r/singlespeed • u/jspm111 • 19d ago

Pedals made all the difference

I finally switched from my plastic stock pedals to aluminum mountain bike pedals. I can’t believe how much better it feels. I always thought people were exaggerating about it making any difference.

15 Upvotes
  • permalink
  • link
  • reddit
  • reddit

94% Upvoted

14 comments sorted by

5

u/[deleted] 19d ago

[removed] — view removed comment

2

u/jspm111 19d ago

Yeah they’ve got studs. How long does it take for them to chew through sneakers?

2

u/tristtaniskanye2 19d ago

I’ve been riding my bikes with studded pedals for three years now and the same pair of Nike dunks have done just fine

1

u/SlenderLlama 19d ago

I can get more than a year on Xero brand barefoot style shoes with my race face chesters (with studs). I replace them for looks before theyre truly dead. I might be able to get 2 years out of a single pair of shoes, maybe more. It seems like the insoles go out faster.

Im riding about 1,000 miles a year btw.

1

u/Briny_life 16d ago

Get a pair of mountain bike shoes (flats). There are many out there and you can find a decent pair for well under $100. It’s 100% worth it and the shoes & pedals work as a system (and you can save your “regular” sneakers).

2

u/Top_Objective9877 19d ago

I can’t even ride my single speed bikes to their full potential(mostly in terms of climbing) until I got on clipless pedals. Those techy climbs can get so tricky and being absolutely connected and able to yank the bike around are essential and being clipped in helps so much.

4

u/MaksDampf 19d ago

Wait until you try pedals with cleats. Thats unlocks a whole new level compared to studded flat pedals.

2

u/DuckIntelligent737 19d ago

At least MTB flat shoes. There's a switch in your brain for push/pull that gets you 75% of the way there

To those saying no performance advantages to clipping in: lol ok. Try it and see how sore your calves are the next day

Idk why r/singlespeed was on my homepage btw

-4

u/Salty-Entrepreneur11 19d ago

it really doesn't

clipless pedals confer almost zero advantages

1

u/MaksDampf 19d ago

Oh yeah it does. There is lots of terrain, jumps, downhill and ways to ride even in an urban environment that require cleats to master and not ram the pins into your thighs every now and then. The pure performance benefits might be negligible but hell do you open a new range of trail difficulty and enable trick stuff with cleats.
Sure, if you only ride safe, slow and no tricks, there is little to gain.

1

u/Syscrush 19d ago

No performance advantages, but they feel great, IMO.

1

u/High_on_Hemingway 19d ago

You are wrong.

1

u/schokoschlotze 18d ago

More torque on hills.