Barefoot bike pedals

Yeah. Ergon is a high-ish end component company, focused on ergonomics (hence the name, i guess). I use their grips to ease a wrist problem I've dealt with forEVER. REI usually has Ergon stuff. You may find them there if you have one nearby.
 
Yeah. Ergon is a high-ish end component company, focused on ergonomics (hence the name, i guess). I use their grips to ease a wrist problem I've dealt with forEVER. REI usually has Ergon stuff. You may find them there if you have one nearby.
I do, so I will. Thanks!
 
Well I went ahead and ordered those Ergons. We'll see how they go. Plan on ordering a road bike soon and willneed some pedals anyhow. I never even heard of clip or clipless or whatever until a couple years ago. I've always just had bikes with plain pedals. My last mountain bike came with straps over the pedals, but I could never get used to them and most my sneakers wouldnt fit in them right so I took them off. I suppose if I were biking long distances or races I'd like more efficiency but going out for a few miles on the road with my mountain bike efficiency isnt a big concern.

It was said above how there is no advantage to barefoot on a bike. I agree, shoes are tools, and you can drive a nail in better with a hammer than with your bare hand. Only reason I am going bare on the bike is so I can stash it at the end of a long run to bike back. I did that just recently, and carried my huraches with me for the bike. Just one less thing to have to carry, though not that huge of a deal. These are for paved paths, like some of the local rail to trail converts. A true mountain bike trail I'll take at least minishoes.
 
Thought I'd post some pics. Can't give it much of a review yet only biked with them about 1/4 mile once just to see. But they felt great barefoot. I'll try to go on a long ride and make a review.

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I've been restoring some of my older bikes this past month, so I ordered a few more pairs of Pyramid barefoot pedals. I also purchased a pair of Electra Barefoot Pedals as well as a pair of Avenirs slightly different from the Avenir barefoot pedals that I already had been riding on my travel bike.
I think I'll have to try a pair of the ones you posted above too, they are more costly but probably much higher quality.
Only 12 bikes ridable in the family stable right now, but one has four pedals and another has six!
I'll get there.
 
Hmm, I like my SPD pedals and shoes. I like the feeling of control and security that they give me. I haven’t done it for years but when I first got clip less pedals I could bunny hop the whole bike up onto a bus stop bench ride across and hop back down with ease. I could also hop the railroad tracks that were on the way to work. I once hit a pot hole that was in a shadow and although I lost grip of the hood with one hand and slipped off of the seat I was able to recover without hitting the pavement. Another time, before I had SPDs, I remember hitting a speed bump and getting one heck of a whack on my shinbone. Hmm, both times it was something that I didn’t see so maybe it was a vision problem on my part. But, I can still go up or off a curb without hurting the bike. Maybe nothing bad will ever happen barefoot on a bike but for me I like being locked into my pedals.



The shoes are tight, the seat is hard and I don’t like being in the drops now either.
 
I have been riding bikes barefoot for many years and one thing I've noticed is that I tend to ride with the ball of my foot on the pedal with my toes kind of gripping around the front of the pedal. It's a habit I developed that is a little unnatural and contrary to how you want your feet when running, which is nice and flat and relaxed. I am not sure if it's the biking that caused it ( ride every day) but I've had to unlearn a bit of a claw-action in my left foot.
 
I use that claw action and it seems to work much better than non cleated shoes would. I believe that bare feet work better than any non cycling specific shoes do since there is no energy wasted in compressing rubber and you actually DO grip the pedal somewhat.
 
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I would be very happy if I could find a pair of mountainbike shoes that are wide enough to fit my toes without shrinking them together in the toe area. Why not make bike shoes comfortable?
 
Lake road shoes with real cleats and straps and Sidi SPD cleated mountain shoes combined with genes is what gave me hallux limitus in both feet. Crowding my feet into that unnatural position and them locking them in to the exact same repetitive motion cycle for hours a day for decades did me in.
 
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You would waste energy compressing the rubber, and what could possibly be the advantage? Certainly not protection in the event of a crash. If it's just to make the pedal more comfortable to a bare foot, keep in mind the Pyramid Barefoot Pedals are VERY inexpensive, $12 or less for the pair.
 
When running and walking we generally have our whole foot on the ground and ideally our weight is spread evenly over the foot. The bicycle pedal when under the ball of the foot seems an unnatural and stressful position to be in for a long time, especially if pushing high gears. I'd love to have a platform pedal that would support my whole foot and have the pedal axle position adjustable forward and backward to achieve a more even weight distribution. And not require special shoes (or any shoes) to use it.

Is that what the Ergon pedals are trying to do? And Pyro platforms? I do not see the Pryo pedals available anywhere.

I don't have a car so I do a lot of riding, usually in street clothes and regular shoes or barefoot. I do as much riding as running probably. I've been concerned lately that all this riding with the balls of my feet on the pedals may be affecting how I run because of the uneven stress on my feet. I seem to always have ankle and achilles problems. I thought it was because of my running form but maybe riding my bike every day contributes to it.
 
The bicycle pedal when under the ball of the foot seems an unnatural and stressful position to be in for a long time, especially if pushing high gears. I'd love to have a platform pedal that would support my whole foot and have the pedal axle position adjustable forward and backward to achieve a more even weight distribution.

I thought about doing just that around ten years ago to gain the advantage of the full rigid footbed the cycling shoes offer. Never did, and for riding just a couple of hours per day at the most my Pyramids work just fine. I pull some watts too, people are surprised how well bare feet can work.
Surprised you can't find them, did you try bikeparts.com?
 
Hi All - TRISTAN-OH still waiting on that extended use report of the ERGON's - I looked them up - Amazon and REI selling for $80 a pair! Wow. Thats an investment. I was in Local Bike Shop yesterday and found these...
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These were $15 at LBS - I asked if the 1/2" would fit bike and they said no. I went online and found them - ordered the 9/16" size for $10 ! I'll put them on and see how they feel. I just put aerobars on my bike this weekend and got my avg. speed up to (yes, UP TO) 15.6 - My best before today was 15.1 avg. - With TRI training, I feel that the bike portion is easy, and I am making big gains in my swimming training, but then I realize that I need to be pushing myself harder on the bike. So thats what I did today.
 
Ya Mon!image.jpg
 
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