Shoes and Pedals Choice

Lars,

I use DMR style pedals - like BMX, they are metal and good it the wet. You can
see them on my Muni at http://members.tripod.com/~derek_b/dmatu.HTM (there’s
even a link to the pedal maufacturer from that page I think) They should cost
around 80DM from a good bike shop, although you can buy the sealed bearing
verion for 160DM if you’re feeling rich.

For shoes I use flat-bottomed trainers, normally used for BMX/Skating.

A little while ago I asked the same question - about bear traps that is.

It was voted a bad idea, since you fall quite a lot off a uni - although you’re
welcome to try - if you do please report back !

Cheers

Simon ----------------------------±--------------------------
|
Simon Greenway | I.O.U o
I.O.U@mindless.com | /#\ Romsey, Hampshire, UK. | Idiots On Unicycles |
| http://come.to/muni O
----------------------------±-------------------------- we’re no good,we don’t
aim to be,'cause we never will be
----------------------------±--------------------------

RE: Shoes and Pedals Choice

Use different pedals for different situations. Generally, I like as much grip as
humanly possible without clips. Anyone else who wants to experiment with clips
or clipless is welcome to join the injured hand and wrist club.

Since different types of riding require different solutions, here is what I use:

Freestyle - Semcycle pedals. These are white plastic with no metal ends, great
for indoors. They have a bumpy surface that might be called very mild teeth, but
will not rip through blue jeans or otherwise scar you.

Racing - Since today’s official races are seldom happening on tracks that allow
metal pedals :frowning: I’ve gone to the grippiest plastic pedal I could find. I’m
still not happy about it, because a solid foot to pedal grip is essential when
riding fast. The pedals I have were inexpensive, and probably intended for entry
level mountain biking.

Sports/General - If you’re going to play basketball or hockey, you should be
kind to your fellow players and use plastic pedals. If indoors it might be a
requirement. I have a pair of round plastic BMX pedals that have a pretty good
grip and I’m happy with them.

MUni - Get the biggest, sharpest, nastiest pair of BMX or otherwise toothy
pedals you can find. Back away from this solution however if you’re still
whacking yourself in the shins every once in a while. What I’m actually using on
my good MUni at the moment is a pedal that looks just like Simon Greenway’s
(http://members.tripod.com/~derek_b/dmatu.HTM), only yellow. I admit it, I
bought them for the color! Those are great pedals, until they get wet. Then they
still grip, but not nearly as good as the nasty toothy pedals I used before.

Shoes - A grippy bottom is essential. My choice of shoes is definitely not for
everybody, but they work great for me. For all riding, I wear MacGregor turf
shoes, found at K-mart for about twenty bucks! These shoes don’t offer great
support, nor great protection if you’re running around in a rocky environment.
But they have the Astroturf/golf sole that I like, and they have performed well
for me over the years. In the past you could find all sorts of turf shoes in
stores, but now what’s called “turf” usually has a small number of very large
cleats on the bottom, not useful for us. So before MacGregor, I also had Nike
and Adidas turf shoes, but they were always a lot more expensive for about the
same shoe.

NOTE: Your mileage may vary. As with anything else that interfaces directly with
your body, you must try different things and seek your own solutions.
Thanks everyone for sharing your secrets, it should provide enough
information for everyone to get ideas on what to try.

Stay on top,

John Foss, the Uni-Cyclone http://www.unicycling.com

RE: Shoes and Pedals Choice

“Foss, JohnX” <johnx.foss@intel.com> writes:

> MUni - Get the biggest, sharpest, nastiest pair of BMX or otherwise toothy
> pedals you can find. Back away from this solution however if you’re still
> whacking yourself in the shins every once in a while.

I’ve never hit my shins with a pedal, but occasionally I manage to slip off in
just the wrong way and drag a pedal up the back of my leg. I have lots of scars
from this, even from when I was wearing jeans.

Wouldn’t it make more sense to put the pointy parts on the shoes instead of on
the pedals? Wrap the pedals with thick fabric, scraps from sheepskin upholstery,
or whatever you like, and strap climber’s crampons to your shoes. You’ll get a
fantastic grip with leg-friendly pedals.

Has anyone tried attaching velcro to their pedals and shoes? It probably
wouldn’t work too well when caked with mud, but might work for non-muni.

Re: Shoes and Pedals Choice

In article <14061.51826.60164.485347@anvil.thehouse.org>, seth@thehouse.org
(Seth Golub) writes:

>Wouldn’t it make more sense to put the pointy parts on the shoes instead of on
>the pedals? Wrap the pedals with thick fabric, scraps from sheepskin
>upholstery, or whatever you like, and strap climber’s crampons to your shoes.
>You’ll get a fantastic grip with leg-friendly pedals.
>

and you’ll stop really quick if you try to glide or walk the wheel!

>Has anyone tried attaching velcro to their pedals and shoes? It probably
>wouldn’t work too well when caked with mud, but might work for non-muni.

Sem and or Yuri Abrahms did this for the track events at the 87 National
Unicycle Meet. It hasnt caught on so I think people have conclude that the
benifits are too minor to mess with.