The importance of good pedals

Civilian_Target

So a couple of days ago one of the pedals on my bike snapped at one side.

I've ordered a new set of these for my bike http://www.cyclestore.co.uk/productDetails.asp?productID=6345 but in the meantime I'm cycling on 1 and a half pedals, and after 2 days of it (about 35 miles), my knees hurt, quite a bit!

Until now I never quite appreciated good pedals, except for the fact that maybe they clipped to your shoes or had toestraps or other stuff I'm not into. But I'm surprised by the difference that a lack of good pedalling gear makes, and I have to wonder if cheap bikes with crap pedals do damage peoples knees?

Opinions?
(I'm getting the tube until my new pedals arrive!)

daymobrew

There is a guy here in East Point Business Park who has an old postman bike. One day I saw that his left crank was turning awkwardly. When he parked I mentioned that it was probably just loose and very easy to fix. That was about 4 months ago.

Last night I passed him (all in black without lights :rolleyes: ) and the crank is still messed up. I can see that his foot doesn't sit well on the pedal. I suppose we've all endured stuff like that because we're too lazy to get it fixed.

hunnymonster

Is it possible that you've shifted your foot position because you don't have a pedal. When I ride my BF's bike which is not set up for me I get a pain in my knees and he has pedals that cost a couple of hundred quid on it!

Civilian_Target

Its certain that I've shifted my foot position into something thats never gonna be comfortable, thats why it doesn't work!

ferdi

daymobrew wrote:

I suppose we've all endured stuff like that because we're too lazy to get it fixed.

amen to that brother, i'm the king of not fixing stuff on my bikes, i'd rather have 100 annoying prolems with it than spend a day fixing it:rolleyes:

i love spikey metal pedals with NO TOESTRAPS but they tend to cut the crap outta my shins..

Johnny Jukebox

Its not the pedal, its the position of your foot on the pedal. In fact, you notice this most with SPDs because once you're clipped in, you cant move foot position, so it had better be right first time off.

This of course assumes the pedals are working perfectly :-)

Bunnyhopper

ferdi wrote:

i love spikey metal pedals with NO TOESTRAPS but they tend to cut the crap outta my shins..

Yeah. They're nice and grippy, which is great until they decide to grip a bit of flesh off your legs. DMR V8s for me.