Concerning pedals. Mr. Beanz choses SpD off-road pedals and one of the nice things about them is that you have shoes with rubber soles and recessed cleats so that putting a good down you always have traction. I don't understand what "Big Block" pedals are since as far as I knew, they were flat pedals with nails sticking slightly out of them so that you have grip which descending MTB tracks.
Mr. Beanz and talks about people fiddling with Look pedals or Shimano SL's. This is true of they are properly aligned. If they are you can usually kick into them as you leave a stop. Yes, you can miss but you can do that with a SpD offroad pedal sometimes as well (though it is easier to recover).
I have used practically every pedal on record and crashed because of a good many of them. What I have settled on is the Look Keo. I have them set up correctly on my two pair of road shoes and can simply kick into them. Shimano SL's have the slight advantage of being able to be set up the same but the cleats have more rubber on the bottom so that you needn't be so careful putting a foot down. But neither is any real problem.
It does take a little practice to twist out of the pedal but it isn't long before it becomes natural and as you approach a stop you twist out without even thinking of it.
Another thing - you can get cleats that have various amounts of twisting to get out. If you have the black Keo cleats there is no play in it and you pop right out with a twist. The problem with this is that if you don't hold your feet perfectly straight while pedaling, you pop out. I use the grey cleats which give me 5 degrees of play or so before you break out.
Why use clipless pedals at all? Well, it takes a lot of practice but you can "pedal circles" and accelerate all the way around the 360 degrees of cranks. This doesn't give you any added power or stamina, but it does allow you to put more power into the pedals when accelerating to get off of a stop or to sprint of to get over that last 50 feet of the steep part of a climb.
Many people use flat pedals and get along fine. So don't believe that this is a necessity because because most experienced cyclists use them. They DO have the negative attribute of your forgetting to clip out as you come to a stop and falling over and feeling foolish. As I said though, it soon becomes second nature even when you hit something in the road and are falling down.
Mr. Beanz and talks about people fiddling with Look pedals or Shimano SL's. This is true of they are properly aligned. If they are you can usually kick into them as you leave a stop. Yes, you can miss but you can do that with a SpD offroad pedal sometimes as well (though it is easier to recover).
I have used practically every pedal on record and crashed because of a good many of them. What I have settled on is the Look Keo. I have them set up correctly on my two pair of road shoes and can simply kick into them. Shimano SL's have the slight advantage of being able to be set up the same but the cleats have more rubber on the bottom so that you needn't be so careful putting a foot down. But neither is any real problem.
It does take a little practice to twist out of the pedal but it isn't long before it becomes natural and as you approach a stop you twist out without even thinking of it.
Another thing - you can get cleats that have various amounts of twisting to get out. If you have the black Keo cleats there is no play in it and you pop right out with a twist. The problem with this is that if you don't hold your feet perfectly straight while pedaling, you pop out. I use the grey cleats which give me 5 degrees of play or so before you break out.
Why use clipless pedals at all? Well, it takes a lot of practice but you can "pedal circles" and accelerate all the way around the 360 degrees of cranks. This doesn't give you any added power or stamina, but it does allow you to put more power into the pedals when accelerating to get off of a stop or to sprint of to get over that last 50 feet of the steep part of a climb.
Many people use flat pedals and get along fine. So don't believe that this is a necessity because because most experienced cyclists use them. They DO have the negative attribute of your forgetting to clip out as you come to a stop and falling over and feeling foolish. As I said though, it soon becomes second nature even when you hit something in the road and are falling down.
