Labour Day present

Got me a pair of Pedals!
(okay, it is lame to tie it with Labour Day)

Thanks to Malik of Kulai for the pair. He gave me a very good price, for the 10/10 secondhand condition - cleats still sealed, with box.

Now I'm using proper pair of clipless pedals. So far I've done about 50 km on them, on road for RTW. It's a big improvement over the 2-in-1 VP 'training' clipless pedals. No more flipping on the right side up like roadies SPDs to step in the pedal.

The night before my first ride with the new pedals, I set it up to get a starting point. Both on the shoes and the pedals itself. The placement of SH-M51 (supplied together in box) cleats were quite straightforward. It was just a matter of replacing the VP's EC-01 cleats and tweak them a bit to get a better placement that I've had in mind. The spring tension settings on the pedals are quite tricky, as I don't have a starting point to go with. Hence, I put the tightening screws to get more or less halfway the spring tension max. Plus, I get to clean up the shoes' insoles, albeit forced to do so.

It was quite awkward for the first few kms testing them out. Spent about half an hour going around in circles at Seri Alam's lake - stepping in and out, to get the hang of it. It came to a point when I wanted to stop and readily freed my right foot. Somehow I tilted to the left and gedebab, I fell down with the bike. Left foot still intact on the pedal. It was nearing midnight on a weekday, so not many were around. Well, I didn't bother to look around and see if anybody were witnessing my hideous fall anyway.
Malu beb...

So, that's it. I set the spring tension to the lowest and tried again, stepping in and out. Lo and behold! It feels familiar - just like when I was using my VPs. I always start with my left foot. Getting the right foot in is now an easy thing to do. I thought I would get some float due to the low setting of the spring tension. Not that much, and only a little if it is there.

Up until today, not yet into offroad with the new pedals. Perhaps need to tighten the springs a bit due to the rough terrain. I guess after a few kms offroad, I would get a fair idea on the setup. When? Certainly not in these next couple of weeks. Wedding invitations over the weekend to be fulfilled. Meantime, RTW provides a good platform to train with the pedals.

I am happy with my Labour Day present :)

Note: Quite nice to know that riders all over the world notice that the pedals are made in Malaysia. Pekan Nanas, a small town in Pontian, Johor, to be exact.