When it comes to pedals, most mountain bikers have a 100% preference for either flats or clipless. It’s rare to find a mountain biker who switches between the two styles of pedal with any frequency. So that makes choosing pedals easy, right? Wrong.
Your options within those two types of pedal are nigh on limitless. The most common clipless pedal by far has to be the SPD, of which there are many variations pushed by brands across the industry. They claim to offer varying degrees of “float”, stiffness, strength to weight ratios, and adjustability. Some are housed within platforms of various sizes, others are completely standalone. Some you can only clip into on one side, others have double sided entry.
For flat pedals, designs are hugely varied across the market. Number of pins, length of pins, platform size, platform depth, axle type, and material can all vary resulting in plethora options.
Questions?
It’s hard to know which pedal you should buy, right? Which type of pedal is best for you, your riding style and the conditions you ride in? What even is “float” anyway, and why should you care? Is there an optimal platform size for your shoe size? How many pins do you need for best traction, and should they all be the same length across the pedal?
These are just a few questions I have (I ride flats). For this installation of the “Ask A Stupid Question” series, we have Funn MTB on board. These guys are mountain bike pedal experts who will guide us through the minefield of pedal options, and hopefully leave us better informed so we can make more educated decisions when we buy our next set!
So, if you’ve got any burning questions on anything related to mountain bike pedals, now is the time to ask. As ever, we’ll round up the best questions, send them over to Funn for the answers and report back next week!
Click here to use the AASQ form to submit questions for Funn!
