Platform pedals - advice please

Dear All,

on the advice of the surgeon who recently repaired both my knees, and is a
keen cyclist himself, I'm abandoning SPD's and going to platforms. I was
never a fan of straps, but am thinking of Zefal mini-clips to avoid
slipping. Any advice on good platform pedals that are compatible? I'm
looking for road style pedals, albeit their going on an MTB that won't see
off road.

T.T.F.N.

SPENNY

You don't need clips.
I use SPDs all the time except in the winter when I use waterproof
hill-walking boots with beartrap pedals. I've toured on bear-traps with no
problems as well.
Your surgeon is right. If you've any knee problem beartraps for a couple of
weeks is my advice. They give the kneejoint freedom of movement which it may
require.

How bad are SPD and other clipless pedals for your knees? As a courier I
spend a *long* time in the these things, and I've had the odd horrible thing
happen to my knees (Just walking down the street and all of a sudden the
joint hurts so much I just fall over the second I try to put weight on it)
my doctor classed it as "overuse injury", and with occasional of support
they seem a bit clicky but OK. Does anyone else have any experience/advice
about this?


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Spencer Bullen wrote:
on the advice of the surgeon who recently repaired both my knees, and
is a keen cyclist himself, I'm abandoning SPD's and going to
platforms.

As long as your surgeon is aware that some other clipless pedal systems
have more float* and some other differences to SPD*, you should take
his/her advice and ignore cyclists here telling you otherwise!

* eg. Speedplay Frog: large amount of free float and no wrench to release,
but I don't think allow fore/aft movement which platforms or even full toe
clips allow.

Sorry I can't help about Zefal mini clips.

~PB

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 09:54:21 +0100, JamJar wrote:

How bad are SPD and other clipless pedals for your knees? As a courier I
spend a *long* time in the these things, and I've had the odd horrible thing
happen to my knees (Just walking down the street and all of a sudden the
joint hurts so much I just fall over the second I try to put weight on it)
my doctor classed it as "overuse injury", and with occasional of support
they seem a bit clicky but OK. Does anyone else have any experience/advice
about this?

Mine have always been a bit clicky (the bones in my legs are
apparently slightly deformed, my feet point in slightly the wrong
direction, one more than teh other), and I occasionally get the
collapsing knee issue.

I do straight leg lifts (lie flat on teh floor, fully straighten leg
(which lifts heel off the floor slightly) but not point toes. Raise
heel 200mm, hold, lower slowly. Repeat. When you find you can hold
for long enough that it gets really boring (like, 5 minutes plus hold
phase), you can do it with (small) weights on teh ankle. This
strengthens the little muscle on teh front inside of the knee just
above the kneecap (yopu see it when you straighten the leg) without
working teh knee and exacerbating clickiness. That helps a lot.

The other thing is ATAC pedals. I went from clips & straps to SPD,
which made my knees worse very fast and I only kept them about two
weeks, to ATAC, which have been better for them than clips & straps.

regards, Ian SMith
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Spencer Bullen wrote:

Dear All,

on the advice of the surgeon who recently repaired both my knees, and is a
keen cyclist himself, I'm abandoning SPD's and going to platforms. I was
never a fan of straps, but am thinking of Zefal mini-clips to avoid
slipping. Any advice on good platform pedals that are compatible? I'm
looking for road style pedals, albeit their going on an MTB that won't see
off road.

You might also want to look at Time road pedals, which have a colossal
amount of rotational float.

Greetings,

I suggested some other pedals with more float to the surgeon, who as a
roadie himself favoured Looks. Due to a number of injuries (far too many
knocks and kicks over the years, work and not cycling related), he suggested
abandoning cleat type pedals for the foreseeable future. Shame as my MTB
and Audax are both fitted with Shimano 515's.

Other advice he gave was always remain seated (hence abandoning off road
until I buy a good full susser), use a smaller ratio (shame, as I always
pushed a big gear on road), and increase my cadence to at least 90 a minute
(I used to use big gear and 60-70 a minute or so). I was impressed that by
coincidence my surgeon was a keen cyclist, and understood my problem; I need
exercise to strengthen my legs and lose weight, but can only stick to
cycling.

Any good brand of platforms that can be recommended would be appreciated, as
I hope to be cycling in 2 weeks, after the swelling from the ops has gone
down.

T.T.F.N.

SPENNY

"Pete Biggs" wrote in message
...
Spencer Bullen wrote:
on the advice of the surgeon who recently repaired both my knees, and
is a keen cyclist himself, I'm abandoning SPD's and going to
platforms.

As long as your surgeon is aware that some other clipless pedal systems
have more float* and some other differences to SPD*, you should take
his/her advice and ignore cyclists here telling you otherwise!

* eg. Speedplay Frog: large amount of free float and no wrench to release,
but I don't think allow fore/aft movement which platforms or even full toe
clips allow.

Sorry I can't help about Zefal mini clips.

~PB

"Spencer Bullen" writes:

I suggested some other pedals with more float to the surgeon, who as a
roadie himself favoured Looks. Due to a number of injuries (far too many
knocks and kicks over the years, work and not cycling related), he suggested
abandoning cleat type pedals for the foreseeable future. Shame as my MTB
and Audax are both fitted with Shimano 515's.

Other advice he gave was always remain seated (hence abandoning off road
until I buy a good full susser).

You won't regret this. I bought myself a Cannondale Jekyll this year
after years of saying 'I don't need no steenkeeng suspension'... well,
no, I still don't need it, but I can go faster over more difficult
ground with more confidence and it's great fun.

use a smaller ratio (shame, as I always
pushed a big gear on road), and increase my cadence to at least 90 a minute
(I used to use big gear and 60-70 a minute or so). I was impressed that by
coincidence my surgeon was a keen cyclist, and understood my problem; I need
exercise to strengthen my legs and lose weight, but can only stick to
cycling.

Any good brand of platforms that can be recommended would be appreciated, as
I hope to be cycling in 2 weeks, after the swelling from the ops has gone
down.

Surely any common or garden rat-traps will do? They'll all take little
plastic half-clips, which I'm sure your surgeon will allow you; and
they're cheap so when the bearings go you can just fling 'em and fit
another set.

You've been exceptionally lucky with your surgeon. Hope the knees
recover well - and that you don't have too much difficulty geting your
cadence up!

--
(Simon Brooke) http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/

See one nuclear war, you've seen them all.

On Sun, 12 Oct 2003 21:04:09 +0200, Marten Hoffmann wrote:
schreef ...

Any good brand of platforms that can be recommended would be appreciated, as
I hope to be cycling in 2 weeks, after the swelling from the ops has gone
down.

If you're a bit of a gadget freak, have a look at WTB's Momentum pedals
(http://www.wtb.com/momentum_flat.html). They have a Grease Guard port
so you can inject them with fresh grease any moment you see fit. This
will keep these pedals going forever.

Alternatively, take any normal pedals, a short fat self-tapping screw,
and an o-ring that fits under the head of teh screw. Drill a hole in
the dust-cap at teh end of teh pedal. Thread o-ring on screw and
screw into hole. Voila, pedals with grease injection port, arranged
so that new grease flushes out the old.

regards, Ian SMith
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on the advice of the surgeon who recently repaired both my knees, and is a
keen cyclist himself, I'm abandoning SPD's and going to platforms.

Hi Spenny,

Can you let us know what he advised and why?

Drinky