time atac pedals - advice sought

[cjcrawford@idcomm.com]

Hi - I'm using some circa 2000 atac alium pedals on my mtb and
considering upgrading (?) to the newer xs or roc atacs (just the CrMo/
composite ones - not the pricey carbons).

I'm very satisified with the pedal-cleat action and would only switch
because the xs and roc pedals have smaller bodies and would provide
better rock clearance.

Could anyone tell me if there is any significant difference in the
clipping mechanism, feel, or durability between what I have and the
newer ones I've mentioned.

Thanks much.

Chris

[Vee]

On Jun 2, 3:46 pm, "cjcrawf...@idcomm.com" <cjcrawf...@idcomm.com>
wrote:
> Hi - I'm using some circa 2000 atac alium pedals on my mtb and
> considering upgrading (?) to the newer xs or roc atacs (just the CrMo/
> composite ones - not the pricey carbons).
>
> I'm very satisified with the pedal-cleat action and would only switch
> because the xs and roc pedals have smaller bodies and would provide
> better rock clearance.
>
> Could anyone tell me if there is any significant difference in the
> clipping mechanism, feel, or durability between what I have and the
> newer ones I've mentioned.
>
> Thanks much.
>
> Chris

I have at least one pair of almost every ATAC pedal and they all feel
the same to me. The plastic ones squeak a bit with SIDI shoes but it
doesn't bother me. And I've only ever had significant problems with
the weird ones, like the Cyclo and freeride versions.

-Vee

[Tom Kunich]

<cjcrawford@idcomm.com> wrote in message
news:fe75d353-9687-482a-bfa0-8a9f4710c71a@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
> Hi - I'm using some circa 2000 atac alium pedals on my mtb and
> considering upgrading (?) to the newer xs or roc atacs (just the CrMo/
> composite ones - not the pricey carbons).
>
> I'm very satisified with the pedal-cleat action and would only switch
> because the xs and roc pedals have smaller bodies and would provide
> better rock clearance.
>
> Could anyone tell me if there is any significant difference in the
> clipping mechanism, feel, or durability between what I have and the
> newer ones I've mentioned.

I've been riding the Crank Bros pedals and I came across a problem with them
that we should probably understand:

The pedal is made from steel but the cleats are made from bronze or some
other copper based material. This would be perfectly acceptable but the
failure mode of this combination turns out to be that the cleat wears quite
rapidly. Two sets of cleats only wore about 1,500 miles each before they
started popping out.

And the "popping out" part isn't a good thing either.

As Shimano SPD's wear, the release becomes harder and harder until the shoe
starts getting almost impossible to get out of the danged pedal. But that
does signal you that you need to replace the cleat. Also the cleats are
steel and wear quite slowly.

Since Crank Bros. pedal's cleats wear by pushing the bronze around it forms
a bump to the inside so that if you turn your heal inwards it becomes
progressively easier for your foot to pop out of the pedal with the
slightest inward motion of your heal. Pedaling sometimes causes your heal to
rotate inward a small amount and with enough wear on the Crank Bros. cleats
this is enough to release the cleat from the pedal.

Now, except for this problem I prefer the Crank Bros. pedals to any others.
They are cheap, simple and other than this problem - reliable. I use the
X-pedals but if you want to have some surface so that you can ride with
street shoes on occasionally, they have the modified platform pedals as
well.

But covered in bruises, scars and healing road rash as I presently am, I
believe that the cleats could be better designed.

There is a question about Time pedals - which failure mode do they have?

[Alan Hoyle]

On Mon, 02 Jun 2008 16:46:54, cjcrawford@idcomm.com wrote:
> Hi - I'm using some circa 2000 atac alium pedals on my mtb and
> considering upgrading (?) to the newer xs or roc atacs (just the CrMo/
> composite ones - not the pricey carbons).

> I'm very satisified with the pedal-cleat action and would only switch
> because the xs and roc pedals have smaller bodies and would provide
> better rock clearance.

> Could anyone tell me if there is any significant difference in the
> clipping mechanism, feel, or durability between what I have and the
> newer ones I've mentioned.

I have had both Aliums and higher-end ATACs (XE, XS, and XS Carbon).
They feel about the same, but the Aliums seem to have a bit more issue
where the sole of the shoes hits the pedals. This never caused me to
get stuck on the Aliums, but it did seem to cause a bit more
resistance to release than the higher-end models. I think that issue
was because of the pedal shape, not the spring shape.

I definitely wouldn't bother with the Carbon models. The XE model
(with non-adustable tension and appear to be discontinued) were plenty
tight and never released spontaneously for me. I only got the XS and
XS Carbons because I got good deals on them.

-alan

--
Alan Hoyle - alanh@unc.edu - http://www.alanhoyle.com/

[r15757@aol.com]

On Jun 2, 4:41 pm, "Tom Kunich" <cyclintom@yahoo. com> wrote:
> <cjcrawf...@idcomm.com> wrote in message
>
> news:fe75d353-9687-482a-bfa0-8a9f4710c71a@b1g2000hsg.googlegroups.com...
>
> > Hi - I'm using some circa 2000 atac alium pedals on my mtb and
> > considering upgrading (?) to the newer xs or roc atacs (just the CrMo/
> > composite ones - not the pricey carbons).
>
> > I'm very satisified with the pedal-cleat action and would only switch
> > because the xs and roc pedals have smaller bodies and would provide
> > better rock clearance.
>
> > Could anyone tell me if there is any significant difference in the
> > clipping mechanism, feel, or durability between what I have and the
> > newer ones I've mentioned.
>
> I've been riding the Crank Bros pedals and I came across a problem with them
> that we should probably understand:
>
> The pedal is made from steel but the cleats are made from bronze or some
> other copper based material. This would be perfectly acceptable but the
> failure mode of this combination turns out to be that the cleat wears quite
> rapidly. Two sets of cleats only wore about 1,500 miles each before they
> started popping out.
>
> And the "popping out" part isn't a good thing either.
>
> As Shimano SPD's wear, the release becomes harder and harder until the shoe
> starts getting almost impossible to get out of the danged pedal. But that
> does signal you that you need to replace the cleat. Also the cleats are
> steel and wear quite slowly.
>
> Since Crank Bros. pedal's cleats wear by pushing the bronze around it forms
> a bump to the inside so that if you turn your heal inwards it becomes
> progressively easier for your foot to pop out of the pedal with the
> slightest inward motion of your heal. Pedaling sometimes causes your heal to
> rotate inward a small amount and with enough wear on the Crank Bros. cleats
> this is enough to release the cleat from the pedal.
>
> Now, except for this problem I prefer the Crank Bros. pedals to any others.
> They are cheap, simple and other than this problem - reliable. I use the
> X-pedals but if you want to have some surface so that you can ride with
> street shoes on occasionally, they have the modified platform pedals as
> well.
>
> But covered in bruises, scars and healing road rash as I presently am, I
> believe that the cleats could be better designed.
>
> There is a question about Time pedals - which failure mode do they have?

Times are much more reliable than the Crank Bros. No comparison.

The Time cleats also wear quickly, but I believe they have to be
pretty soft so as to not progressively destroy the rails. There is no
inadvertent unclipping with Time pedals until the cleats are extremely
worn.