What is pedal "float"

stevecoh1 said:

and why would or wouldn't I want it?

I'm new to clipless pedals, got my first pair of SPDs with a new bike I recently purchased. Still have my old bike for commuting, thinking of going clipless there. I noticed that the catalogs list float as one of the numbers on each model of pedal.

What exactly is this measuring and why would or wouldn't I want a large amount of float, or no float, or something in between. What does it do for you or against you?

You might notice that when you unclip from your pedals, you can twist your feet a few degrees in either direction. That's float. If you sit on a wall and let your feet dangle off the ground, you'll notice that they will rest either with your toes pointing in, out or straight ahead. Float is there so that they follow that position when you're riding and prevents unecessary stress on your knees.

back in [FONT=Franklin Gothic Medium]ye olde[/FONT] days, the cleats for toe-clip pedals would usually wear a small amount almost straight away (after the first few rides), giving the riders just enough float to avoid "float related" knee injuries. When the first clipless pedals came out, there was no float at all, and enough people develop knee problems for float to become standard.

531Aussie said:

back in [font=Franklin Gothic Medium]ye olde[/font] days, the cleats for toe-clip pedals would usually wear a small amount almost straight away (after the first few rides), giving the riders just enough float to avoid "float related" knee injuries. When the first clipless pedals came out, there was no float at all, and enough people develop knee problems for float to become standard.

OK, what is the downside of float? Why wouldn't everyone go buy the pedal with the maximum degree of float other things being equal. Float varies from 0 degrees to 20 degrees. That's a fairly big variation.

stevecoh1 said:

OK, what is the downside of float? Why wouldn't everyone go buy the pedal with the maximum degree of float other things being equal. Float varies from 0 degrees to 20 degrees. That's a fairly big variation.

Because some folks get used to the feeling that the feet are secured they don't like the sloppy feeling of a lot of float. It's a personal preference only, not functional.

stevecoh1 said:

OK, what is the downside of float? Why wouldn't everyone go buy the pedal with the maximum degree of float other things being equal. Float varies from 0 degrees to 20 degrees. That's a fairly big variation.

Some people describe the feeling as skating on ice. As someone mentioned already, it can be sort of a sloppy feeling. You can also feel like your about to slide off your pedal. Also, my shoe size is pretty big. If I have too much interior float, my foot smacks the chainstay. I went with the Speedplay Zero pedals, as they let me adjust the amount of float I have.

Thanks you guys for explaining.