Andrew and I have started riding regularly and we are doing so with Andrew’s 9 yo daughter. We went through our assortment of pedals and the only one we could find that she could “easily” clip in or clip out of were some Look pedals. However, it is a real struggle for her when she starts to get tired and she has fallen a couple of times as a result and doesn’t want to stop at stop signs so she doesn’t have to unclip. Is there a better system out there for someone like this?
crank brothers egg beaters. 4 sided entry - easy release - can walk in the shoes with minimal cleat
Having been involved with kids racing for the last five years and riding support in many races I can say without question that the best for kids under ten are any of Shimano’s SPD’s (most often used) or Crank Brothers Candys (second-most popular)… whether on the road or not. Easy in and easy out. The Eggbeater is too small a platform for little ones and they have a hard time clipping in and tend to look down trying to center and clip in, whereas the others are more easily guided in by feel because of the platform.
I haven’t seen any kids use the light-action Speedplay, but the regular ones are really hard for kids to get out of because of the angle required to clip out.
I’d echo that. My daughter is not a kid, but other than swimming is a bit of a Klutz, but she had NO problems with the Candy pedals.
IronDad nailed it. I put lots of pedals on kids bikes, and default to the Shimano SPDs, Candys a distant second.
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I think the new Speedplay Light Action pedals - http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.lightaction
They are designed exactly for the kind of problem you described.
Actually if those Speedplays have the 15 degrees of float that the others have, they’re very hard for young kids to clip out of because of the angle required to twist their ankle out.
SPD’s and Eggbeater/Candy pedals have around 6 degrees of float which makes them easy to clip out of quickly and perfect for kiddos.
Since this little girl is afraid to clip out, I’d stay away from the Speedplays.
You can keep her in clips.
OR you can go with SPDs that don’t really snap.
Or recognize that by doing it often, she will develop the skill to unclip and go with SPD-SLs - just make sure they are adjusted to their loosest setting.
Don’t know what’s the best, but most of the young juniors I see are on SPDs. My kids (9 and 14) started on and are using SPDs and were able to pick it up rather quickly without problems. I started them out first on the trainer, practicing cliping in and out. And then quickly took them out on the road. They seemed to get it faster than most adults.
The only problem I had with the 9 year old was making sure it was loose enough for him to clip out. I had to do a bit of fidgeting, and eventually ended up swapping out the pedal that was most difficult for him to unclip from with the matching one his sister had. It seems that there’s some variability between pedals.
I’d recommend having her attempt to clip out (on a trainer) while at the shop to make sure that both pedals work right for her. If one’s too tight and cannot be sufficiently adjusted, you should be able to swap it for a different one.
Or you could buy a pair of used ones that have already been broken in.
I’d vote for the Candys. I was a long-time SPD user (beginning when I was a kid!) and Crank Brothers stuff is much friendlier on the joints and easier to get in and out of.
Consider installing the cleats and pedals on your bike first to “break in” the cleat - once the rough edges are worn off it’s a lot easier to get in and out of.