What’s wrong with this picture? It’s the main photo on the home page of Superpedestrian, which manufactures the Copenhagen Wheel, a bicycle hub motor that looks like a huge M & M candy.
Wrong kind of pedals, sorry
No, the problem isn’t anything about the motor. The motor has many clever features. It is the easiest to retrofit of any, with its self-contained batteries. It has regenerative braking controlled by spinning the pedals backward. It is controlled from the rider’s smartphone and has a built-in lock, also controlled by the smartphone. (Let’s just hope though that the phone’s battery hasn’t gone dead…
But on the other hand, the pedals shown are meant to be used with toe clips and straps, but none have been installed. This kind of pedal is top-heavy and turns upside down when the foot is lifted off. The underside of the pedal is slippery and not shaped to fit the sole of the shoe. With soft-soled shoes like the ones shown, the appropriate pedals are double-sided, with a traction surface on each side, unless toe clips and straps have been installed.
Is the poor choice of pedals important? Well, for one thing it makes riding uncomfortable and for another, in my role as a consultant to attorneys in bicycle crashes, I encountered a case involving a man whose foot apparently slipped off a pedal. He took a hard fall and died. He had the same kind of pedals, and the markings on the bottom of his shoes showed that he always pedaled with them upside down.
Oh, and the foot of the rider in the photo is rather far rearward on the pedal, risking Achilles tendinitis, but also revealing that the rider hasn’t used these shoes much for cycling. Hey, it’s a posed shot. But on the other hand, such a basic gaffe in a publicity shot does not speak well for the company.
Info about shoe and pedal choices, in case you would like to go into detail…
Your Harris article is pretty good, but gives short shrift to pedals that are combo platform and SPD. Those work whenever you hop on the bike with whatever shoes you use. Never use any clipless other than SPD myself, and not even that for short distances.
Well, YMMV. Combo platform/SPD pedals is are weighted so the platform side comes up when you take a foot off, resulting in awkwardness in getting the SPD side up when starting. I am comfortable with SPD even in stop-and-go riding, they improve my connection to the bike. On one occasion the combo pedals were advantageous — I took my folding bike on Amtrak to another city, and didn’t have either to change the pedals or to take a second pair of shoes. I am going to try installing pedal reflectors on the back of the combo pedals (SPD side up) and see whether that makes them come to rest at an angle which makes them easier to enter. I might expand my comments in the article to include your opposing point of view!
“Oh, and the foo of the rider in the photo is rather far forward on the pedal“
Well the foo isn’t in toe clisp, either. (Spellcheck, republish).
Do you seriously think the ball of the foot is not over the pedal spindle?
I cannot see that AT ALL.
If their arch were over the pedal spindle, I’d agree.
And yeah, I would pedal like this upon startup (with awareness) and flip the pedal soon afterwards. But with rubbery soles, feet stick on pretty well on such pedals, but it IS pedal specific. Cripes, old cyclocross frames were designed for offside pedalling to happen with the BB high enough to clear the dangling toe clip above the ground. Offside pedaling is REAL.
I agree with you. It is sloppy photoediting work.
But hey, do you remember the public (Boston? Mass.?) poster for promoting helmet wearing with the kid shown wearing the helmet backwards?
Now THAT one was the gold standard of cluelessness.
Thanks for your work, John.
Did superpedestrian also steal Sheldon’s dropout spacing picture at https://account.superpedestrian.com/support/article/How-do-I-know-what-the-dropout-spacing-is-on-my-bicycle
Sure looks like it.