Shimano MD324, yes or no?

PaddyG68

Hi all, I currently have SPD pedals on my Scott, but would like to be able to ride it without cleats to go into town etc, or have the option to use flats on a trail. I've been thinking about the Shimano SPD 324 SPD/flat hybrid pedal and would like some opinions on it. I don't race, so weight isn't an issue, and would maybe like to tackle something a little more technical, but have the option to go "flat" in case I need to put a foot down in a hurry.

Oops, appear to have posted in the wrong forum, could a Mod do the honours please?

cooldad

They are the worst of both worlds, pretty rubbish as flats and the spd side will always be down when you want to clip in.

PaddyG68

OK, that's a pretty frank response . Any other option if I just want to hop on my bike to head into town? I was thinking about the plastic clips bike shops use when you want to test ride and SPD bike around the car-park, for example. Didn't have much luck locating any though.
What about my trail riding concerns?

lostboysaint

cooldad wrote:

They are the worst of both worlds, pretty rubbish as flats and the spd side will always be down when you want to clip in.

That.

njee20

They're right.

SPDs with a cage will give a bit of a platform to pedal on if it's a short distance, but nothing will really work properly as both a clip and a flat frankly.

Ferrals

You want to get a pair of the old red shimano DX spd pedals from the 90s if you can find any one ebay. They were fine for riding to the shops in trainers

Ferrals

comme ca:

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-DX-PD-M636-MTB-Clipless-Platform-Pedals-9-16-Deore-XT-R-red-black-Trek-/371122424490?pt=US_Pedals&hash=item56689ecaaa

cooldad

But still prettyy useless as flats for trails.

PaddyG68

Unfortunately, I'm not in the UK. What about the Shimano PD-M647 DX Pedal? It seems to be the successor to the red pedal and I can get them for Sfr. 54.- here in Switzerland.

lostboysaint

Crank Brothers Mallets are the best "combo" pedal. Metal pins work well at holding shoes if you don't engage when using clipless (which is very, very unlikely!) and they are the most unobtrusive to ride on just wearing flat trainers (or flip flops as I do) for the trip to the shops/down the beach etc. Mallet DH are a work of art!

markhewitt1978

cooldad wrote:

They are the worst of both worlds, pretty rubbish as flats and the spd side will always be down when you want to clip in.

That was my experience of them. Switched them to double sided so I could clip in whatever way up they were and never looked back.

apreading

I dont quite agree here. Yes, they would be poor as flats for serious off-road riding as there isnt the grip offered by pedals with pins, however many novices ride with the flats that came on their bikes and they are as good as those, so if you are only doing tame stuff they would be OK.

With regards to them always being the wrong way up, if you ride them a while you get the knack of quickly flipping them with the front edge of your sole or taking your foot off for half a rotation then putting it back on with the pedal the other way up. the only time this ever caused me problems was when setting off near to a drop off where I needed to be clipped in before the drop came - I just needed a small amount of extra runup.

I have replaced mine with double sided SPDs though, as I found I never wanted to ride without being clipped in because I got so used to the stable feeling it gives.

Made a mistake and left my SPDs on when I went to center-parcs last week - didnt want to wear my cycling shoes and carry normal shoes to all the activities so just rode with normal shoes and it was OK for short distance. this was with Shimano M530 pedals - so a bit of a cage but down lower than the SPD bit. Just rode at lunchtime into town on my road bike with M424 and trainers and these are better as the cage is higher. You can still feel that your foot is curved but it would be quite rideable in a bind - wouldnt want to do any form of serious cycling like this though.

If you truly want to use the flats then I would go for the M324 personally but be prepared that you have to give it time to learn the two techniques for coping with pedals occasionally being the wrong way around and for them to become second nature.

cooldad

apreading wrote:

I dont quite agree here.
Yes, they would be poor as flats for serious off-road riding...

...With regards to them always being the wrong way up, if you ride them a while you get the knack of quickly flipping them with the front edge of your sole or taking your foot off for half a rotation then putting it back on with the pedal the other way up.

So not great as flats, and not the best as clips - the worst of both worlds.

Bentura

I am a noob to the clipless world and didn't really know whether I wanted to always have clips so I bought a pair of these along with some Shimano MT43 shoes. The pedals are fine when wearing normal trainers but I havent really gone no anything that rough with them. Thin sole shoes will have you feeling the grip. As for not having clips on both sides, I have never found it a problem. A quick flip of the pedal and the clip is ready. You can also work it so that as you pull away with one foot clipped in, the other pedal comes up on the clip side ready to go. Got both shoes and pedals for £70 which I thought was quite decent!

lostboysaint

As soon as you get on anything rough you will find that there is no grip whatsoever. It's been a constant issue with me that they've never "sharpened" the metal teeth on the flat side to make it a much more allround pedal.

There's no doubt that the SPD side works, but then so does any other SPD, so it's whether the flat side is worth having and the answer is - only if you never, ever want to take the bike offroad.

Chunkers1980

Which side of the pedal you need to clip into on a tech up hill should be the least of worries