Picking out Pedals!!

[Catrin]

If I might insert a newb question here - what is float and why is it important?

(Thank you!)

The simplest way I can think to explain float is that it is about how much freedom your ankle and knee have to move around once you are attached to your bike. For some, low, or no, float is good and works for them - the knee/foot doesn't move around much while pedaling. For those who need more float, of which I am one, having more float allows my ankle and knee to be where they want/need to be but I still get the advantages from clipping in. Indeed platform pedals on the road causes me knee pain, (but not on my mountain bike), and pedals with less float equally cause me knee pain.

Some pedals have adjustable float, others don't. You will find fans here of pretty much every pedal out there My personal favorite are Speedplay Frogs, a mountain bike pedal with a lot of float that I moved to after discovering that SPD pedals didn't have enough float for me and I wanted to stick with mtb pedals.