Bike Fit and Clipless Pedals

[Sujiro]

Hi,

I been biking for more than 2 months now. I improved my speed from 5mph to 11mph. However, I been stuck to that average speed for 2 weeks now. And I guess I wont see any improvement soon, so I was wondering if I should get a clipless pedals now. But not sure if my bike will fit that.

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And are bike fits free? I got my bike from Freshbikes.

Thank you

Topic

[hozn]

@rcannon100 162519 wrote:

Where did you buy your Five Tens?

Hozn which Five Tens do you have? Wood you buy again or diff model?

Are there other shoes to look at?

I have the Five Ten Freerider model. The size 13 fits nicely (wide enough; I wear a Specialized 48 [in regular width, which is wider than many shoes]). But I probably would not buy then again since I don’t ride with flats much (bought for unicycle) and the soles are really uncomfortable after awhile. I need to check if insoles can be replaced; that might fix them for me.

[rcannon100]

Do you recall where you bought them?

[hozn]

@rcannon100 162522 wrote:

Do you recall where you bought them?

Yeah, I got them on Jensonusa with one of their 20% off full-time item coupons.

[LhasaCM]

@hozn 162521 wrote:

I have the Five Ten Freerider model. The size 13 fits nicely (wide enough; I wear a Specialized 48 [in regular width, which is wider than many shoes]). But I probably would not buy then again since I don’t ride with flats much (bought for unicycle) and the soles are really uncomfortable after awhile. I need to check if insoles can be replaced; that might fix them for me.

Tossing another option out there for flat pedal oriented shoes – I used the Five Ten Freeriders off and on earlier this year. They were better and lasted longer than the various Chrome shoes I’d worn and worn out, but also became bothersome after a while (both in terms of length of ownership and. as others have said, on longer rides). For me, at least, I’ve had better luck/greater comfort with the Giro Jacket “skate-inspired mountain bike” shoes. Got them from Backcountry via Amazon.

[anomad]

You don’t want your feet coming out in a sprint…

[drevil]

@hozn 162523 wrote:

Yeah, I got them on Jensonusa with one of their 20% off full-time item coupons.

Five Ten also has closeouts, a lot of them 50% off. I have the Impact Lows from a few years ago. The front of the shoe delaminated and came apart on today’s ride. I heard the newer models have been improved.

http://www.fiveten.com/us/closeouts/bike?___SID=U

Your choice of platform pedals with pins can make a difference how well your feet stick to them. I have several Wellgo MG-1s, and a couple of Spank Spikes, the latter much grippier than the former. A friend let me try his RaceFace Atlas pedals for a ride, and hoo-boy, those are even crazier. You might want to wear shin guards with those.

[vvill]

I have some Five Ten Dirtbags I got a few years ago online – fairly cheap, grip well, wide for their size. Probably my go to for flat cycling shoes, though I also have a pair of “forged rubber” Chromes that definitely look less dorky. For flat pedals I have some UK brand (Nukeproof), also bought online. I think almost any decent shoes would grip great on these, although it may wear our your sole fast. Definitely would recommend shin guards if you’re doing anything where you might hit your shins!

[rcannon100]

[video=youtube_share;ZfcB6Df86Q0]https://youtu.be/ZfcB6Df86Q0[/video]

This is consistent with my experience. But read the comments to the vid as well, which are consistent with the pro-flats arguments being made here (25 years of clipless v one hour of flats is a bad comparison)

[hozn]

I haven’t watched the video, but the pedals pictured there definitely don’t look like grippy flats.

[rcannon100]

Yup. That was a big comment from the peanut gallery.

[jdricks]

@hozn 162521 wrote:

I have the Five Ten Freerider model. The size 13 fits nicely (wide enough; I wear a Specialized 48 [in regular width, which is wider than many shoes]). But I probably would not buy then again since I don’t ride with flats much (bought for unicycle) and the soles are really uncomfortable after awhile. I need to check if insoles can be replaced; that might fix them for me.

How’s the quality of Five Ten Freerider? I’m thinking of buying a pair next month.

[hozn]

@jdricks 163907 wrote:

How’s the quality of Five Ten Freerider? I’m thinking of buying a pair next month.

They seem good, though honestly they are uncomfortable enough that I haven’t worn them much.

[Sunyata]

@jdricks 163907 wrote:

How’s the quality of Five Ten Freerider? I’m thinking of buying a pair next month.

I am on my third pair in five years and I am pretty hard on them. But to be frank, the first pair I owned, I just gave to a friend with bigger feet, since they were a men’s size and too big for me. I bought the second pair because they were “women’s sized” (basically just came in smaller sizes, but the same last) and they fit okay and lasted about three years before the sole started to fail. I ended up buying the newest version (Freerider Pro’s) a few months ago and I LOVE LOVE LOVE them. They are much lighter than the older version, fit much better (narrower women’s last, which for me is great), and dry MUCH quicker.

I expect these to last another three years with similar use as my old pair.

[Author]

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