Clipless Pedals

What kind do you run? I've been an spd guy for years on end on my mountain bike. Lately, I've been experiencing some post ride knee pain. I'm interested in the Speedplay Frogs, which have freefloat compared to only 4° on spd's. I ride Speedplay on my road bike and love them and their freefloat. Does anyone have any beta on the Frogs or any other recommendations?

Riding first generation Ritcheys on my Mounty... this is my 20th season on this same set if pedals.  I am a huge fan of Tom Ritchey.  THe first real Mountain Bike I had was a Ritchey Frame... it weighed more than me, but designed perfectly for my riding style at the time.  Not truly understanding what I had, I traded it for a Aluminum frame which caused me to stop riding off road for several years.




For my Roady, i Ride the Look Keo system.  I like a stiffer feel on the crank when I'm climbing on the road... strange comfort for me.  I recently discovered an issue with my crank turning form.... curled toes.  Believe it or not, if you can manage to focus on relaxing your feet while climbing... you'll go a lot farther.  The Look pedal system along with a custom fit ultra-stiff shoe, and a more relaxed foot, can lead to miles upon miles of virtually effortless climbing...

I am 100% Flats  guy on a MTB.. I go over the bars and crash way to many times to be clipped in..Also with the new flats and a pair of 5-10 shoes you are glued to the peddles..

I moved to the gold "quick release (sissy)" spd cleats quite a few years ago and never even think about them.
I got new lake shoes last years and didn't think to order new cleats so went with the regular black spd cleats and definitely felt more knee and release issues on both the gravel and mountain bikes, back to gold  I ride shemano M530's on both bikes

JasonWx wrote

I am 100% Flats  guy on a MTB.. I go over the bars and crash way to many times to be clipped in..Also with the new flats and a pair of 5-10 shoes you are glued to the peddles..

I don't ride enough to even have a meaningful opinion but I do exactly the same thing- 5.10s on flats

I do five10s on flats for MTB, too.

I ran crank bros candy and eggbeaters and mallets for a while. Then I realized that I don't really need to be clipped in. It was really only helping when I was super tired after a long day of riding and I started pulling up with my feet to work different muscles.

I also feel like flats are helping me be a better rider. I was cheating with my bunny hops by retracting my legs to pull the bike under me. Now I have to do them the real way.

I use speedplays pedals.

I did not know that was cheating. Why is it cheating?

tjf1967 wrote

I did not know that was cheating. Why is it cheating?

Meh, not "cheating" I guess. Just a way that I am trying to get away from.

Marcski, your saddle may be a little high?
I run eggbeaters, haven't ridden anything else so no opinion here

5.10 flats here as well

I’m another 5.10’s and flats.

I used SPD’s for a few years I The late 90’s into the early 2000’s but they bothered my knees. I love the comfort of 5.10’s and how nice they are to walk in if I’m off the bike.

Chris wrote

Marcski, your saddle may be a little high?
I run eggbeaters, haven't ridden anything else so no opinion here

Interesting, Chris.  My saddle may be a bit high, I will ride with it a bit lower.  But, from what I've read a high saddle would cause pain in the back of the knee not on the inside where I've been experiencing the pain.  I read that medial knee pain (pain on the inside of the knee where I have it) can be caused by the cleats being too far to the inside of the shoe.  I just moved them a bit toward the outside.  Now, I need to get a window to ride...between the wet weather and work I've been stuck inside so far this week.

What you did with the clip is what I did and it worked for me. When you peddle you can look down and see if you're lined up properly.

tjf1967 wrote

What you did with the clip is what I did and it worked for me. When you peddle you can look down and see if you're lined up properly.

I got out yesterday.  Not a super long ride but it was chock full of some big, straight hills (as opposed to switch backed ones).  First thing I noticed after moving the cleats toward the outside was that it was much easier for me to clip in.  And, I didn't seem to have any significant knee pain after the ride.  As I said in my original post, I have been riding SPD's with no issue for years, so it did seem a bit odd to me that all of a sudden, I would experience knee pain with them.  I am headed out for a real nice, longish ride in about an hour so the jury is still out. I will see how I do with today's ride before making a final determination.

It's amazing what moving a cleat 1/4" to the outside can do.  I rode yesterday and had a pretty nice, long fairly difficult ride today and have basically no medial knee pain. I suppose, due to the cleat placement, my lower leg was not aligned properly...but it seems to be all good now.  Thanks all for your input, I seemed to have solved the issue.