Bicycle - replacing a pedal

[Muse]

The OP probably doesn't want to buy more pedals but I would recommend getting some plain old $20 BMX platform pedals, similar to these:

http://www.amazon.com/Redline-Lo-Pr...F8&qid=1451353743&sr=1-12&keywords=bmx+pedals

Big and comfy, your feet stay on, and you don't have to dick around to use them. For typical recreational riding there is no material upside to clipping/strapping in. Simple = fun = more riding.

Could I put clip/straps on those?

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah, I think those pedals are designed to be used with toe clips which keeps the right side up all the time. If you get toe clips and straps they'll work fine.

 

[Muse]

Yeah, I think those pedals are designed to be used with toe clips which keeps the right side up all the time. If you get toe clips and straps they'll work fine.

Yeah, I have my toe clips and straps on them, transfered them from the other pedals. I don't know how else you could use those steel pedals. But read my last post. It explains why those pedals are a pain even when used with straps. It's because you have to go to the other side of the pedal to mount and dismount the bike. It's dangerous doing so and cumbersome.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Yeah, I have my toe clips and straps on them, transfered them from the other pedals. I don't know how else you could use those steel pedals. But read my last post. It explains why those pedals are a pain even when used with straps. It's because you have to go to the other side of the pedal to mount and dismount the bike. It's dangerous doing so and cumbersome.

Why on earth would you have your foot in the pedal when mounting or dismounting? Throw your leg over the bike and then (with both feet on the ground and the top tube of the bike between your thighs) when you're ready to ride off put one foot in the pedal and begin pedaling while lifting your rear up onto the saddle, then put the other foot in.

When I stop and I plan on getting off the bike I lift my rear off the saddle while standing on the other pedal and I put one foot down as I'm coming to a stop and then unclip the other foot. Then, with both feet down, I just throw my right leg over the seat. If the seat is tall just lean the bike over a bit. If I'm reading your post correctly, and I think I am, I would never do what you are describing.

Is the bike the correct size for you? How tall are you and what size is the bike? Can you straddle the bike with both feet flat on the ground?

Here is a video to show you how to mount and use clipless pedals. It would be virtually the same procedure for pedals with toe clips but you have to lean down and tighten the straps while riding (which is kind of a pain in the ass and the reason why toe clips are obsolete and nobody uses them anymore).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5KMPEzUeqJo

 

[Humpy]

The OP probably doesn't want to buy more pedals but I would recommend getting some plain old $20 BMX platform pedals, similar to these:

http://www.amazon.com/Redline-Lo-Pr...F8&qid=1451353743&sr=1-12&keywords=bmx+pedals

Big and comfy, your feet stay on, and you don't have to dick around to use them. For typical recreational riding there is no material upside to clipping/strapping in. Simple = fun = more riding.

 

[Muse]

The OP probably doesn't want to buy more pedals but I would recommend getting some plain old $20 BMX platform pedals, similar to these:

http://www.amazon.com/Redline-Lo-Pr...F8&qid=1451353743&sr=1-12&keywords=bmx+pedals

Big and comfy, your feet stay on, and you don't have to dick around to use them. For typical recreational riding there is no material upside to clipping/strapping in. Simple = fun = more riding.

Those look good, not too different from what I installed for my left pedal today. They look like I could put my toe clips on them. Anyway, I'm happy with what I did this morning, having my plastic pedal on the left and steel pedal on the right, both with clips and straps. It's infinitely easier to get on and off the bike like this than with 2 of those MKS steel pedals.

Why in the world do I use the technique I use to mount/dismount my bike? Because it's way easier! When I stand stationary straddling my bike (I'm 5'10" and I think my frame is about a 24"), to get off I have to swing my right leg up over my seat. Yes, I can do it but it's way easier to do that with my left foot on the pedal (and the bike still going a few MPH) than having my left foot on the ground. Same goes for swinging my right leg over the seat when starting. Having left foot on pedal instead of on the ground makes mounting far easier. I just have to get a little momentum to let me do this. It's been my technique for many years. I have occasionally done it from a stationary position, for example when I have some big stuff in my rear basket (yes, I have a big basket on the back of my bike, mounted to a Pletcher rack, the basket was designed for the front, but I've adapted it for the back). If it's problematical to mount in my usual fashion I will do so from a dead stop and swing my right leg up over my seat. I hate doing that, though, only do it when it's the only practical means of mounting.

I do like having clips/straps. I feel more secure in my ride, more in control. My feet don't slide around. I've never ridden the clipless systems.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Those look good, not too different from what I installed for my left pedal today. They look like I could put my toe clips on them. Anyway, I'm happy with what I did this morning, having my plastic pedal on the left and steel pedal on the right, both with clips and straps. It's infinitely easier to get on and off the bike like this than with 2 of those MKS steel pedals.

Why in the world do I use the technique I use to mount/dismount my bike? Because it's way easier! When I stand stationary straddling my bike (I'm 5'10" and I think my frame is about a 24"), to get off I have to swing my right leg up over my seat. Yes, I can do it but it's way easier to do that with my left foot on the pedal (and the bike still going a few MPH) than having my left foot on the ground. Same goes for swinging my right leg over the seat when starting. Having left foot on pedal instead of on the ground makes mounting far easier. I just have to get a little momentum to let me do this. It's been my technique for many years. I have occasionally done it from a stationary position, for example when I have some big stuff in my rear basket (yes, I have a big basket on the back of my bike, mounted to a Pletcher rack, the basket was designed for the front, but I've adapted it for the back). If it's problematical to mount in my usual fashion I will do so from a dead stop and swing my right leg up over my seat. I hate doing that, though, only do it when it's the only practical means of mounting.

I do like having clips/straps. I feel more secure in my ride, more in control. My feet don't slide around. I've never ridden the clipless systems.

Well, your technique for mounting the bike is what is causing you the problems with those pedals. I've never had any of the issues you describe because I always throw my leg over the bike before I start off and I rode for decades with those style pedals in the 80s and 90s.

You should try riding a Ducati Multistrada sometime. I'm 5'11" and I cannot flat foot the Multistrada but I can throw a leg over it. Put the side cases on and it is even more challenging. Throwing a leg over a bicycle is infinitely easier almost to the point of it being comical that it could ever be a problem for someone.

You should be able to stand over the bike with both feet flat on the ground and about an inch of clearance between the top tube and your crotch. Bikes with a sloping top tube might give you a bit more clearance.

I bought a hard tail mountain bike a couple years ago and it is size L which is probably borderline of being too big for me. It is a 29er and the seat is really high up so that my legs are almost straight at the bottom of the pedal stroke. I lean the bike over to throw a leg over it but it is still so easy to do that I wouldn't consider changing how I mount or dismount the bike over it. I can stand over the bike but the top tube is very close to my crotch. I got a great deal on it though and it is comfortable otherwise so I'm not complaining but a size Medium would probably fit me a little better.

I have clipless pedals on all my bikes including my mountain bike. They are nice because they keep your foot in the correct position on the pedals at all times and once you master clipping in and out you'll wonder why you ever waited so long to convert. Some people eschew clipless pedals on mountain bikes but I like them.

I have SPD pedals on my mountain bike and LOOK Carbon KEOs on my road bikes. If you have Shimano/Suntour/SRAM components I'd probably recommend the SPD SL pedals. They are similar to the LOOK pedals but are a bit easier to walk in and clip in and out of. You should never put Shimano pedals on a Campagnolo equipped bike though.

 

[theeedude]

Forget the road pedals with the plastic cleats for normal riding. Awkward to walk in with next to no benefit for everyday rider.
Just go with the tried and true SPD. If you are non-commital, I'd get these:
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-A530-SPD-Pedals/dp/B00AAOIAQC
One side platform, one side SPD. Fantastic pedal.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Forget the road pedals with the plastic cleats for normal riding. Awkward to walk in with next to no benefit for everyday rider.
Just go with the tried and true SPD. If you are non-commital, I'd get these:
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-A530-SPD-Pedals/dp/B00AAOIAQC
One side platform, one side SPD. Fantastic pedal.

And stop riding your bike like a 10 year old rides a BMX bike.

 

[herm0016]

Forget the road pedals with the plastic cleats for normal riding. Awkward to walk in with next to no benefit for everyday rider.
Just go with the tried and true SPD. If you are non-commital, I'd get these:
http://www.amazon.com/Shimano-A530-SPD-Pedals/dp/B00AAOIAQC
One side platform, one side SPD. Fantastic pedal.

i have these on my MT bike. the grip on the flat side is not great, I have considered using some bed liner or similar to paint the flat side. these are a good compromise if you are going to ride with regular shoes sometimes.

 

[Humpy]

And stop riding your bike like a 10 year old rides a BMX bike.

Yeah, slow the fuck down and stop having fun.

 

[Humpy]

i have these on my MT bike. the grip on the flat side is not great, I have considered using some bed liner or similar to paint the flat side. these are a good compromise if you are going to ride with regular shoes sometimes.

Wellgo WAM-D10 are about the only decent two sided pedal.

http://www.pricepoint.com/Brand/Wellgo/Wellgo-WAM-D10-Pedals.axd

 

[Phanuel]

I don't understand putting dual purpose pedals on a bike though. If I'm riding my mountain bike somewhere, it's because I want to ride the thing in what it's meant to do. I'm not at all comfortable taking that much money to the store and locking it up somewhere. I'd rather use a beater bike for that purpose.

 

[MongGrel]

Haven't even ridden my old Fuji Palisade in a long time, but have rat traps on it.

I take it clipless is a newer thing.

Is a tall bike, used to be 6' before I've shrunk a bit when I rode it and could barely get both feet on the ground then, it has large wheels and frame.

 

[Phanuel]

Clipless are the safer replacement for those traps (clips (death traps)). But the name is comical as what you're doing is clipping to the pedal directly anyhow.

 

[JulesMaximus]

Haven't even ridden my old Fuji Palisade in a long time, but have rat traps on it.

[snip]

I take it clipless is a newer thing.

Is a tall bike, used to be 6' before I've shrunk a bit when I rode it and could barely get both feet on the ground then, it has large wheels and frame.

I think clipless pedals began taking over mainstream cycling in the early to mid 1990s... so not exactly a new thing. I started using them in the late 1990s on my road bike and also on my old mountain bike and they were mainstream then. Been using them ever since.

 

[herm0016]

I don't understand putting dual purpose pedals on a bike though. If I'm riding my mountain bike somewhere, it's because I want to ride the thing in what it's meant to do. I'm not at all comfortable taking that much money to the store and locking it up somewhere. I'd rather use a beater bike for that purpose.

I like usually ride my old nishke road bike around town, but I like to have the option if it's raining or snowing for the mt.

Haven't even ridden my old Fuji Palisade in a long time, but have rat traps on it.

I take it clipless is a newer thing.

Is a tall bike, used to be 6' before I've shrunk a bit when I rode it and could barely get both feet on the ground then, it has large wheels and frame.

 

[Humpy]

I don't understand putting dual purpose pedals on a bike though. If I'm riding my mountain bike somewhere, it's because I want to ride the thing in what it's meant to do. I'm not at all comfortable taking that much money to the store and locking it up somewhere. I'd rather use a beater bike for that purpose.

I'll use them for times like now when the trails have some longer sections of muddy ruts and ice and I know I'll likely need to put a foot down pretty often but still want to clip in for the other half of the ride.

Still, I'd agree that they don't make a whole lot of sense. My main beef is they always seem have the wrong side up and I don't want to be distracted by flipping them around.

 

[Phanuel]

I'll use them for times like now when the trails have some longer sections of muddy ruts and ice and I know I'll likely need to put a foot down pretty often but still want to clip in for the other half of the ride.

Still, I'd agree that they don't make a whole lot of sense. My main beef is they always seem have the wrong side up and I don't want to be distracted by flipping them around.

That's the problem though. For a pedal to work in muddy conditions it has to be really grippy (tall spikes). It's easier to clip into a mountain SPD or an egg beater than it is to get onto a flat pedal. And your muscle memory should be good enough by now to get in and out of a clipless without thinking about it. It's a ton of work to flip those hybrid pedals over. :/ And you'll be fighting the flat pedal with your shoe's clip as well.

But where I live, if the trails are muddy your riding is done. It's all clay here and you can't ride through that without destroying your drivetrain at minimum, assuming you can even ride through it in the first place. It's glue.

 

[Humpy]

That's the problem though. For a pedal to work in muddy conditions it has to be really grippy (tall spikes). It's easier to clip into a mountain SPD or an egg beater than it is to get onto a flat pedal. And your muscle memory should be good enough by now to get in and out of a clipless without thinking about it. It's a ton of work to flip those hybrid pedals over. :/ And you'll be fighting the flat pedal with your shoe's clip as well.

My typical mountain bike ride is uphill for two hours and then downhill for an hour. I can ride much more aggressively on sketchy downhill trails on flat pedals. It's comforting knowing that no matter what I can just step off and I'll be OK. I like clips too, use them 90% of the time, and am pretty good with them. I've just never gotten over the sometimes hair raising additional split second it takes to get out of them in an emergency.

In good conditions, or competing, I'm always clipped, in slop and ice or if I'm jumping a lot I'll put on some flats. When I don't really know what I'm getting in to I'll put on the combo pedals I linked earlier. Though, I'm almost to the point where I have a separate bike for each scenario so I don't have to swap out pedals.

 

[Muse]

The OP probably doesn't want to buy more pedals but I would recommend getting some plain old $20 BMX platform pedals, similar to these:

http://www.amazon.com/Redline-Lo-Pr...F8&qid=1451353743&sr=1-12&keywords=bmx+pedals

Big and comfy, your feet stay on, and you don't have to dick around to use them. For typical recreational riding there is no material upside to clipping/strapping in. Simple = fun = more riding.

I might want to get those, not sure. I was fine, I was pleased, I was AOK with the solution I worked up about 30 days ago, one of my old plastic pedals on the left and one of these on the right, with clip/strap:

MKS Sylvan Road Pedal Alloy Forged Silver

I've ridden maybe 50-75 miles this way, just commuting in the city but a few days ago I started getting a problem with that pedal, which is on the right, the MKS Sylvan. At the very top of the stroke, just as I'm beginning to put any force at all on the pedal there's an audible click that I can feel a bit in the foot. It's annoying the hell out of me. I wonder what it can be. I'm not even sure it's the fault of the pedal, what do you guy's think? Just 50-75 miles? This is supposed to be a good pedal, right? Could it be the crank or something else? If I take all force off my right foot at the top of the stroke where the click happens I don't get a click.

I'm thinking I should take the pedal apart, inspect it, not even sure how to do that, I guess remove the pedal after removing the clip/strap and twist the knobby thing. The bearings on this are supposed to be replaceable. Maybe it's adjusted too tight, maybe the ball bearings are pitted already, the races?? What do you guys think?

Edit 10 minutes later: I remove the pedal and the end cap, twisting it with a pliers. Inspecting it, it looks to me for all the world like it's missing one ball bearing. There are 11 ball bearings in there and it appears to me that there is room for a 12th! Turning the pedal shaft from the other end (where it screws into the crank), it feels a bit rough. I haven't tried to adjust the tightness on the bearings. What do you think?

I have a lot of stuff around including old pedals, I can probably find another ball to put in there that looks that size...

Or should I look to Amazon customer service and get a replacement? I have to do something, that clicking just sucks.

Edit2: I took the end cap off the other (left one, which I'm not using) Sylvan pedal and it also has just eleven ball bearings. Maybe it's supposed to be like that.

 

[jlee]

Is there no retainer for the bearings (i.e. are they all loose inside)?

http://www.nmbtc.com/bearings/engineering/component-parts/

 

[Muse]

Is there no retainer for the bearings (i.e. are they all loose inside)?

http://www.nmbtc.com/bearings/engineering/component-parts/

Uh, to me it looks like they are loose. There are two nuts tightened against each other and holding the upper race in place. I can loosen the outer nut, then the inner nut, then tighten the two nuts together to give the bearings a little more play, see if that makes a difference. Both of those Sylvan pedals feel slightly rough to me just twisting with my fingers.

Gotta do something tonight, I plan to pedal to my eye exam tomorrow (9:30AM). I'd prefer no clicking, of course.

 

[Muse]

Well, I feel like Orville Wright. I didn't have the right tools to adjust the bearing but the click is gone! I loosened the outer nut with a small crescent wrench, removed that nut, pulled off what I thought was the inner nut but turned out to be a notched washer, then turned the inner nut (which may have been the race with threads on it), just a little, maybe 1/16th revolution, then replaced the washer and tightened the outer nut down, reassembled the pedal/clip/strap to the bike and took a little spin around the neighborhood... no clicking!!! I lacked the tools AFAIK to hold the inner threaded object in place while tightening down the outer nut, but hopefully the _adjustment_ isn't too bad and the pedal bearings/races won't wear out prematurely.

 

[jlee]

congrats!