Am looking at some clipless pedals for the first time. never tried them before.

Considering either Time Atac Z Control Freeride or Crank Bros Mallet C's

Wanted a pair i can also use with trainers to ride down the shops.

anyone got any experience of either of these, or offer any opinion?

Both seem to allow a lot of float which I was guessing would help when riding with my 'pop outable' kneecap. is that right or am i misssing something?

suggested alternatives in same price range would also be useful....

I've used the Z freerides and they were fine

Went over to ATACs though in the end which to be honest feel just as secure as the Freerides whether clipped in or not

I've got the time Z control, and I really like them, loads of float but I find them realy easy to clip out of, I did have to cut away some of the tread around the cleat, so bear this in mind if your are not using flat soled SPD shoes.

TBH though they are crap with trainers on, but I have seen somewhere plates you can clip to your pedals to quickly turn them into flaties, you could do the same with a bit of plywood, a spare set of cleats and some screws for the pins, or just a bit of griptape.

Or just use an old hack for a runabout

trainers is a biggie for me, as will use it to kick about town on as well....
the freerides sound perfect for me slipping and hitting my nuts. what about the crank bros then....?

About the same I'd imagine


The only pedal that would really suit are the single sided Shimano ones though they won't be as knee friendly

i think the mallets are a little better. IIRC you do get extra plates with it to screw in if you want them on. haven't used them, but a mate uses egg beaters andlkes them, and LBS guy uses mallets.

with trainers?

er, prob not actually, but in terms of being good, pedals, i'd say yes.

i prefer the z's over the mallets but its a personel thing

guess i need to try these both out somehow.
i'm favouring the mallets at the moment partly because they are more like the platforms i already have, you can bolt on bigger plates, and the 4 sided entry makes me a little more comfortable having never used SPD's before.

cheers for the feedback all.

You can't get into mallets on 4 sides because the platform gets in the way, you can enter one side or the other, same as the Times

im finding it very hard to twist out of the mallets? any tips?

Keep doing it and the muscles get stronger while your ankle gets more supple

Have you got the cleats in so that they require minimum twist? They can be used either way but require about 5degrees more twist to get out when one way round

if not try putting the spacer under the cleat as the sole could be catching on the platform?

Which way round do you have the cleats?

One of them has 2 wee dots on it and you can change the release angle depending which shoe you screw it to. If you haven't got this cleat on your right shoe already, then swap them over and you should find it easier to release.

shimano M959 tbh

Swapped the 2 dotted right one to the left foot as fell off at traffic lights! very embarassing so thought better to put foor on curb first next time round! I did also raise the level with spacers too which helped me get in ok but its just getting out of em.
Have had spd's before but had made them loose enough to get out, cant do that with these, dont have much confidence in them at present and doing a big ride on saturday think i may be swapping my old cheap spd pedals back.

Oh