# Mountain Bike Pedals Recommendation



## wyno70 (10 Feb 2009)

I've recently bought myself a new Trek 6700 which came with flat pedals and toe straps. I've been riding it this way for a while now but want to change it to clipless.

Should I go for something as simple as a Shimano M520, or a flat pedal with a clipless bit in it.

Whats the difference/ advantages/ disadvantages??

Any tips much appreciated.


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## Tim Bennet. (10 Feb 2009)

The Shimano M520 works very well as a mountainbike pedal. Does everything you want. Copes with sticky clay as well as any.

Platform one side pedals are not necessary. Just learn to clip in and out properly.


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## mickle (10 Feb 2009)

Shi**no peddles are perfectly acceptable but certainly not the only option. _Time A-Tac_ and _Crank Bros_ are loads better. IMV.


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## bonj2 (10 Feb 2009)

M647


imho - time atac, crank bros = harder to clip into. shimano seem to want to be clipped into by comparison.


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## mickle (11 Feb 2009)

Read any northern hemisphere mountain bike magazine's clip-in pedals group test from the last ten years and you'll be buying Time A-tacs.


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## Cranky (11 Feb 2009)

Time A-tacs for me, too. I've used them on all my bikes for seven years.


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## wyno70 (11 Feb 2009)

Any particular pedal on the Time A-tac range?


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## Cranky (11 Feb 2009)

wyno70 said:


> Any particular pedal on the Time A-tac range?



I have Aliums, ROC Carbon, and a single sided type (flat on the other side) which I can't remember the name of and I don't think they make any more.* I haven't tried the newer type with the modified clip design.

*edit: just found them on Wiggle, they're called Axion.


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## spence (11 Feb 2009)

As they don't make 959's anymore just shell out for some XT's. They're one of those things that just work.


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## Dave5N (12 Feb 2009)

_Ben_ said:


> M647
> 
> 
> imho - time atac, crank bros = harder to clip into. shimano seem to want to be clipped into by comparison.




Time Atacs. 

Not at all hard to clip into. My lad was doing it before he was seven no problems


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## maurice (12 Feb 2009)

I switched from Shimano to Time pedals as my knees were getting a bit sensitive, Time's are kinder (more sideways float).

They're not difficult to clip into, but they are not as intuitive as Shimano to clip into. Better once you're in though.


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## Steve Austin (14 Feb 2009)

Eggbeaters work for me. Great pedals for off road


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## Simeon Jones (15 Feb 2009)

I've had the same pair of aliums on my bikes (, I swap them from my MTB to road bike) for more than 10 years and I can say hand on heart that though they're heavy, they've lasted and saved me from several serious manglings when taking major offs; they disengage at just the right moments as well as being the very best and easiest to engage. Buy a pair and never worry about the passage of fashion or time.


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## Panter (15 Feb 2009)

Steve Austin said:


> Eggbeaters work for me. Great pedals for off road



Eggbeaters are the pedals most recommened on the specialist MTB forum I use although people have commented that they're not the best for heavy riders (like me )
I use M520's which are cheap and tough.

How are you finding your 6700?


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## Cubist (15 Feb 2009)

Just got myself a pair of Eggbeater C from Evans. Completely new to clipless I got onto a flat piece of road to learn to fly them. The first one was easy to engage, and after a wobbly few yards found the left one easily enough. I expected to be unnerved and struggling to disengage, but no problems there at all. I also expected to feel kind of restrained but the float on the pedal meant that it was reassuringly easy to move my foot around a bit. 

The pedals have a cleat system where you can swap them over to change the disengage angle. At the moment they disengage outwards at 15 degrees, or inwards at 20. You can reverse that simply by swapping the cleats over on your shoes. 

I love the simplicity of the design, the fact that they are strippable and easy to regrease, and they look great. I initially intended to use them only when the bike is in "commuter" mode with a pair of slicks, but have got a week off work and will try them out over some of the trickier stuff this week. Where are my tyre levers?


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## wyno70 (15 Feb 2009)

Panter - Yeah I like it, I ride mostly on trails and muddy paths in Epping Forest and it gets the job done well.

The only complaint I would have is that it doesn't seem to like changing direction particularly quickly (this is also a criticism in a few reviews I've subsequently read), however for the riding I do, this isn't particularly a problem. I guess if you were doing more technical stuff it might be but it suits me nicely.


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## bonj2 (16 Feb 2009)

Cubist said:


> Just got myself a pair of Eggbeater C from Evans. Completely new to clipless I got onto a flat piece of road to learn to fly them. The first one was easy to engage, and after a wobbly few yards found the left one easily enough. I expected to be unnerved and struggling to disengage, but no problems there at all. I also expected to feel kind of restrained but the float on the pedal meant that it was reassuringly easy to move my foot around a bit.
> 
> The pedals have a cleat system where you can swap them over to change the disengage angle. At the moment they disengage outwards at 15 degrees, or inwards at 20. You can reverse that simply by swapping the cleats over on your shoes.
> 
> I love the simplicity of the design, the fact that they are strippable and easy to regrease, and they look great. I initially intended to use them only when the bike is in "commuter" mode with a pair of slicks, but have got a week off work and will try them out over some of the trickier stuff this week. Where are my tyre levers?


how easy are they to clip into on a non-smooth surface... not very if your experience is similar to mine


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## Cubist (16 Feb 2009)

Was going to try them off road tomorrow, that is if Dalby is open again. Will let you know! (and I'll take my V8's and a spanner in case!)


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## Panter (16 Feb 2009)

wyno70 said:


> Panter - Yeah I like it, I ride mostly on trails and muddy paths in Epping Forest and it gets the job done well.
> 
> The only complaint I would have is that it doesn't seem to like changing direction particularly quickly (this is also a criticism in a few reviews I've subsequently read), however for the riding I do, this isn't particularly a problem. I guess if you were doing more technical stuff it might be but it suits me nicely.



Glad you like it 

I have the '08 6700, it's a good bike but it gives a very harsh ride on snything rocky.
There don't seem to be too many about!


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## User482 (17 Feb 2009)

I have a set of Shimano DX SPDs I bought in 1993, still working fine. They're one of those products that you never notice as nothing ever goes wrong. They get a squirt of grease in the bearing every two years and that's it.

I also have a set of newish XTR SPDs which work similarly, but have much better mud clearance.

Eggbeaters are lighter and better in the mud, but do seem to be much more prone to reliability problems.


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## 02GF74 (18 Feb 2009)

shimano are fine. I made mistake of going with ritchey. that is fine but my pedal of choice is no longer made so I hunt round on ebay, and they do come up. must ahve about 5 or 6 spare sets now.

cleats are supposed to be compatible with shimano but when I bought bike with shimano pedals, I found it extremely hard to unclip.

they do the V3 model that I am pretty sure I had trouble unclipping too.


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## globalfish (19 Feb 2009)

I'll go with M647's too. Unless it's really muddy!
In fact this weekend was mega-muddy and I still manage to clip in fine so there you go!


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