Pedals for CX?

[Eden]

Your shoes could be a factor - if the cleats are recessed sometimes it helps to trim a bit around the recess to allow easier access.

[zoom-zoom]

Your shoes could be a factor - if the cleats are recessed sometimes it helps to trim a bit around the recess to allow easier access.

Ahhh...that's something I had kind of forgotten about. I'm going to have to take a look to see if that might help. They look like this:


I also wonder if it might help to remove that removable carbon piece under the arch. It's there to stiffen the shoe, which probably helped when I was using these shoes on my road bike (I actually ended up buying the road version of the shoe when I made the switch to dedicated road pedals), but a bit more flex would be nice for the off-bike parts of CX and mtn. biking. If that were gone I would probably be able to pedal enough to get moving with my pedals under my arch, then clip-in (which always seems easier once I'm moving--I need to learn how to do a moving mount one of these days, as well as unclip without coming to a complete stop).

[Hi Ho Silver]

Take a look at Shimano's M530 pedals. One MTB web site gave them a great review and indicated that they are much better than the M520's. ( See http://www.bikeradar.com/gear/catego...il-pedal-45093 ).


Jean

[zoom-zoom]

Hmmm...these use the same cleats (so I could have my current pedals on my mtn. bike and the 530s on my CX bike), I assume?

[Hi Ho Silver]

Hmmm...these use the same cleats (so I could have my current pedals on my mtn. bike and the 530s on my CX bike), I assume?

Yes, they should be totally compatible with the cleats for the M520's that you are currently using.

I've googled around to find comments about these pedals, and most reports are good. However, I haven't read any info about how well they perform when you are riding in muddy conditions (i.e., whether or not mud build up on the smallish platform impedes entry).

[zoom-zoom]

Fortunately we don't get a ton of mud in these parts. Our soil is really sandy, so even when we get a lot of rain it tends to soak in fast. Most of the people I know riding with regular 520 or 540 SPDs seem to not have major mud issues. I know a lot of people on Time ATACs, too.

[Owlie]

Not a cross racer or anything of the sort, but: I have M540s on my roadie, and the one time I had to walk the bike through dirt*, I had a heck of a time clipping back in or out until I stopped and dug the gunk out of the cleat with a stick. That didn't help much--I had to hose my shoes down.

*It wasn't so much dirt as a wet mixture of clay, sand and bits of rock. I think the composition didn't help anything--I'm pretty sure it's one step shy of cement!

[bluebug32]

I used Crank Brothers Candies or Egg Beaters. I've never had a problem with them, even in mud.