Commute pedals

canoas

I commute 30 miles everyday and I use a cross bike with touring tyres. I currently use MTB shoes Shimano SPD. I have been having knee problems over the last 2 years which is getting worse, this started when riding 5 days a week from 2 days a week. When I use my road bike in the weekend with Look cleats I don't feel any pain but with my commute SPD's I start getting knee trouble. I have adjusted the cleat position on my SPD cleats many times and tested, but still having problems.

Should I be using MTB pedals on the road? (for me its easier to walk when required)

Any pedals types out there, another MTB pedal? I've seen good reviews on Time, any other recommendations out there.

eric_draven

You could take off all the release tension on the screw,to make them feel a bit looser,or you could try a pair of crank brothers egg beaters or candy's as these do have some float on the cleat,as some look cleats have (red cleats) i belive

animal72

Best MTB pedals I've found with loads of float are Egg Beaters (as per above post).

thistle_

I thought MTB cleats generally gave more flat then road cleats, in which case the MTB pedals should be better.

Can you swap the pedals over for a few weeks to see if it helps? It might be that your road bike is just a better shape/size for you.

getting_on_a_bit

I swap my Time Atac MTB pedals between bikes ...loads of float..never done any maintainance to them in 8 years and still run smooth.Never had any specific road pedals so cannot comment on any performance improvement

northpole

Canoas

If I were in your position, which I'm not, I would swap over my road bike pedals and use them for the commuting for about a month and see if your knee discomfort improves. It won't cost you a penny to do this and at the end of the period you'll know if the problem relates entirely to the pedals or possibly some other aspect of the way your commuting bike's geometry is treating you. Might be a bit of a pain having to swap pedals over on the weekend, but could be worth the hassle.

Peter

canoas

Peter,

I've taken my Looks off over the weekend and connected them to my Cross commuter bike. Lets see what happens. Cross bike is a different geometry than a road bike. But the setup is the same, like saddle to BB length

cheers all for the suggestions but I guess the obvious one is to try my road pedals and see if the knee pain goes.

canoas

I rode with my Look Keo pedals for a few days on my commute bike but removed them back to my racing bike as needed to.

I brought Time Carbon ATAC XC8 pedals and have been riding them on my commute bike for 4 weeks, the knee pain has gone. I can't believe it and I'm surprised SPD pedals were causing my knee problems. I went to a physio (luckily through my work, Bupa), went to a bike fit, changed my cleat position many times, my saddle, my stem size. All along it was SPD, never again SPD for me.

exlaser

+1 for time atac. I have had knee trouble in the past. I would not use any other pedals now.

moonshine

i used to use crank bros egg beaters but i can't recommend them as the bearings seemed to disintegrate with alarming regularity - i ended up binning 2 pairs of eggbeaters for this reason and now use SPD-SL on my road bikes and SPDs on my MTB and fixed gear commuter which have been flawless.