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Hello All,
Planning to run flats on my new Hardcore Hardtail, for Winter and some skills rebuilding.
Use Northwave Enduro shoes with a heavily recessed cleat, but they have plenty of Flat Pedal sole around it.
Recommendations for a pedal that won't interfere? Thinking quite concave with no middle pins.
Ta,
Neal
Flat pedals need flat pedal shoes.
And why won't these be okay?
Bad idea imho. Lots of offers around for decent flat shoes at the moment
I’ve used my 5Ten Greg Minnaars in the past on flats while they still had their cleats on and they worked OK, but not great, sort of like riding on average flats with average shoes. Without the cleats they’re much better but because they’re stiffer you don’t get the feel and grip that a pair of Freeriders or Impacts gives you.
Just buy a cheap pair of Vans from an outlet store or online, you can pick them up for about £20 if you look around.
Or just always clip in.
if you’re going to ride with the same shoes then make sure you get some big pedals with a good concave platform rather than something with a raised axle or convex platform. Older and thicker pedals with longer pins might help
Good spd shoes will always be too stiff to be a good flat shoe. I have found decent flat shoes to make a bigger difference than decent flat pedals.
Do you own trainers? Just use those. I did around 15 years of dicking around on bikes, especially shredding on hardtails and BMX, before proper bike shoes became a thing.
As for pedals, I'm a fan of the new plastic ones from DMR and Burgtec. They're dirt cheap, just as grippy and they don't turn silver when you scratch them.
Then buy some Five Tens in a sale.
Too stiff and the rubber will be harder then proper mtb shoes for flats. Get some impacts or freeriders cheap in the Evans cycles sale or buy more spds.
edit - just don’t be tempted to buy any that say ‘primeblue’ in the name - they look the same sole wise as the decent ones but use a harder compound of rubber. I tried some for cheap for a few rides and just found I bounced off the pedals too much - normal freerider pros so much better than primeblue freerider pros.
Pedal wise there are lots of decent flat pedals out there - I’ve got Superstar Nano Evos on both bikes - but lots of the plastic ones with metal pins seem to grip well enough too - whilst being cheaper to buy.