Clipless Pedals Thread

the pins on Mallet's work well and those pedals are heavily loved by anyone who takes riding clips seriously.
However I found myself riding oneup's Over the last 2 weeks (since release) - They figured out that lame 'free play' flaw with SPD's and they are much less "icy' or metal-on-metal feeling before you hit the float so they feel waaaay less sketchy than Shimano's offerings.

The only downside to the oneups is the release tension is quite high even on low - otherwise i love them but not enough to sell my mallets.

I've had the same experience with pins. They don't really offer any support and if they're wound in enough to contact the shoe I feel like it creates an inconsistent/sketchy release. I've been riding clipless (clips? clicks? binders? whatever) for so long that I never have trouble clipping in, but I've been wondering about having more support from the platform. Possibly a stupid idea but I've had intrusive thoughts about doing an experiment with gluing shims across the cage on my saints that would be close enough that a weighted shoe would contact the platform. 

Time ATAC cleat and mech does it for me these days (over a year now).

As a former die-hard SPD fanboy for almost 2 decades, I grew tired of the inadvertent unclipping on my SPDs which have directly resulted into two of my recent nagging injuries. So far, I've had zero incidents on any of my Times (cleats set at 13deg). 

The only observation on the Time so far including a minor contact/rubbing of the backing ramp behind the fixed cleat hoop. It rubs off some material of the insole. 

I guess I could space the cleat out more but then I am concerned that I may end up just resting the cleat solely on top of the mech and putting pressure on the edge around it -flex and foot fatigue. I kinda like how the shoe seems to be making contact on top of the entire pedal body as indicative of the wear mark on my pedal body/cage. 

Overall, I'm happy with my switch. I got to test the legendary mud shedding trait Times have been revered for last weekend after the rain. So good. 

With regards to your pin question, I only had a very brief experience on the HT pedal. I ended up threading the pins as low as I could bottom them out. The pins, I think, hindered my foot from both clipping and unclipping as my shoe would drag and get caught on them pins. 

Blake, I can't believe you didn't know the 647s... LOL.

Support and movement. They dont allow the shoe to move around or slide on the top like shimano's do. 

as the shoe flex's it contacts the pins for the support and generate the solid base for flat pedal feel.

 

To me, the pins are for the odd times (mud, foot out turns) you can't get your foot back in and your sole is resting on the platform. 

Great timing for this thread. I forgot to bring pedals on a trip to Finale last week and got the shop to order me some Saints. (ff course OneUp comes out with pedals right after the order was delivered!) Anywho, the shop didn't put the pins in on the first day of riding and it was wet, which led to a few times not getting clipped back in. Biggest difference was psychological. Knowing pins weren't there, but wanting them to be!

It's interesting that the Saint pedals come with washers to further recess the pins in. I think the pins themselves should be a bit longer for people who want them touching their soles when clipped in, and allow tuning with the washers to get them recessed lower for people who only want a teeny bit extra in unclipped moments.

I have all Crank Brothers pedals, with the Mallets I make the pins on the back of the pedal just long enough to not have that icy feel. It also makes the pedals not have any pins on the leading edge when the bottom of the pedal is exposed to strikes. That is my own peace of mind, probably playing out. I'm too old and have ridden them for far too long to change what I am going to call them, clipless for the rest of my life.

Extended pins on Mallets will grab the shoe rubber until they wear in a groove, and then they do much less. High pins will change feel and increase retention for awhile. I've lately been riding mine with the pins just barely raised up to increase shoe contact without wearing in the groove.

I personally don't think pins do a damn thing while unclipped. The cleat is always in the way and you never have great shoe-to-pedal contact when sketched out. It's the thought that counts.

I love Mallets and all the bigger platform CB pedals, except for the higher maintenance + frequent cleat replacement regime (cleats are very expensive for what they are). I am doing bearings annually on my primary enduro race bike pedals and probably should do cleats more often, which would be 2x per season. The pedals start going brrrrr, and then it's time for a bearing kit.

Does any aftermarket/3rd party cleat exist for CrankBros?

Pins on clip-in pedals: I run the pins on my Mallets almost all the way in.  If they protrude above the pedal body very far, it just wears crop circles in the bottoms of shoes rather quickly and then doesn't really add much traction at that point anyway.  

Terminology: clipless is silly, imo.  You clip in to the pedals, and we should move on to terminology that makes sense.  Clip in to clip-in pedals.

Mechanism: I started on SPD a long time ago, got tired of the accidental unclips when rotating my hips on the bike, then tried flat pedals, definitely did not win any medals, and looked around at other options.  Mallets seemed like maybe the best of both worlds, tried them and have been running them for 15+ years.  If somebody could make an equivalent system to Mallets with cleats that last longer than the current heat treated cheese, I would definitely try them.

Started on the hope union gc pedals after I got over the extra bit of sticker shock. Wanted a large platform clip pedal, has the option to run traction pads (yet to try) or pins. The clip mechanism intrigued me, dual action like the cb, but adjustable like shimano. The stainless steel cleat with optional 4 or 5 degree float was a selling point. 

By far the nicest clip pedals I’ve used. Tension is on the stiffer side, entry and exit is stupid smooth once the break in period was done. Can stomp straight down on the pedals like the mallets, consistent release with no unwanted ejections. 

Will have to try the traction pads to see if they add stability to these already stable pedals. 

The pins actually interface with the shoe, if you want them too. Don’t forget, the clip mechanism (the eggbeater) spins freely of the body where the pins are mounted. Dropping your heels and pushing into the pedals your shoe rotates back a degree or so until meeting the body which lets the pins sink in like a flat pedal does. Leaning forward in a sprint and pushing down and back, the shoe rotates forward and the same happens. 

The Oneup, and any other SPD I can think of, does not rotate the clip mechanism relative to the pedal body. Your shoe clips in and it is where it is, the only changes are from shoe flex. One huge plus for SPD is that a pedal strike to the clip mechanism does not unclip your shoe from the pedal like it does with the Crankbrothers. 

The other big one is that the Crankbrothers setup is overall closer to the shoe. Pictured below is a Shimano SPD on the left with a Fiveten shoe, on the right is a Mallet E LS with a Crankbrothers shoe. I’m too picky about cleat position to swap them, but it would look the same. 

I started on SPD in the late 90s but hated how often I would get bounced out of the pedal after moving to Utah and bombing around on a hardtail.  I asked at the local shop which pedals held best and was recommended ATACs and have been on them ever since.  They've been fantastic.  Easy in and out but great hold.  I've tried and own every type of ATAC in the intervening years.  For hard-soled shoes, the pins on the bodies are pretty useless since even if your foot is out for some reason, they're not that helpful.  A good platform that can make contact if needed is fine.

The forged bars of the current design are not as durable as the old round spring steel bars, but they're easily bent back with pliers once noticed.  I also never had a spring retainer bar come out until the current design, but I noticed before I lost it, reinstalled it, and peened the body over to make sure it can't come out again.  I've got speciale 12 and 8s and the bodies of both have taken a lot of abuse.  I only use the top front pins, so the bottom front pin holes have been crushed flat.  I'd say to avoid the composite bodies unless you like creaks.

I'm a bit worried that SRAM will ruin them in some way, but there's always hope that they won't.

In case you're wondering, the Silca titanium ATAC cleats don't hold quite as well.  I think they're slightly smaller than the brass ones...or at least the ones I got are.

They'll always be clipless to me because I see no reason to change it.

We've been using the knock off's from ali/temu etc and they've been fantastic
bought a big bag for like 50USD.

I have mallets DHs. I used them for about a year. I found that pins may make sense doing a downhill race. Where you may not be unclipping until the bottom. But for all mountain riding, they can be a downside. Like the pins snag the shoe and you cant get out so you fall over. Or they just make the underside of your shoe look like a Freddie Krueger victim. I want back to SPDs and Im completely okay with that. The pins also made it considerably harder to clip in sometimes. 

Small DIY fix for everyone wanting a better shoe contact, less metal-on-metal icy feeling on their SPD’s, for a lot cheaper than bying new pedals. 

Is to apply some epoxy cold metal welding glue (not sure what its actually called in rest of the world), then sand it down so that your cleat is properly in contact with the mech and your pedal with the shoe. Been testing now for a few weeks in snowy/icy Finnish conditions and its just as easy to unclip with or without the mod, but shoe/pedal contact feels awesome.

Float is still there, but all other unwanted movement is gone. If you don’t like the feeling, you can always just sand it all away. Cost of this was 10 euros, totally worth it. Found this from Barry Nobles and went from there.  
 

Nukeproof used to offer SPD cleats with different levels of float, IIRC the options were 4° and 8°, where standard SPD cleats are 6°.

Sports Direct and Evans Cycles both still list them, with a description that implies different float options are available, but only offer "one size", so that probably isn't much help.

I have ridden all the major clipless systems, and I settled on Time pedals. They have a positive engagement, offer plenty of float, and work in mucky conditions (within reason).

My only real complaint, is that theres no real access to service manuals, even through SRAM after their acquisition of Time... I would love it if there were service kits to help with axle play. Oh well.

Look has an SPD cleat with 6 degrees of float and same release angle as sh-51. 

Mallet DH fan for years until snapping two spindles on two separate occasions on pretty mild hucks. Seat straight to nuts both times. No bueno. Saw that the Hope pedals had great reviews so gave them a whirl and am pretty stoked so far. They feel like mallets once clipped in but are way easier to get clipped in to. Tried the traction pads first but felt to SPD icy. Swapped to the pins and things feel dialed - float when pedaling but nice and snug through chunk. Im a fan. Now hopefully they don’t snap like the mallets(!)

Have always been on flats for the past ~20 years and been keen to try something "different" the last summer and struggled hard to finde a clip pedal that feels like you're actually standing solid on a pedal - and not twisting around on a 5 cent coin during a descent. Pedalling was always fine and I prefered the definitive mechanism of spd-styles like hope tc or dmr v-twin, but only felt good on a pair of mallet dh (albeit their somewhat vague interface). Is there any pedal out there where the sole actually makes decent contact with the pedal cage/body? And no, I don't want to spacer pins until they grab the sole, because that just lasts for about two weeks

You found the right ones. Mallet Enduro or DH. The new-fangled OneUp pedals sound like they also feel like this, if you want the SPD cleat and release angle. Maybe Hopes also have this feel based on feedback I read in this thread. All the TIME pedals I have tried feel icy, even though I'm a huge fan of the cleat and mechanism.

I would consider exchanging all my Mallets for TIMEs if SRAM ever decided to make a pedal that feels like this.

I think it's impossible to say that a particular pedal has a solid connection with the sole of a shoe without specifying the shoe. There's no standard for cleat tunnel depth or anything, and the dynamics of a stiff, carbon shoe are totally different than a shoe with a flexible shank.

I've been spending a lot of time on the trainer this winter and have gone on a little journey of discovery with regard to shoes and pedals. I've landed on Lake's MX238 as the best-fitting shoe I've tried and it's been interesting experimenting with how different pedals feel with that shoe. My previous favorite, the XT trail, has a lot of slop in the fit. The OneUps feel great when you're clipped in, but getting out requires way more force than I'm willing to put up with on the trail — more than a pair of SPD-SL road pedals, for reference. (And that's without the pins and with the spring tension at minimum.) Time ATACs feel decent, but clipping in feels vague, and there's enough lateral play to make it feel a little sloppy. Hope's clipless pedals feel like SPDs, which is wild, considering that with the Fox Union shoes they felt completely different. Right now I've got the new Crank Brothers Mallet Trails on and they feel great, which I'm very surprised by considering how much I absolutely hated the Mallet Es when I tried them a few years ago with a different pair of shoes. I've got a pair of HT T2s I still haven't tried, but I'll probably toss them on later this week and see how they go.

It's been a really fun project for me, but I've also been struck by how non-transferrable all of my insights have been. In addition to personal tastes, these pedals are going to feel completely different for folks wearing different shoes and probably even for folks wearing MX238s in a different size.

I‘m on Spesh 2FO DH and actually measured them vs a couple of different brands (Fox, CB, 5.10…) at my local shop and found most cleat channels on gravity shoes to have about the same depth +\-0.5mm (depending where you measure / have the cleats mounted). 
I totally get that it’s a personal preference, as some friends happily ride some rather floaty systems, but I’m sure many are looking for solid feel, especially when driving the bike through turns. 

All Time pedals follow pretty much the same assembly configuration. The one tool that's going to be handy is a sturdy pin spanner wrench or plier to remove the dust cap off the main body. Basic tools from there on out. The axle is "pressed in" when you tighten it back so you have to lightly punch it out from pedal thread end. I had to disassemble all of my Time pedals on all my bikes (MX4, MX6, DH6, Special 8 and 10). They use such a thin layer of grease from the factory that it dries up quickly and the bushing started squeaking on all of my time pedals. Repacked them Maxima waterproof grease and they've all been smooth and quiet 5 months now since. 

There's definitely a target they're all aiming for, but the fact that most cleats are packaged with shims is a pretty good indicator that the variance is meaningful. The Hopes even ship with a measuring tool to determine which spacers to use, and the Crank Brothers pedals have two different traction pads you can use. I think shank stiffness is also a pretty important factor — the more flexible the shoe, the more variable the interference fit between the pedal and the sole. Shoe size and tread pattern probably also figures into the equation, too.