Wednesday, June 22, 2011

Pedal to the Metal

Not to be confused with Petal to the Metal, which is how I ride all the time.
Okay, not really.
Can't be going warp nine all the time less the dilithium crystals burn out or something.
No I'm talking about the pedals, and how they are attached to my feet.
Via shoes of course.
For the last couple of weeks, the right pedal shoe interface has been getting a bit clunky.
Clunk, clunk, clunk!
Very annoying.
It's okay when I put the petal to the metal, but when just cruising around, which happens very rarely, clunk, clunk, clunk.
Must be the massive amount of wattage my Constant Velocity Thighs(CVT) produce.
3.5 GAGILLION watts don't you know.
Okay, my pedals are sort of old:



I got them used, for free, and I have no idea how many miles were put on before, but I figure I got around four thousand on them myself.
Now I've been reading that SPDs last like forever.
Been found in the tombs of Egyptian Pharaohs and all that.
Good for a GAGALLION miles or more.
So I figured it's the cleats so I decided to change those out:



When looking at the old cleats and the new cleats, I couldn't find any noticeable wear.
Well okay, maybe a little, but nothing that would cause some clunk, clunk, clunk.
So I started looking at new pedals.
Should I stay with SPDs?
Or should I try these:



Or maybe these:



I've been reading up on Crank Bros. and so far so good, as long as you stay with the higher end stuff.
I also like that they have a shoe protector thingy that goes under the cleats:



I've had those in my box o'stuff for a couple of years now, they don't fit under SPD cleats.
If you look at my shoes, you can see where the pedal is wearing away the bottom. Only on one side, I dunno why.
Actually I've been contemplating new pedals for a while and the clunk, clunk, clunk has brought the issue back to the top of the list.
If the new cleats don't work out, I think I'm gonna make a change.
Besides, losing about a hundred grams should make me faster right?
Clunk, clunk, clunk.

8 comments:

Steve A said...

I wish you hadn't mentioned grams. Down that path lies madness!

The Gram Gremlin said...

Less rotating mass and all that.
If you know what I mean.

John Romeo Alpha said...

Love the eggbeaters, own several sets, easy to service, easy to rebuild, avoid the cheap low end ones just as you said though.

Sitting on the fence said...

That's good to know.
I'm sorta thinking that the extra platform the candys might be better.
I'm so confused.

John Romeo Alpha said...

Your cycling shoes are already so stiff that you won't be able to tell the difference (in apparent platform size) between an eggbeater and the sort of old pedals in your picture above. If they're not that stiff, you may want new shoes anyway. It's counter-intuitive: but I stand up on the eggbeaters all the time, and they feel just right.

Buy It Now said...

Okay, you've convinced me.

GreenComotion said...

I love your CVT acronym!

I don't clip-in anymore, but if it works great for you, I am happy for ya!

Peace :)

limom said...

I'm still working the constant velocity thing.