Shimano PD-M520 SPD Clipless mountain bike pedals

Shimano PD-M520 SPD Clipless mountain bike pedals

FYI, this and the next few reviews tie into my last review of the Reid Falco Elite as in they are all road bike related. They will generally be shorter and can be thought of as an extension to the bike review. This is to balance out the fact that it's not entirely random (not that this blog is 'entirely' random, but you get the idea).

Durianrider, an Adelaide based YouTuber has a few videos on cycling tips for new cyclists. One of those is to get mountain bike, or touring pedals and shoes, as the standard road shoes while lighter, make you walk funny at the cafe. A quick search online revealed that the M520s should work with any SPD compatible shoe, of which there are a large range, so I bought the pedals with a mind to get some shoes locally where I could try on some sizes.


Not going to lie. The main driving force behind me choosing these pedals was the price. They were AU$26 delivered from ChainReactionCycles in the UK. The cheapest other pedals I could find locally were about twice that for pickup in store.
Also they were white which goes well with my bike colour scheme.

They are made of aluminium and chromoly steel, and are probably the heaviest SPD pedals in this category of PD-M pedals. There are other heavier pedals from Shimano but they usually have something extra like a flat platform or are reversible for use with non-clip shoes.


Given that the toe-clip pedals I was replacing weighed more than the M520s and had also already contributed to all 2 of my crashes, I looked forward to the day I could swap them over.

A few days later they arrived.

The pedals were easy enough to install with the advice I had been given when I bought my shoes: The left pedal needs to be threaded the opposite way from intuitive. The right pedal is as you would think, just like a normal threaded screw. My shoe purchase also had some lithium grease thrown in which came in very useful as anti-seizing agent on the threads.

Of all the upgrades to make to a bike, I think clipless pedals are right near the top in terms of how they affect the way the rider interacts with the bike. When in the saddle, there is a reassuring feeling that you can thrash the crank through the full rotation of the pedal cycles and not worry about your foot slipping off. Out of the saddle, that same reassurance is there, and also provides the ability to lift up with the back foot to help get up climbs easier. The release mechanism is also very deliberate and this aids in getting your foot out quickly to prevent toppling over (something that can't be said about the toe-clips).

Unfortunately, on my first outing with these pedals, I crashed rather badly (but not at all due to the pedals). Long story short, my right pedal took most of the damage that was bike related. The skin on the left side of my body didn't fare as well. After getting some help from the other cyclists in the immediate area, I was happy to discover that though most of the outward facing name plate on the pedal was sheered off, the pedal itself, clip system, and the spindle still worked as before. There was quite literally no functional damage. I was able to ride home with no issues.

Since recovering, I've ridden a few hundred more kms and they are still going strong. I can firmly state that these pedals are tough and do everything they claim to do and at an amazing price.


The Good:
- Price. Cheapest SPD compatible pedals around.
- Build quality. Survived a crash taking most of the initial impact and related scraping on the road surface.
- Clipless. More pedaling versatility than flats and a bazillion times better than toe clips.
- Colours. Comes in silver, black, and white.
- Narrow. Since they don't provide a platform for the entire foot, the overall width of the bike is about 5-10cm narrower. This is great for getting it in and out of my car boot, and walking beside the bike through narrow or semi-blocked off doorways.

The Bad:
- Weight. Probably the heaviest Shimano SPD pedal offering only clipless with no platform or dual function.
- Addictive. They can make you go faster. This is both a good and bad thing.
- No included/pre- grease. You need to supply your own grease or anti-seize compound when installing.
- Nothing. There is literally nothing else bad I can think of about these pedals.

Overall:
Clipless pedals are amazing and there are a multitude of brands and models out there. These are the most basic of basic pedals but it gets the job done, and is durable at an extremely good price point. For most road cyclists in my situation (eg. not racing or doing 100km+ a day), this pedal will cover 99%. The other 1% would be those with specific physical needs or those who cannot guarantee the availability of their SPD shoes (in which case they will need the dual function pedal). As always, more can be spent to go to a better looking or lighter pedal, but apart from longevity, functionally there would be little difference. If these wear out, just get a new pair. They are so cheap.

Score:
9.9/10

Up next:
Shimano 2014 SH-XC30 Mountain bike shoes.

Reid 2014 Falco Elite Road Bike

Reid 2014 Falco Elite Road Bike

Wow, it's been almost a year since the last review. I'd like to say I have been busy, but I guess I've just been lazy.

And by lazy I mean watching too much anime. Which is a good segue into the product I'm writing up today, because fitness and getting out of my chair and moving about is something that can be done with a bike. Also I was watching Yawamushi Pedal which is an anime about an Otaku who gets into road bike racing.

I'll get to the bike now, but if you want to read a bit of back story on how I went about buying from Reid, there is more at the bottom of this post.

The 2014 Falco Elite is a 6061 aluminium frame with Reid's own carbon brand forks. The steerer tube is aluminium which from what I could gather online, is the best starting point for someone just beginning road cycling. Seat tube, stem, and handlebars are also aluminium and also recommended.
One of the big selling points of the bike is the full Shimano 105 groupset. Everything including the chain and brake calipers is 105 (albeit the last generation 5700 version). All up it weighs under 9kg, although that includes the $200 optional Mavic Aksium wheel upgrade, otherwise 9.57kg with the default Alex 450 wheels.
At ~AU$1000, this is great value, and from what reviews I have read and my own experience I don't think the price takes anything away from the bike.

The paint job is mainly black with white and red highlights. I really like this colour scheme although it's not to everyone's tastes. The Reid website address is also painted on the chainstay. I'm not sure they needed to do that and it's the only thing about the looks which I think is out of place. The stock seat and bar tape also fit the look, although my bar tape is black.

I'm not a bike expert and I haven't ridden a lot of road bikes, but so far I've clocked more kms on this bike in the last 4 weeks than my mountain bike in the last 4 years. Every time I get on it I just plain have fun and I haven't been able to say that about any other bike I've owned before. I've installed the Strava app on my phone and log every ride and post it so everyone (with a Strava account) can see my progress.

Shifting gears is smooth and distinct, and the STI levers make it so easy. This is a far cry from my mountain bike even though it had thumb and trigger shifters. Brakes are excellent and I've had no issues stopping or starting on the Mavic tires.

The seat that comes stock is a Velo racing saddle and it's slightly slippery. I actually asked the sales staff if I could have the saddle from the Falco Advanced as I felt that was a lot better, but they said it had to stay with that bike. :(
It's not a bad seat but after a few rides I've found it to be too narrow for my sit bones width and my weight is being supported by the wrong bones. I have to continually 'clench' to avoid getting sores in some areas, but this could actually have some firming benefits as a side-effect.  ;)

Now that all the good stuff is out of the way, I'll get on to some not-so-stellar things.

The stock pedals are bad. Not just bad quality, but a bad idea and for me downright dangerous. The stock pedals are toe-clips which means hoops of flexible flat cord which your feet slip into to stop your foot sliding too far forward off the pedal, and also allows a limited amount of lifting up on the back stroke as your other foot pushes down.
In theory it's a cheap and simple way to get some extra power over standard flat pedals but in reality what happens is the top-heavy weight of the hoops flips the pedal upside down, so you have to use your foot to try and flip it up and at the same time slide your foot under the (never properly arching) strap. Every single time (and I'm not exaggerating) I've not been able to keep my eyes on the path ahead of me because I'm too busy looking down at my feet trying to get my pedals upright and my feet into the hoops.
This actually contributed to my first two crashes. First one was as I was at a standstill heading up a hill, and I had stopped to get my bearings and quickly eat a small muesli bar. I had forgotten that when I had stopped I was geared upwards and so when I went to push off, it took me ages to get my foot in the hoop and start pedaling and by that time my small momentum had abated. Being in such a high gear I wasn't able to move the pedals and began to fall over. Had I been on flats or clipless I could have gotten my foot out easily to stop my fall, but the hoops require sliding backward out of the strap before you have move your foot sideways. Suffice to say I landed on my side quite heavily and scraped my knee and palm, and jarred my wrist.
The second time, I was also going quite slow and had to take my hand off my bars. I wasn't able to get my foot out of the strap in time and landed heavily on my left hip and elbow. The hip felt like I had broken bone and even after 2 weeks it was still black and blue and yellow around the area (FYI, bruising has subsided now).

Since that crash I have bought proper pedals and clipless shoes so I never have to deal with those awful toe-clips ever again.

One other thing that isn't quite perfect about my bike, or rather the bike fit, is the stem length. By default it comes with a 10cm stem. For me, my centre of mass is quite biased to my upper body so given a properly adjusted saddle, when I reach forward I find I'm stretching quite far to hold the levers in the proper position. This is something I've only been aware of since my first long (68km round trip) ride, when my shoulder muscles oblique and lower back began to hurt. Also where my (gloveless at the time) hands met the hoods, in between thumb and pointer finger, I developed massive blisters. This indicated I was putting too much weight forward into the handle bars, which the slipperiness of the seat did not help. I find that if I set my hands back about 1 to 2cm the increase in comfort is astronomical, on all body parts mentioned above. Being that far back though I cannot reach the levers properly so I'm going to have to invest in a shorter stem and get it installed at my next service.


The Good:
- Price/Value: Reid label this as the best value race-ready road bike in Australia, and I'd have to agree.  Getting full 105 on a comparable bike from another brand starts at around AU$1500 and even then sometimes they mix in other components form lower tiers.
- Fun. This is a personal point, but I find riding it fun. This might be the case with all road bikes though, but for me the Falco Elite is definitely not left out of that group.
- Strong/Durable. I've had 3 crashes so far (2 stationary/low speed, and 1 high speed, not my fault, 25km/h+ double forward flip on a bitumen bike path) and it's come away with minor scratches and no breaking/warping/bending in the frame or handle bars. I've been able to ride away from all without needing to re-adjust anything. My wheels will need slight truing though as some of the spokes have probably been stretched but that would be the case with any other bike.
- Looks. This bike (IMO) looks really good. It's not a spray painted, hipster, steel thin tube relic. Nor is it a flashy, Italian, carbon fiber, wallet shrinker. It sits pretty much in the middle of the spectrum of what you might see going down the road in and around outer-CBD or suburban areas.


The Bad:
- Toe-clips come stock. Get rid of these works of the devil as soon as you can and get a proper set of pedals and shoes. I was able to source pedals for $25, and shoes can be had as cheap as $49 online. I didn't get the shoes at that price because I didn't know my size. When I went in store to purchase them I got amazing service and great advice and I value that quite a lot so gave them my business. (FYI, the store was Adrenaline Cycles, Ringwood).
- No bike fit. Apart from the test rides they provide, Reid Melbourne did not have any fitting facilities onsite. I have had to consult mostly online bike fit guides to get my settings adjusted but things like the need for a wider saddle and shorter stem would have been good to get out of the way at purchase, even if it cost an extra few hundred dollars.
- Lack of sizes. I would think that the stock of Small and Mediums would be increased given that's where most of the customers fall, but that doesn't seem to be the case.
- No compact crankset available on 2014 model. The newer 5800 model of Shimano 105 has been out for ages and I would have thought they would give me the option for those given the similarity in price but they have only just started using them on the 2015 Falco Elite (went on sale in the last few weeks).
- Website on chainstay. I could probably paint over it, or stick some stickers to cover it up, but it just seems like a pointless way to advertise your products. Just having Reid on the side of the bike should be enough for anyone interested to Google it. I don't see any Giant bikes with www.giant-bicycles.com/en-au/ written on the side.
- Sketchy customer service during peak hours. They really need to get extra staff on hand during the 10am - 2pm period. There just aren't enough staff to properly cater for the number of customers to the point where it affects earlier customers who are halfway though getting served.
- Additional costs. So far I have bought a bottle, bottle-cage, flashy lights, pedals, and shoes, and I'm about to buy a track pump with pressure gauge, new stem, torque wrench, headlight, hi-viz jacket, cycling shorts, gel padded gloves, possibly upgrade to the newer 5800 groupset of 105....I'm getting sick just thinking of the amount of money I might sink into this, especially when I think of some brands of bikes going for $3000+ and that's the entry point!


Overall:
I have to say that overall I'm exceedingly pleased with the Falco Elite. I love my new bike and I love riding it everywhere. I've had some crashes and they did hurt. Quite a lot, actually. But had I known I still would have bought this bike. It has been worth the pain.
I deducted points for the stock pedals and lack of bike fit, and to a small extent the customer service during my first visit to Reid, but the bike itself brings the score back up.

I would recommend anyone getting this bike, or a similar bike online or in a shop where there is no fitting process, to consider looking into at least a basic bike fit so you aren't uncomfortable on a long ride.



Score:
9.8/10.


Upcoming future reviews:
Shimano PD-M520 SPD Clipless mountain bike pedals.
Shimano 2014 SH-XC30 Mountain bike shoes.
Elite Super Jossanova water bottle
Elite Mejio bottle cage
Airace Fit Tele Road mini pump



My experience buying from Reid.

I bought the Falco Elite from Reid Cycles Melbourne on my second ever visit there, and after visiting the website many times. The first time I went in I was looking for their Osprey model as it was a sale model. It was during lunchtime so it was packed with people on their lunch break. I didn't get served for about 45min and even had people served before me who entered the store after me.
Just before I was about to leave in a huff, I was able to grab one employee and ask if they had any stock of the Osprey in my size. They only had Large and XL and he noted I would be too small to fit a Large, or even if I did it would be uncomfortable with little room for adjustment. He mentioned to come back next week and they might have some more Mediums.
I noted that later that week they discontinued the sale model and started stocking the new 2015 model. After many searches on the internet for what to look for in a first road bike, my choice of components was different but I still ended up looking at Reid for their (on paper) value, although now I was looking at their top of the line range, the Falco.

When I entered the store the second time, it was very early and had literally just opened its doors and there was no other customer there. I had the full attention of the staff member on the floor. I enquired about their road bike range and also the available sizes. It seems they didn't have any Mediums but they did have the new Falco Advanced 2015 model in a 'labelled as Large but due to the expanded size options for 2015, Large is actually closer to 2014 Medium'-size. He let me take it out the back lane for a test ride and I fell in love immediately, even though the gears hadn't been setup correctly and were clicking in one of the configurations.
Coming from my old heavy mountain bike with offroad tyres, this comparatively featherweight frame and skinny tires made me feel like I was flying. From the stupid grin I had on my face as I returned to the store, he could probably tell he was going to make a sale that day. Even so, he suggested I try the 2014 Elite in Large, just to see if the bigger size was not an actual issue. Unfortunately it was. The seat was too high, even when slammed and I couldn't get comfortable at all in the test. I also took out one of each of the other models just for fun but came back wanting each time. It looked like the 2015 Falco Advanced was going to be the one. He said that he would chuck in a discount because they didn't have the model I wanted which brought the price down a bit and I was all ready to go ahead.
I asked if he could make a quick adjustment to the seat height, and the gears so I could take it out one last time before making my mind up.
Just as I walked back into the store, my mind made up, one of the staff I hadn't seen before wheeled a Falco Elite over to the display area. It looked slightly smaller than the one I test rode so I inspected the label. To my surprise it was a Medium! I asked if this was a build order for someone else but he said it wasn't and had just come from the workshop after a re-wrap of the bar tape. When the original employee came back from speaking to another customer (I had been there for a few hours already and the store was starting to fill up at this point), I asked if I could take this one out for a test. After a few adjustments I rode it up the laneway and it was perfect (although as I would find out later, not 100% perfect due to stem length).
I committed to the purchase and he sent the bike to the workshop for final adjustments. During the wait, I ended up buying a small hand pump, flashing lights, chain lube, spare inner tube, and tire leavers. The guy was actually quite apologetic about it taking so long to finally get the right bike model in my hands, so he retained the discount he mentioned earlier and threw in a couple of the other items for free or at a big discount.
Overall, my experience on the second visit was night and day compared to the first visit. Looking at some forums, it seems the case for this store is that as it gets busier, customer service goes down, but if you can get in early and onto one staff member for your whole visit, you should be fine. It's been about 6 weeks since I bought it and haven't been back since. It's due for its first service (free servicing for first 12 months) so I'll be booking it in sometime during the week and dropping it off as early as possible.