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This is what we'd like from The Industry™

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
I'd like more of this:

PXL_20220825_195945762.jpg


PXL_20220825_200003060.MP.jpg


I got a set of these (PD-M737) from a guy in Italy on the Retrobike.co.uk forum. New old stock, and they're going on my 2021 Hightower.

Best pedals ever made, with a sprung front so slamming straight down, toe first, heel first, whatever - you're in. I didn't get a set early enough to have the shaped front guide plates to allow for a bit of float, but I can file them down or try some SH52 cleats (versus SH51).

I'm coming from a set of the 821 Saint pedals, which are great, but for the rocky stuff in my riding areas the big platforms just seem like an impediment.
 
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Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,692
5,621
UK
Could be wrong but unless you use max tension I'd have thought SH52 cleats would result in a fair bit of unintentional unclipping (eg. shoe pulling straight out)
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
Could be wrong but unless you use max tension I'd have thought SH52 cleats would result in a fair bit of unintentional unclipping (eg. shoe pulling straight out)
That's the SH55 cleats that are multi-release, I thought?
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,692
5,621
UK
Ah... Sorry... you're right

I only clip in on the roadbike (SH51) but did use those old pedals for XC 25+ years back
 
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Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,029
9,684
AK
I'd like more of this:

View attachment 181107

View attachment 181108

I got a set of these (PD-M737) from a guy in Italy on the Retrobike.co.uk forum. New old stock, and they're going on my 2021 Hightower.

Best pedals ever made, with a sprung front so slamming straight down, toe first, heel first, whatever - you're in. I didn't get a set early enough to have the shaped front guide plates to allow for a bit of float, but I can file them down or try some SH52 cleats (versus SH51).

I'm coming from a set of the 821 Saint pedals, which are great, but for the rocky stuff in my riding areas the big platforms just seem like an impediment.
Those are the old non-mud-clearing pedals though. The newer generation if something stuck to your cleat or whatever passes through the body much easier.

They probably won't break, but 520s/540s are even better....dirt cheap for 520s too.
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
Those are the old non-mud-clearing pedals though. The newer generation if something stuck to your cleat or whatever passes through the body much easier.

They probably won't break, but 520s/540s are even better....dirt cheap for 520s too.
I've been lied to:

lies.jpg


I ran the 737s for a decade in the worst that New England had to offer - mud, snow, through rocks and roots - and they were fine. Not Crank Brothers mallet or eggbeater level in terms of clearing mud, but they also last years versus the six months that CB pedals last.

The special thing about the 737s is that the front plate is spring as well, allowing for that to move and the cleat to engage even when dirt and mud are present.

Before my current Saint pedals, my last Shimano pedals were the 747s. Those were complete crap.
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,692
5,621
UK
I remember those bulky old front and rear spring retention SPDs working waaaay better in mud than any mtb SPD pedal Shimano made since.
The only upgrades since have been lighter weight or cages.
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
Who knows - I might get these out on the trails and find they're complete crap compared to what I'm used to. I'll report back.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,337
882
coloRADo
I'm a bit surprised as I thought I was a Shimano SPD Nerd. They made a clipless pedal that hinged on both the front and the rear?

I thought it was always fixed (not hinged) on the front, only the rear.

If that's the case, are you saying there are 4 bolts to tighten/loosen the engagement (front & rear, 2 sides = 4)
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
I'm a bit surprised as I thought I was a Shimano SPD Nerd. They made a clipless pedal that hinged on both the front and the rear?

I thought it was always fixed (not hinged) on the front, only the rear.

If that's the case, are you saying there are 4 bolts to tighten/loosen the engagement (front & rear, 2 sides = 4)
Nope, only 2 - one spring fore and one spring aft, so the rear spring on one side is the front spring for the other side. It was always important to get the spring tension indicators to be close or there would be an uneven feel. The hinges front made it possible to just slam straight down or even click in heel first, which was ideal given that these had very little or no float by design.

These were the first SPuDs - 1990 release date. It looks like the pair I have are from 1992. I ran my first pair from 1993 - 2001 or so, save for when I was running flats or the big red cage 626 pedals. My first clipless pedals were Onzas with elastomer tension. Those were absolute garbage.

 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,375
1,610
Warsaw :/
I know I know, youtuber video alert. But this is interesting.
Bike Patton Oswald is onto something. Though weirdly all the bikes I have gotten for review in my bike journo days were sent back to the producer but that's probably because Poland is smaller than US. Though I did end up with some weird spare parts companies forgot about. Unfortunately mostly horrible parts. The good part companies wanted them back (for the most part).

Though the parts that stay the longest are when they get sent to the magazine owner/main editor and he's a moron. I've gotten in trouble so many times because I had to rely on someone incompetent. Probably the main reason why i stopped writing.
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
Bike Patton Oswald is onto something. Though weirdly all the bikes I have gotten for review in my bike journo days were sent back to the producer but that's probably because Poland is smaller than US. Though I did end up with some weird spare parts companies forgot about. Unfortunately mostly horrible parts. The good part companies wanted them back (for the most part).

Though the parts that stay the longest are when they get sent to the magazine owner/main editor and he's a moron. I've gotten in trouble so many times because I had to rely on someone incompetent. Probably the main reason why i stopped writing.
Bike Patton Oswalt :D

Glad you watched that, Seth is not my cup of tea at all. Good for him in building a business around the sport.

 

trib

not worthy of a Rux.
Jun 22, 2009
1,484
423
I know I know, youtuber video alert. But this is interesting.
interestingly what I get from this is that if you position yourself correctly as big enough to get review parts, but small enough to be last to receive them, you get free stuff.
 

SylentK

Turbo Monkey
Feb 25, 2004
2,337
882
coloRADo
Can I put Seth in my parts bin? :D (that's how useful he is to me) Get it? LOL

Ah "reviews". And notice I put that word in quotes, because I'm pretty sure all they do is throw in all the words on the box in the review and say it worked well. And if there's a bad review, they get cut off. So who gets bad reviews anymore? I'm surprised MBUK gives anything less than 4 stars.

I remember....was it 'Mountain Bike' magazine gave a bad review to some major brand, and then said brand cut off all advertisements to it? Thinking Rockshox for some reason. This is probably before SRAM was invented. Like still in the 1990's. Pretty poopy move. But everytime I read a review, I think of the moral of that story....
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,593
19,619
Canaderp
Can I put Seth in my parts bin? :D (that's how useful he is to me) Get it? LOL

Ah "reviews". And notice I put that word in quotes, because I'm pretty sure all they do is throw in all the words on the box in the review and say it worked well. And if there's a bad review, they get cut off. So who gets bad reviews anymore? I'm surprised MBUK gives anything less than 4 stars.

I remember....was it 'Mountain Bike' magazine gave a bad review to some major brand, and then said brand cut off all advertisements to it? Thinking Rockshox for some reason. This is probably before SRAM was invented. Like still in the 1990's. Pretty poopy move. But everytime I read a review, I think of the moral of that story....
You don't even need to go back that far for that type stuff.

For example, Pinkbike vs Evil.
 

aaronjb

Turbo Monkey
Jul 22, 2010
1,105
659
I very much miss SWAT from my old Specialized on my 2021 Hightower. But now I see the 2022 Hightower has a weed box.
 

Electric_City

Torture wrench
Apr 14, 2007
1,999
716
And I'd like to see shocks and forks that are meant to be user-serviceable, so maybe something less than 95% of them weren't just run into the ground till they die. And by "user serviceable" I just mean no ridiculous shit like plugging the charging hole, needle shit, tiny little watch-parts just to access the internals like FIT, no bleed ports, etc. And hell, even then most home-mechanics may pass up working on it, but at least at that level it's no worse than a derailleur or BB and freaking shops can do it, vs. these days when the chances of a shop correctly servicing suspension is low.

I sent in my DPS to get digressive valving to match bike bike, but it had this installed. Of course they took it off and replaced it with their dipshit system, but I was hoping they would at least send it back to me. Nope. I sent them a follow up asking for it back. If they say they can't, I'll send them a return receipt letter asking for either it back or the amount to buy it refunded. I did not authorize them to keep my property.
What bike do you own with digressive suspension? Assuming this is the same as regressive suspension?
 

Jm_

sled dog's bollocks
Jan 14, 2002
19,029
9,684
AK
What bike do you own with digressive suspension? Assuming this is the same as regressive suspension?
Pivot 429SL. Not digressive suspension, but digressive damping. The progressiveness is minimal as an XC bike and the LC is pretty opposite of air to counter air effects, so usually digressive at first, progressive mid travel, and digressive towards the end, so the air spring increases fairly normally. The effective spring, as a combination of both, is pretty decent when you are running the right air can. It's not digressive. But whatever combination of the DW forces and all of this requires digressive tunes, which I understand at least on the compression side to just mean fairly normal, that just means tapered stack and that the higher the force, the faster it needs to flow fluid, so the more it will blow off. You could still overwhelm a digressive compression tune by trying to move the fluid too fast, it'll choke at some point. You almost never see linear tunes on compression, except in some wacky setups. I do see linear tunes on rebound sometimes, which makes some sense with HSR, the return force is created by the spring energy which is only a function of it's position.
 
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jezso

Chimp
Dec 31, 2010
81
68
Dubai, UAE
Just broke my valve on the rear wheel in two. Never thought such can happen. It turned out it is a mad of aluminium, probably from not the best of alloy. The actual damage was a bent valve (suspecting a sneaky stone) letting all the air out. When I was trying to replace it with the tube I carry for emergency, I had real hard time to remove said valve, as when I was trying to open the nut, the whole valve turned at the same time, so I figured my only chance is breaking it which did not take much (any) effort. I figured it would be nice to have a hex opening on the inside end of these valves instead of a bore. Does such thing exist? Anyway, the valve stem has to be steel from now on, to mitigste the chance of such thing happening again.
 

toodles

ridiculously corgi proportioned
Aug 24, 2004
5,532
4,804
Australia
I figured it would be nice to have a hex opening on the inside end of these valves instead of a bore. Does such thing exist?

These have a 4mm Allen Key for retention for that reason.
 

fwp

Monkey
Jun 5, 2013
410
400
Bike Patton Oswalt :D

Glad you watched that, Seth is not my cup of tea at all. Good for him in building a business around the sport.
Makes me cringe to think he makes more than 99% of the world class racers out there but gotta respect the hard work and hustle.
 

iRider

Turbo Monkey
Apr 5, 2008
5,653
3,093
Makes me cringe to think he makes more than 99% of the world class racers out there but gotta respect the hard work and hustle.
Why? He found a niche in the bike industry that makes him money. This path was/is open for anyone else as well, including all midpack racers.
I like how BK's popularity has grown with his LSDs. Good insight for the nerds but still entertaining.
 

jezso

Chimp
Dec 31, 2010
81
68
Dubai, UAE

These have a 4mm Allen Key for retention for that reason.
Thanks for this, I will give these a try! I personally also had a positive experience with their tubelss sealant.
 

FlipSide

Turbo Monkey
Sep 24, 2001
1,388
826
Why? He found a niche in the bike industry that makes him money. This path was/is open for anyone else as well, including all midpack racers.
I like how BK's popularity has grown with his LSDs. Good insight for the nerds but still entertaining.
Yep! BK's LSD channel is really good, even though I sometimes skip some of the shenanigans and jump straight to the POV footage. The line choices talk in the trackwalk vids are great. I also find it super interesting to watch the evolution in speed and line choices in the POV footages from the first practice to the final race run. Only appealing for bike nerds, yes, but quality stuff nonetheless.

Another channel worth watching is of course MoiMoiTv...but only for the riding IMO. Not a big fan of the MoiMoi shenanigans and goofing around...but the seeing him inside-lining everywhere on the POV footage is quite amazing.
 

norbar

KESSLER PROBLEM. Just cause
Jun 7, 2007
11,375
1,610
Warsaw :/
Makes me cringe to think he makes more than 99% of the world class racers out there but gotta respect the hard work and hustle.
Tbh I don't envy people working with youtube. You are at the mercy of the algorithm. You have to constantly post new content or you get punished and not recommended to people anymore. I had a friend spend 6 months on bali surfing and come back depressed because of that.
 

canadmos

Cake Tease
May 29, 2011
20,593
19,619
Canaderp
Why? He found a niche in the bike industry that makes him money. This path was/is open for anyone else as well, including all midpack racers.
I like how BK's popularity has grown with his LSDs. Good insight for the nerds but still entertaining.
Good points but yeah it can be understandable why some people why think it's cringe worthy seeing some of the youtubers making money - I don't watch them all but I'm sure there are a few out there literally marketing themselves as shitty riders.

Seth might not be for everyone but he's at the very least putting back into the bike community - like helping to get that small bike park built and other things.
 

6thElement

Schrodinger's Immigrant
Jul 29, 2008
16,018
13,269
I also find it super interesting to watch the evolution in speed and line choices in the POV footages from the first practice to the final race run.
It was really interesting with his footage from world champs to see his speed and line choices/testing as the week progressed.
 

Gary

"S" is for "neo-luddite"
Aug 27, 2002
7,692
5,621
UK
Tbh I don't envy people working with youtube. You are at the mercy of the algorithm. You have to constantly post new content or you get punished and not recommended to people anymore. I had a friend spend 6 months on bali surfing and come back depressed because of that.
erm...

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