Many new bicycle riders start off with a decent mountain bike. They wear ordinary sports clothing, and start cycling right away. Unfortunately, they didn’t know that they can save energy and ride quicker and faster just by making a small adjustment to their clothing – and that is by wearing mountain bike shoes such as those provided by Shimano.

Shimano is a well trusted brand in the bicycling community. They have been around for years and the engineers know all the ins and outs of bicycle engineering. They have also been able to stay on top of technology developments and managed to design some great products. The Shimano pedaling system (also known as SPD) is just one such example.

Why your pedaling is so important in your riding.

Your mountain bike, in the simplest sense, is a machine that helps to transfer power from your legs to speed on the trail. The component that is responsible for power transfer? The pedals. On normal flat pedals, most of the power that is used comes from the down stroke – i.e. you are pushing down as your pedal. Unfortunately, most of the power on the up stroke (pulling up) is lost.

So a new pedaling system is invented to overcome this problem – the clipless pedals. The clipless pedaling system is known as “clipless” because there is a need to differentiate between the new clipping system and the older toe clip system. So if you see “clipless”, it refers to the new pedaling technology.

How the clipless system works.

The pedaling system works by having special pedals and cycling shoes that are able to click together. When attached, the rider is able to transfer energy on the up stroke to the bike so little energy is lost during the process.

Clipless shoes and pedals are all about energy efficiency. Many riders swear that when they ride with clipless shoes, they can improve their overall speed by 5% or more. In other words, there is a 5% energy efficiency. If you rider short distances (e.g. 5km), a 5% reduction probably doesn’t amount to much. However, if you are joining races or running distances as long as 100km, 5% can mean a huge difference.

Note that both road and mountain bikes have bicycling shoes, but they are different in terms of design. Mountain bike shoes have recessed clips, wheres road shoes have protruding clips. Many riders who own both a mountain and road bike prefer to wear mountain bike shoes because they can also walk in them. Besides, mountain bike shoes look more normal if you are just out cycling casually with a group of friends.

For new cyclists, a good pedaling system is a must. With the feet attached to the pedals, new riders can get a better feel of how it is like to pedal efficiently.

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The first time I participated in a multisport event, it was a duathlon. A duathlon event consists of a run, a bike ride, and a run again.

I thought I can finish the race in the top half of the group with a mediocre road bike. It was an aluminum bike with 25c wheels, and weighs a grand total of 11.5 kilos. But I didn’t know all that then.

When I arrived at the event, I saw many participants come with fanciful bikes. Their wheels look different and some were so narrow that I wasn’t sure how the rider could maintain his balance on them.

I later learned that those bikes were carbon fiber bikes. Carbon fiber is an extremely light and stiff material that is widely used for manufacturing super fast road bikes. Almost all the pro racers use carbon fiber bikes. But hey, I thought this was an amateur event. So what’s up with all the aggressiveness?

As it turned out, even a small event can be very competitive. Most of the participants want to do well in the event. Many are there just to try and beat their personal best.

On my cheap aluminum road bike (without clip pedals), I was able to cruise at a speed of 30 kph. But by the end of the bike ride, I had almost nothing left for the run! Many of the participants in the same age group were able to catch up with me in the final leg.

Being my first event, I didn’t know that the bike ride could take so much energy from me. The more experienced participants had much lighter bikes. Some carbon bikes can be as light as 7.5 kg. That’s 3 kilos lighter than my bicycle. In other words, I’m riding with a 3 kg handicap all along! In addition, some bikes have aerobars on them, which help the riders achieve a more aerodynamic position. They were just putting in half the effort and they could easily beat the speed that I was riding at.

Of course, I learned an awful lot from the event. I sold my aluminum bike, and bought a full carbon bike just to try things out for myself. I was surprised to find that instead of cruising at 30 kph, I can easily cruise at 35 kph with the same effort. On top of that, my top speed is now way faster. The handling feels much more natural, and the pedaling is certainly more efficient. The carbon forks are able to transfer a huge percentage of my energy into the wheels, which results in a forward motion. And that’s what you’re looking for in a good bike. You want the maximum power transfer. You can never achieve the same results on a poorly engineered bicycle.

So you want to beat yourself (or beat others)? Then perhaps it’s time to make an investment.

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