Just spent weekend doing three trail centres in Wales for first time. I’ve always ridden platforms but recently moved over to clipless after learning how to use them on road and enjoying the extra ooooomph I get out of them on my flat-ish local Thetford.

The clipless in Wales was great going up and coming down on the HT, but on very slow tech sections (I was running a close ratio road block so was sloooow on some bits of whites level) I had a couple of ‘gentle offs’.

So – thinking of these ‘mallet type’ clipless platforms – good or not? Thinking that getting rolling again after stopping on a tech up is hard with clipless if your not used to them.

Been running time atac clipless as they have most lateral movement and I’ve got a crap right knee – any advice appreciated.

I find I used to worry about trying to clip back in when setting off, and it would make it difficult. Now, I just stick my foot on the pedal and not worry about wh ether it clips in first time, and just pedal unclipped until I’m going properly. With time though, you’ll get better at clipping in. Now it’s more often the case I’ll clip in on the first stroke of the pedal.

You don’t NEED to be clipped in for the pedals to go round if you know what I mean.

I bought the shimano platform spd pedals to use in Spain last year. The rationale was that they’d allow me to get started again on technical sections if I had to stop, as I wouldn’t be relying on having to instantly clip in once I got going again.

In reality I don’t think it made any difference, although a mate of mine swears by them on technical terrain.

fisha – thanks, I had a few experiences of needing to pedal not clipped in when i could get in quick enough and it was ok. I think running a 12-23 t rear block was not helping as i needed a fair bit of whelly to get rolling. im quite new to clipless and thought i’d stick it out in wales because i swapped back to platform for a weekend in wales riding with the animal/commecal team and i just realised how much faster i go downhill clipped in because the feet dont shake off on the hardtail.

stumpy01 – yep those were my conclusions, good to know it didnt make any difference, maybe I’ll stick to small clipless and get used to it. I didnt fall off at speed once, only going slow around hairpins where i casually rolled down the slope a few feet still attached, and thanked the trail gods i invested in knee pads a few hours before 🙂

They can be good for boosting your confidence, as you know you’ve got a bigger target to aim at. They are also good for relieving SPD related hotspots, if you suffer from that at all.

But in reality, for the most part, they don’t really offer any advantages at all. And I’ve used em for years, before going completely back to non caged clipless pedals.

Time Z Freeride FTW, IMHO

mboy – maybe the ‘confidence’ of wider platform might make me feel better because I come from V12 type pedals for years – but i know as soon as i returned from a tech ride i’d swap them back to non-caged.

v8ninety – i’ve been running time atak aliums for a while because they give (apparently) good ‘float’ and i have dodgy knee – having said that I’ve never tried shimano or any other brand so don’t know if they would agitate my knee etc.

on the whole i see the benefit of clipped 100%, and thats after years of bmx/mtb on flats, but just wanted the confidence of a larger platform for those moments when you unclip into a tech section then need to get back in quickly.

im not sure there is much point personally.
maybe if your using “more casual” style clips.
but my spd shoes are plastic/carbon soled, so will skate around on any pedal i think.

“proper” SPDs on my XC bike

proper flats, with 5:10s on the more lairy bikes.

when combined with proper pedals 5:10s are ace 🙂

I use caged spds. TBH I dont think that they add much benefit!
Riding unclipped on them isn’t much better than uncaged.
They do seem to relieve a little pressure on one of my feet as tehy seem to support it more.

I use Time Zs when I ride clipless, but that’s mainly because I broke my leg a few years ago and my foot still benefits from the lateral support.

They are a bit better than normal spds for those unclipped moments both restarts and “oops” but the bottom of your shoe doesn’t really grip them like you would want. Sometimes I clip out and ride a descent with my instep on the pedal, if the bumps are jarring my bad ankle too much. But it’s not as secure as proper flat shoes & V8s by quite a margin.

I’ve got the aliums on my cyclocross, and the Z freerides are exactly the same system, within an alloy platform. my reasoning was I’ve got cross cleat compatability and I can pop to the shops etc without having to change shoes, and they (may) add a bit of confidence with initial clip in. They do clip in very easily anyway.

what about the shimano dx shoes with the caged/platform clipless? do they give you best of both?: http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=7610

Noticed the athertons were wearing them when I was at their animal/commecal team launch day (yeah I know they get them free).

I run mallets on both mountain bikes now with Spec Comps they are a little easier on the foot on a long ride and good for starting up tech or down tech stuff. For DH and anything where the foot comes out occasionally (such as Stage 5 at Ae this weekend) I have some 5.10 minars which give me the grip of flats if i’m not clipped in but then can clip fairly easily.

So in short Yes

chi11i, I run those shoes as my main cycling shoes, they’re good yes but you still don’t get anything like good grip on any clipless pedal with them when you’re unclipped, though marginally better than a carbon soled race shoe perhaps.

I use caged spds. TBH I dont think that they add much benefit!
Riding unclipped on them isn’t much better than uncaged.
They do seem to relieve a little pressure on one of my feet as tehy seem to support it more.

Which agrees entirely with what I said earlier.

When it comes to riding technical sections on clipless pedals, it’s kind of irrelevant what pedals and shoes you’re wearing (you’re attached to the bike, your feet aren’t coming off), it’s all about the “c” word… Commitment. Either you commit and ride the section clipped in, or not. If you can’t commit to things on clipless pedals, then probably best to go back to using flats for a while to boost your confidence being able to ride these sections in the first place.

I have some time z control for sale {20 + post]if you want
I used them as [ when I got into MTB] i found the clipped in place was the wrong position for descending [ why descend on the ball of your foot ? so used to unclip for descents. Dont bother doing this anymore went back to time atac
I dont think the extra paltform helps with pain or that I can actually feel it when clipped in nor do I think they are easier to clp into
It does matter less if ou dont connect firsttime but give you a nice big platform to pedal [ though you can with atac anyway] and you will get used to clipping in quickly IMHO

Mallets work great for me: I have a fused ankle so that foot just bounces off flat pedals. I need to be clipped for drop-offs and jumps, but I like to be unclipped if I’m going slower than I ought to through rock gardens.

Thanks all –

mboy – it isn’t about commitment for me i dont think, i’m doing everything clipless that i’d do on flats. my shock moment was that i was faster and better clipped in than i was on flats – i was getting pedal strokes in in places i’d never had tried on flats. so, although i thought id never convert (after a lot of years of riding), as soon as i tried i was converted. my only issue is getting going again once ive come out on a tech uphill. downhill no probs, i can clip back in pretty good and happy to take most sections with one foot out if im struggling to re-clip. i just thought that the wider platform would work if i popped out and had to re-clip on the tech ups. the long climb up whites level at afan has a few sections where i would have dabbed on flats and had to un-clip, getting going again was more difficult.

i guess the test is buy a pair and see 🙂

I started off with platform clipless (time z) which I thought were good at the time. However because of the raised clip-in bars, they are never and stable as a proper platform – and are slippery with damp shoes. I also found the platform sometimes made it difficult to clip out (catches on shoes treads)

I now use the time aliums, which are easier to get in/out of and still offer a small platform. Got them on all bikes now

I find the Shimano platform clipless excellent. I tend to suffer from numbness/pain after a while on conventional clipless pedals when going is tough.

Reckon they’re best combined with a hybrid falt/clipless shoe, like the Shimano ones – 5-10 and 661 also make decent alternatives.

Time Z control or freeride are good, buy Junkyard’s and give them a go.

If you don’t then I might.

Junkyard – emailed 😉

i have the shimano clips with resin platform surround and i find them allot better than my old 520’s and the wellgo’s i have on my road bike as mentioned they give more confidence allover not just on the tech sections cornering u can give it a little bit more lean nowing tehre is somthing there to lean on not just the clip also if i no thers a chance of a off u can unclip and still ride prety well on the center of the shoe
one thing i would say about changing to spd’s is decent stiff shoes i had a terrible time with laceup shimano’s then secont time i went with a 3 velcro strap and it improved x10
hope this helps.

A large majority of the world cup downhill field don’t run this type of pedal for fun.

Time Zs – relatively cheap and fairly indestructible. And they work.

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