I climbed some rocky stuff today thats normally a bit “out of your seat launch your weight forwardesque”. Instead of using the less responsive pro pedal i used no finiky damping at all and i didnt even lift my ass of the seat nor did i feel the rocks.

Is this normal or does everyone climb with pro-pedal or alternative?

In other words, when do you use yours?

Just getting used to a new (to me) specialized Pitch with flat pedals. Find any climb that isn’t fireroad to be much better without pro-pedal, smooth seated pedalling and weight shifts in the saddle seem to be the ticket!

i just tend to leave the pro pedal on all the time, and the suspension on the hard side. Can’t be doing with a squidgy soft, soggy, un-sprint-able lump.

Can’t be doing with a squidgy soft, soggy, un-sprint-able lump.

Buy a hardtail then?

Never use pro pedal or lock out. I like to feel my suspension working.

Good point, MRMO..Why do you have a FS?

i have a FS to take the edge off the bumps, after a few hours riding i used to get a sore lower back. 100mm is enough to take the sting out the impacts but not so much that the bike handling and sprinting suffers.

Pro pedal on for smooth climbs only.

propedal for smooth climbs only

I tend to keep pro pedal off for rocky technical climbs. Then for longer smoother climbs and fire road climbs i turn it on. There are some climbs with smallsteps in my local woods and its very difficult with pro pedal on.

I never use propedal.
Propedal and lockouts imply poor suspension design.
Decent bikes shouldn’t require propedal.

I use mine on road climbs and climbs that are really, as steep as is possible to ride a bike up. Road climbs because obviously, there’s no point in loosing energy with any bob, and really steep climbs because I don’t feel that really reactive suspension helps. Otherwise I leave it off unless I know I’m going to be sprinting against my hard tail, titininium riding mates.

I’ve got it and never use it, saying that the shock has been Push’d so that’s probably why 😉

Use it on a single pivot bike, never really needed it on my old enduro

I use it on most climbs as I prefer it to climb more like a HT some times

I didn’t realise people even use it. Get yourself an Anthem and you certainly never have to think about using it.

As mentioned above some designs need it, Pro Pedal & platform shocks saved the single pivot design really. Some bikes need it, when I demo’d an Alpine it was set to Max or Off on an RP23. On a nomad or blur I didn’t use it at all

I use it loads on the Mega. Must be a crap design 🙁

i use it on fire road climbs only, but i keep forgetting to turn it off. i did about 1/3 of the first loop at penmachno with my suspension locked out and did about two miles of gisburn forest yesterday also with no suspension. i may just leave it off altogether in future.

Anyhow isn’t pro pedal just marketing speak for ‘making the shock progressively stiffer, for bikes with poor suspension design’

Anyhow isn’t pro pedal just marketing speak for ‘making the shock progressively stiffer, for bikes with poor suspension design’

Yes and no, it can help with some suspension designs, but it also sorts out the big problem with all suspension bikes the rider.

Consider two big pistons at very low revs with very uneven power input, puts a lot of odd loads on any suspension design. Thats your legs!

Try pedalling more smoothly.

When do people need to sprint on xc rides?

Is these any evidence that pro pedal is actually any faster?

cycnic-al, Why? point of a bike is to get from A to B as fast as possible, if that means sprinting out of corners on single track then so be it. Yes i could sit and spin and sometimes i do but it is slower.
Likewise there are times on climbs when you sit and spin, whilst other times just muller it, out of the saddle and honk.

That may be your point, it’s rarely mine.

I still don’t think sprinting like that, or pro pedal, are necessarily significantly faster.

When do I need to sprint? I don’t need to, but I may want to. Maybe just to beat my mates new Strava time.
Is pro pedal faster? Actually I don’t know. The bIke feels like its got more urgency, kind of more forward when you’re stomping, but without putting a power meter, heart rate monitor and a gps I don’t know how you’d work out whether it’s quicker.
Oh, and I’m riding a giant anthem and pro pedal does make a differance, I’m always surprised when people say its not required on a particular bike as there’s no pedal induced bobbing, I’ve never ridden a bike where there isn’t.

When do people need to sprint on xc rides?

Because we want to and that is enough of a reason

Is these any evidence that pro pedal is actually any faster?

Faster in what way? Do you mean faster on a climb or faster over a whole ride?

Firming up the rear end on my heckler makes it easier to climb and get out the saddle on the hills. This means I have more in the tank for the rest of the ride. No idea if I’m faster on the actual climb as I can’t be arsed to go and do the 20 or so lab condition test rides.

and from earlier

Get yourself an Anthem and you certainly never have to think about using it.

I’d rather not thankyou

Pro-pedal will reduce traction on rocky stuff (climbing or descending)as the increased low speed compression will cause the back wheel to “skip” over stuff more than with it off.

Well having ridden my 9yo enduro for 7 years with no pro pedal and then putting a shock with pro pedal i can say it has certainly improved its climbing ability. Much less bobbing about on the climbs!

I have read test of folk doing race laps on HT vs FS…they all said FS felt slower, despite actually being faster with lower HR.

My point is that a bike that feels faster (see 140psi on road bikes) isn’t necessarily faster, and a decent pedal stroke makes a big difference.

Cynic-Al, agreed suspension can be faster, but suspension can also be slower. It is one of those things that had to be set not just for rider weight but for the track you are on. the Majority of tracks I ride are fairly smooth, but have fairly tight corners making carrying speed very difficult. As a result my suspension had ended up being quite hard. I could run lower gears spin more, change gear more , but I don’t, pick a gear for leaving the corner before you get there and sprint out of the corner.

Aye sure. I’m just not bothered about sprinting for speed unless I am racing.

Oh my bike must be rubbish I tend to leave the propedal on all the time.

No possible way its personal choice.

But I probably should turn it off more. Slippy climbs being a good example

No it doesn’t make the shock progressivley stiffer, thats the spring or air chamber. Its a low speed compression damping circuit designed to resist low frequency or low speed movement. So that’s pedalling but also pumping etc.

All Fox Shox have propedal. Even the base r model. When you pay more you can adjust the propedal between different levels. So when people say they don’t use propedal they mean they use it on a low setting or they use the amount set by the manafacturer not realising that this isn’t zero

Its weird that low speed compression damping is cool on the front and uncool on the back

Steep rocky scrambles benefit from supple suspension with the shock open. Propedal is great for long untechnical climbs on fire roads and roads that try to suck the life from you. It does make a difference.