Pedaling with Prosthetics: Maglock Pedals Offer Solution for Amputees

I once sold a guy a pair of the precursor to these (can’t remember the brand off hand, but it’s been done before). They weighed a metric tonne, but the bearing was smooth and the platform solid. This guy was a triathlete who’d busted up his foot, but wanted to stay on the bike while it healed to keep the km’s up for an upcoming event.

We talked about ideas for a while in the shop, his physio had approved ccycling, provided he limit the ankle movement – so he really needed to be attached to the pedal at the heel basically. So conventional clipless just wasn’t going to happen. We came up with using the ancient magnetic’s the shop had laying around and a crappy old sneaker.

He went away with a barely formed plan, and came back a few weeks later in full kit having just ridden 200km on the highway and showed me his shoe.

TLDR; While this is obviously not an ideal direct replacement for conventional clipless systems, it’s really great to see a different take – done well – that offers different advantages for people with different needs or uses

I’m a below knee amputee and this is a cool idea since clip less pedals don’t work well for us. It’s difficult to twist out and even if you loosen the clip up now it doesn’t hold the foot well. The magnet needs to super strong to keep the foot from sliding off under rough trails. I use Power Grip straps to hold my foot on and they are pretty easy to get out of with practice.

Wow…I am an amputee and I race BMX. I also ride a park bike at skate parks as well as ride a mountain bike for cross training. I race with clip pleas pedals, but use flat pedals for training on the race bike. I use a toe clip on the prostitic side to keep my shoe/foot in place. These pedals offer a great opportunity to amputees looking for a casual ride, but how well will they handle the rigors of BMX, park and MTB riding. Looks like a great product.

Thank you to the amputees that chimed in here. A question for you (or for a kinematics expert): It seems like eliminating the foot at the bottom of a prosthesis would change the hip/thigh/knee pedal dynamics. Can anyone comment as to if that is a positive or negative thing, or if it varies from individual to individual?

Hmmmm, yeah? maybe? ok, heres the deal…..From what I saw on the video he isn’t doing anything extreme where it requires a lot of torque being put on the pedal up or down. obviously the magnet cannot be strong enough so that you can still be able to unclip easily, I have already tried something similar to this by using a very low tension clips from Shimano, but only on the road and it worked. However, whenever I would start throwing down some wattage and even hitting a pothole here and here I would come upclipped, which is something you do not want!! Specially if you are on a climb standing up pulling hard on the pedals or descending. You can still unclip out of normal clip in pedals, you just have to use serious torque from your hip, it doesn’t always work but I must rather do that versus come out of the pedals on a bumpy descend or whatnot. Now, for someone who is doing a sport such as BMX? Yes, it would be very beneficial to them as well as just for recreational riding. As for me? I would be terrified to use one with the way I ride and type of riding I do.

I am a bka and am amazed at the simplicity of the Maglock.
As far as prostheses are concerned I have only one but can change shoes as long as the heel height is consistant.So it’s only a matter of changing shoes…..also….
People have been asking about the strength of the magnet. If an electro-magnet was used, wouldn’t the strength be proportional to the current from weak to super strong?

I am an above knee amputee. Has anyone in this situation tried this product?
I am thinking of getting an E bike for casual exercise. One with an exaggerator button.
Holding the prosthetic on a normal pedal appears impossible for me. I need the security for my foot and sliding removal if I am in trouble