bike pedals for Cyclocross bike - suggestions please !!

bike pedals for Cyclocross bike - suggestions please !!

Author
Discussion

seadragon

Original Poster:

1,137 posts

214 months

Friday 29th July 2016
quotequote all
What the hell!! so many different types and fittings etc.

I want to wear shoes that look like trainers and I saw some Giro ones that would suit my aesthetic needs. I am sure others are available. They have 2 or 4 holes in the bottom of each show, SPD I assume, who knows.

I have a super light CX bike and need advice on which pedals please. I felt the weight of some Shimano ones at the Giant store in London and they weighed a ton. Kinda defeats the object of buying a light bike. Any suggestions on very light pedals I can use on my Cyclocross bike will be much appreciated. I am prepared to spend a little, but not £100's (anything around or under £100 is what I am looking at)

Many thanks in advance

PS: Why are clipless pedals called that when you have to click with the shoe to the pedal, surely that means they are not clipless? Maybe I am getting it all wrong, am happy to be educated.

neenaw

1,212 posts

188 months

Friday 29th July 2016
quotequote all
Clipless are called clipless as they don't have toe clips like the old pedals with clips and straps.

As for which pedals, you need the shoes with 2 or 4 bolt holes on the bottom, not the 3 bolt road shoes.
There's a few different manufacturers of pedals, main ones are Shimano, Look, Crank Brothers and Time. Shimano and Crank Brothers seem to be about the most popular on CX bikes.
Personally I've always used Shimano as they're cheap and reliable but they're not the lightest.

Just have a look for ligthweight clipless MTB pedals and you should find some easily enough.

daddy cool

3,996 posts

228 months

Friday 29th July 2016
quotequote all
You want "SPDs" - there are two screws per cleat - and the shoes often look like normal trainers, with the cleat recessed in.
In terms of the pedals, ive only ever used Shimano, and on two bikes i have their cheapest pedals (M520) which you can often get around £15, and on one i have the XTR version, which actually looks almost identical, but costs ~£70. Yes, the XTR ones are lighter on the scales, but i cant notice any difference in use. And the difference in weight is - if we're being brutally honest - less than if you have a crap before you leave home biggrin

Oh, you might see "trail" versions of all the shimano pedals - eg M530/M540. basically the same, but has a wider cage around the pedal that supposedly evens out the weight. Never used them myself.

Edited by daddy cool on Saturday 30th July 12:22

seadragon

Original Poster:

1,137 posts

214 months

Friday 29th July 2016
quotequote all
Great, thanks to both of you for the comments. I was thinking SPDs but was confused about the clips and the cleats thing, I am not 100% sure what is being referred to. I might need to try youtube too. Once I 'get it' then problem solved, but I have only ever used flat/platform pedals, so the other types are like Greek to me.

Thanks so far.

Konan

1,817 posts

145 months

Friday 29th July 2016
quotequote all
You can get single-sided SPDs A520s, which are 100g lighter and not as expensive as going XTR.

I ran these for a bit, but decided for 100g I preferred not having to flip the peddle over very time (the SPD always ends up hanging down as it's heavier). It's annoying on the road and really really annoying when you're off it.

astroarcadia

1,710 posts

199 months

Friday 29th July 2016
quotequote all
I have XT SPD pedals on my CX.

How light is super light?

RIPmgmetro

366 posts

208 months

Saturday 30th July 2016
quotequote all
I use XTR trail pedals on mine, purely because they came off the mtb I sold. Personally, I love them, easy to adjust the tension and the cage around the mechanism stops me worrying about tw@tting them off rocks.

My one gripe is that the Giro shoes I've recently bought struggle to locate properly and you think you're clipped in... To find you're not. I didn't have this problem with the previous North Wave shoes which have now sadly died. I may be just me.