hello Dabac,
I found a specialized Allez E 5 Elite 105 with rims (rockcitycycles website) i can t copy the link unfortunately
it is $1900 cad with shipping ($1460 us). it is budget friendly and I am ok with the rims brakes. the only thing that worry me is that I am 183 cm tall and this is a 56 size. in the chart it say that it is good between 175 to 183 so i am at the edge. is it something that is ok?
Thanks

 

[Froze]

Hello Froze,
I am not sure if I asked you this question before in the forum or not. my apologies if you already answered it. Rim vs Disc, which one you prefer? for somebody like myself investing in the new road bike which one do you recommend? Thank you

Let me tell you what a friend and I did.

My friend bought a brand new Trek with hydraulic disk brakes about 5 years ago, I had bought a new bike in 2013 but it had rim brakes, his and my bike came with aluminum wheels, so I proposed a test for us which he agreed to do. the first test would be 3 runs at 15 mph then we would take turns saying stop and hit the brakes hard, then another set at 20, and a final set at 25. With us and the weight of our bikes we were within 3 pounds, I was a tad on the heavier side because my bike was 2 pounds heavier. He had 25mm Conti 4000s (I recall the exact model of 4000's) and I had 23 on the front and 25 on the rear Vittoria Rubino pros. We used the exact same PSI. The only rule was we had to stay in the seat and not slide our butts toward the rear to help with rear braking. So off we go, the 15 and the 20 mph runs we stopped within a foot of each other, sometimes I was a bit shorter and sometimes he was, we attributed that to reaction time differences; but the third set at 25 something odd happened, the first stop I stopped about a foot shorter, no big deal, the second stop I stopped about 2 feet shorter, and the third stop I stopped over 3 feet shorter!? why? The only thing we could think of was brake fade, so he touched his front rotor and singed his finger, then he touched my rim and though hot it didn't burn the top skin, so from that we knew it was brake fade.

Now having said that, there are some conditions, in the rain disk brakes will stop sooner because the rotor is smaller than the rim so the it doesn't take as long to wipe the water off. If you have very expensive rims the disk will make the rims last a lot longer, but if your rims are just the common $400 a piece the cost between replacing the expensive rotors and pads will break even with replacing the rim. Also if you have carbon fiber rims, it's extremely important that you use disk brakes.

Now 2 months ago I bought a new touring bike after crashing my old vintage bike, the new touring bike came with mechanical disk brakes, the old one had cantilever brakes, I can't test both bikes loaded obviously so all I can report is what I remember. The old brakes did take more hand pressure to stop with, especially if I needed to stop fast when loaded, the new disk brakes the lever action is a lot smoother requiring less muscle on my part to activate. Do the disk brakes stop better? ehh, I don't really get a sense that they do, it seems like they do because less effort is required to get the brakes to work, but if I could do a test like I did above it could be that under panic stopping they could both stop darn near the same. I think when people operate disk brakes for the first time, especially hydraulic, they get the idea that they will stop faster because the of less effort required, but it's their brain deceiving them.

What stops a bike is the brake pad friction combined with tire traction on the pavement, once you lock up your tires it doesn't matter what braking system you use, at that point of lock up or near lock up it's all about the tires traction ability on pavement, it's not about disk vs rim brakes.

I've raced and ridden on rim brakes for over 40 years, I see no problems with the rim brakes whatsoever, and if you go to any Tour De France history of races you won't find mass graves at the end of corners from going down a fast descent where riders couldn't stop and flew right over a cliff, they still hit the same speeds of 60 to over 70 mph with rim brakes back then as they do with disk brakes today. They also raced in the rain with rim brakes with the same results, no mass graves at the end of fast turns; they lose traction in the rain the same way they did 40 years ago, the tires can't grip the wet pavement and they slide out and crash, they don't crash due to using rim brakes vs disk brakes.

Anyway, it's my opinion based on my experiences, I didn't say all of that to get into a war with disk lovers. I do like my disk brakes on my touring bike though, the mechanical disk feel more like very good rim brakes so it's easier to modulate the brakes vs the hydraulic braking system I test rode, I didn't care for the hydraulic brakes, others will disagree but that's fine.

 

[Mr. Beanz]

I agree! On a mountain bike ride, once I hit so much squeeze on my levers with V brakes, the tires will slide before the rim fails to spin against the pads. Here in So Calif, disc would not help me.

Flying down mountain roads on the road bike at 40+ mph, at 230 pounds, never had a problem stopping with rim brakes over the last 25 years. Not sure why the 150 pound guys keep telling me that I need discs. if you can't stop a 150 guy with rim brakes, something is wrong.

 

[tdcadillac]

Let me tell you what a friend and I did.

My friend bought a brand new Trek with hydraulic disk brakes about 5 years ago, I had bought a new bike in 2013 but it had rim brakes, his and my bike came with aluminum wheels, so I proposed a test for us which he agreed to do. the first test would be 3 runs at 15 mph then we would take turns saying stop and hit the brakes hard, then another set at 20, and a final set at 25. With us and the weight of our bikes we were within 3 pounds, I was a tad on the heavier side because my bike was 2 pounds heavier. He had 25mm Conti 4000s (I recall the exact model of 4000's) and I had 23 on the front and 25 on the rear Vittoria Rubino pros. We used the exact same PSI. The only rule was we had to stay in the seat and not slide our butts toward the rear to help with rear braking. So off we go, the 15 and the 20 mph runs we stopped within a foot of each other, sometimes I was a bit shorter and sometimes he was, we attributed that to reaction time differences; but the third set at 25 something odd happened, the first stop I stopped about a foot shorter, no big deal, the second stop I stopped about 2 feet shorter, and the third stop I stopped over 3 feet shorter!? why? The only thing we could think of was brake fade, so he touched his front rotor and singed his finger, then he touched my rim and though hot it didn't burn the top skin, so from that we knew it was brake fade.

Now having said that, there are some conditions, in the rain disk brakes will stop sooner because the rotor is smaller than the rim so the it doesn't take as long to wipe the water off. If you have very expensive rims the disk will make the rims last a lot longer, but if your rims are just the common $400 a piece the cost between replacing the expensive rotors and pads will break even with replacing the rim. Also if you have carbon fiber rims, it's extremely important that you use disk brakes.

Now 2 months ago I bought a new touring bike after crashing my old vintage bike, the new touring bike came with mechanical disk brakes, the old one had cantilever brakes, I can't test both bikes loaded obviously so all I can report is what I remember. The old brakes did take more hand pressure to stop with, especially if I needed to stop fast when loaded, the new disk brakes the lever action is a lot smoother requiring less muscle on my part to activate. Do the disk brakes stop better? ehh, I don't really get a sense that they do, it seems like they do because less effort is required to get the brakes to work, but if I could do a test like I did above it could be that under panic stopping they could both stop darn near the same. I think when people operate disk brakes for the first time, especially hydraulic, they get the idea that they will stop faster because the of less effort required, but it's their brain deceiving them.

What stops a bike is the brake pad friction combined with tire traction on the pavement, once you lock up your tires it doesn't matter what braking system you use, at that point of lock up or near lock up it's all about the tires traction ability on pavement, it's not about disk vs rim brakes.

I've raced and ridden on rim brakes for over 40 years, I see no problems with the rim brakes whatsoever, and if you go to any Tour De France history of races you won't find mass graves at the end of corners from going down a fast descent where riders couldn't stop and flew right over a cliff, they still hit the same speeds of 60 to over 70 mph with rim brakes back then as they do with disk brakes today. They also raced in the rain with rim brakes with the same results, no mass graves at the end of fast turns; they lose traction in the rain the same way they did 40 years ago, the tires can't grip the wet pavement and they slide out and crash, they don't crash due to using rim brakes vs disk brakes.

Anyway, it's my opinion based on my experiences, I didn't say all of that to get into a war with disk lovers. I do like my disk brakes on my touring bike though, the mechanical disk feel more like very good rim brakes so it's easier to modulate the brakes vs the hydraulic braking system I test rode, I didn't care for the hydraulic brakes, others will disagree but that's fine.

Thanks for your feedback Froze, always much appreciated

 

[Germanrazor]

I am late in replying and only replying to the pedal side of things. You being new to cycling I would purchase a set of Shimano 105 SPD-SL’s and enjoy. Good wide platform to start out on and are bullet proof as well.

 

[bucksur]

i think you don't need anything expensive