So I’m tired of riding MKS Sylvans, been using them for years on various bikes and they’ve always been uncomfortable. I usually wear Keds type sneakers which are very thin soled. I was just sent a NOS set of purple bear trap pedals, which I’ve never used before. Would these be better or worse with the kinds of sneakers I wear? I also have some Shimano BMX pedals I might try out. Suggestions?
if those shimano pedals are the original 80s ones like this (but in way better condition) you could probably make some money on ebay.
i doubted the reload/holdfast/etc straps X bmx pedal collabo for a long time but they’re so comfortable. i don’t know if i could go back to clip/straps/svans
Not to get all Petersen-y here, but if you’re just out riding around in normal shoes (and on a freewheel bike), nothing beats standard BMX platforms. I’ve been using silver Wellgo pedals for years, and I do my best to talk any customer I can out of using clipless or cheap, plastic clips and straps on their hybrid or city bikes.
i thought GR9’s were the rage for regular shoes
using foot retention?
i love my gr-9s
i had mks sylvans on the road bike and they hurt liek a bitch with regular shoes
GR-9’s aren’t all that great. They are good for providing grip without digging into your shoes, but not good for larger feet. And the flip tab breaks off if you come within 5’ of a curb.
BMX pedals are great if you never go uphill but I’d prefer shitty plastic toe clips over no foot retention any day around here.
The best pedals I’ve found were really thin metal cage’d mtb pedals. Similar to these but a little thinner from top to bottom:
I used metal toe clips and a homemade strap doubler to run two nylon straps.
I love me some shitty plastic toe clips.
I also love BMX pedals.
TBH, I’ve found no real difference between some bigass BMX platforms, some old-school Shimano mountain platforms, and some “beartrap” platforms. They’re all super wide and heavy, and work great with any kind of shoe ranging from strap sandals (yeah, sorry tarck) to work boots.
For riding around town I like Campagnolo-style quill pedals with the little pointy tab on the end filed down. MKS makes a version called the sylvan road and another similar one called the AR-2. The sylvans still hurt my feet after about 30 miles though.
I wish someone made a cheaper knockoff of the white industries pedals, they look so comfy. $200 for a clip and strap pedal is ridiculous, you could easily get a nice clipless setup for that. I have a pair of old french lyotard pedals that the WI ones were obviously based on, but they are (poorly) made out of stamped steel and french threaded.
The real problem with Lyotard M23 “Marcel Berthet” pedals for casual shoe use is that they have a raised edge for a cleat — I love the hell out of mine for use with slotted touring shoes, but they’re pretty bad with normal shoes, even stiff sambas.
The stamped steel part really isn’t so bad. A ton of em were made in normal 9/16" thread and some even in 1/2". They also use the same axle as a bunch of other Lyotard pedals, so you could make a swap easily.
They sometimes go for silly prices on eBay when there’s been a drought for a while, but they’re usually $50 tops on the CR or BOB lists.
Just remembered that I took pics a while ago of my collection of true platform pedals:
left: KKT Pro Ace (Campy Record clone), 90s Shimano with plastic toeclip, MKS GR-9 with Soma Doublegate toeclips
right: Gipiemme Crono Special, Suntour GPX, Lyotard Marcel Berthet
Of these only the GR-9 and Gipiemme pedals are comfortable in softer shoes, cause everything else has the raised edge for a cleat.
That Lyotard pedal does look friggan awesome.
Those GPX aren’t comfortable with Sambas? I’ve been trying to find a pair of GPX or cyclone pedals for a while.
I have some cheap big ass platform/bmx pedals with holdfast style straps on my winter ride… so comfortable! Nice and stable too since they have a large flat area.
The edge of the pedal does wrap around into a platformy forward area, but it’s still raised a 1/4" at the back so you can get a slotted cleat around it.
Considerably better than a quill pedal with the tab filed down, but not as comfy as a flat platform like a GR-9 (more retentiony though).
I haven’t used them in quite a while, you want them?
my feet are too wide for any “road” style platform pedals. i have clipless on all my bikes right now, but i wanna try bmx platform/strap collabo soon.
I really like the bmx pedal x strap collabo. I still occasionally have strap fail at lights because I’m so used to clipless I try and twist out of them, which never works. They are super comfy though, and when adjusted properly to a pair of shoes hold damn good. I only have clipless on 2 bikes now. Everything else is platforms, compared to a year ago when I had clipless on EVERYTHING.
I use odyssey trail mix pedals with hold fasts and its the only thing that i think compares to clipless. I tied to ride sylvans and clips for the first tme in a few years (rode all clipless since) and it felt way less secure than bmx pedals and straps.
Odyssey BMX pedals are awesome. Primos are excellent as well. I’m a huge fan of BMX pedals with no foot retention for pretty much everything but “serious” road, XC or CX riding. I think it makes very little difference compared to clips and straps, and I’ve climbed a lot of hills both ways. I guess straps on BMX pedals could be a potentially awesome setup if you’re into that kind of thing.