taz777

Riding for over an hour on my Townie Electra causes a little discomfort in my feet. I think the reason for this is that the stock pedals, which are very nice looking, are just too small with not enough contact area against the soles of my shoes. Size-wise, they are only 70mm x 95mm.

I rode with my Vans leisure shoes that have a flat rubber sole.

This is a great shame as I was really hoping the pedals would work out as they suit the bike perfectly in terms of looks, but I want to ride for upwards of two hours and I think the stock pedals will be too uncomfortable.

So, I'm after larger platform pedals that have a decent amount of contact area and will not ruin the looks of the bike too much. Any recommendations?

I did look at the MKS 3000r but these seem narrow so your feet end up placed on the raised spindle ends rather than the pedal platform. It looks like I will probably have to get MTB flat pedals with pins. I already have Wellgo MG-1 and Wellgo B144 pedals on my other bikes. These are fantastic flat pedals but would look totally out of place on a cruiser!

skycomag

try riding on the balls of your feet. this a more solid position than using the flesher part of your instep.

brianmcg123

https://www.rivbike.com/collections/...rk-grey-vp-001

Get some MKS VP pedals.

Sindy

https://www.niagaracycle.com/categor...SABEgJ8OvD_BwE

These are fine If you want metal, $22

I prefer the plastic platform pedals with all one piece plastic pins molded in, don't need sharp metal or heavy super strong aluminum pedals. Plastic will be Light weight, I don't 'get air' so I see no need for more.

I have a set of $20 plastic pedals I got at my local bike shop, they look exactly like the ones In the picture, mine are very light and strong, had them for five years now. Used them on my mountain bikes and my urban bikes.

Wanted to keep my beach cruiser Under $200 total. It's just a thing with me.
At $190,,,,,, and wanting a different saddle so this will push me over $200

taz777

These resemble one of the Vault range of pedals. Quite pricey but look grippy. I think my main issue is not the grip as I don't ride the Townie in wet weather - it's just the interface of my feet to the pedals that is causing a small amount of discomfort.

Philphine

just in general, I like the ones that come on a Schwinn chopper (or a west coast chopper if I want them for a one piece crank. they're shaped the same). pretty good size and easy to come by. or in the last few years I sometimes rummage through the pedals at the bike co-op and occassionaly find something I like there.

SquidPuppet

@taz777, you have a challenge. The pedals you have now are already quite big. Are you using only the balls of your foot? I don't know of any BIG pedals that will have a traditional look. I can think of plenty of great traditional pedals for your bike, but they will all be smaller than you want. Sorry.

Personally I strongly prefer small pedals. Just a small square big enough for the ball of my foot. I like it when the outer edge of my shoe exceeds the pedal edge a little bit. By feeling that edge, I know where I'm at. BIG pedals feel cumbersome, clumsy and awkward to me.




MKS Sylvan Stream or Touring.

taz777

@SquidPuppet Yes it's very challenging. I am using the ball of my foot when pedalling and I did try shifting foot position very slightly during the ride. I have a pair of Shimano MX80 pedals on order that were going to go on my hybrid bike but I'm going to install them on the Townie and see how they fare.

The other possibility is that the bike is relatively new to me and hasn't been ridden much so I'm still getting used to it.

The most comfortable pedals tend to be large and ugly, like I have on my other bikes. On the positive side, all other aspects of the bike were absolutely fantastic and, remarkably, my hands were completely pain-free throughout and after the ride. Once I've sorted the pedals out then everything will be fine.

fietsbob

The Large Ergon pedal is almost the size of a ping pong paddle..

canklecat

Check out Stolen brand pedals. Been riding a set on my hybrid for almost a year, really like them. The Thermalite pedals are comfortable with thin sole shoes, grippy and tough. Lots of colors too.

taz777

These are the stock pedals on my Townie. Can anyone ID these? I'm sure I've seen these on online bike shops.

You can see that the centre portion has a bit of the structure sticking up making them almost convex rather than slightly concave. Perhaps this is causing some of the discomfort on my softer-soled shoes? These are lovely looking pedals but are not comfortable for me.

rumrunn6

so one side is convex & the other side is concave? can't imagine either side would be comfortable. I've been using some new cycling specific shoes (stiff soled, no cleats), maybe new pedals & shoes are in order?

SquidPuppet

Man, those pics are good and make the problem quite clear IMO. That middle section looks nasty. Seems like the hump would definitely cause discomfort and ruin grip.

The pedal I posted above has a bigger brother. MKS Sylvan Touring. High quality, easily serviceable, very reasonably priced, GRIP, very traditional styling, and comfortable for my size 13 (us) shoes. 94mm x 63mm.

rumrunn6

intriguing & not expensive, Amazon lists them as 5 x 3 x 2.5 inches so they are 2.5" thick?

SquidPuppet

I open them up when they are new and replace the factory grease with better, and more, waterproof grease. When looking and the races, seals and axles you can really see the quality. It's kinda weird how inexpensive they are. The axle has a deep groove for the tabbed washer so bearing adjustment is easy. They are a knockoff of the old school Campagnolo pedals, but made to Japanese precision standards.

Amazon's numbers are wonked out more often than not, as you probably know. All three of those numbers are wrong.

I just happen to have a brand new pair here on my desk. Please hold while I measure....

Thank you for waiting.....The cleated area, from bottom tip to top tip is 27mms thick.

taz777

Not quite. That humped bit in the middle appears to be flush with the outside rim of the frame. The rest of the internal part is concave. Both sides of the pedal are the same. The two pictures are of the same pedal from different angles.

So, that humped bit kind of digs in if you've got soft-soled shoes on. I want to be able to ride in comfort with my leisure shoes and wanted to avoid having to have specific shoes.

I'll see how the Shimano MX80 pedals feel once I get them in a few days time.

rumrunn6

good grief, they were off by quite a bit! thanks for measuring! bit 94 mms wide is only 3.7 inches. that doesn't sound too wide, aren't most pedals like 4.5 inches wide?

EDIT just found this picture (looks like there are lots of different places to measure width from, which doesn't help shopping)

SquidPuppet

The only thing that should be measured is the cage or platform that your foot rests on. The wrench flats should not be included since you don't put your foot on them. Well, I guess the wrench flats do matter for arriving at an accurate "Q" factor number.

4.5 inch pedal cage + wrench flats would be begging to strike the ground going around corners. Too wide for my needs.

taz777

So, sacrificing some aesthetics but improving comfort by a long way, I fitted Shimano Saint MX-80 pedals onto the cruiser today. A quick ride showed that grip and foot comfort was markedly improved. Here's how they look:

rumrunn6

I think they look great!

taz777

Thanks @rumrunn6. The length of the pedals is just right for good comfort. A lot of people remove the washers with these pedals in order to lengthen the protrusion of the pins to provide more grip. However, on a cruiser the standard setup is perfect as I won't be doing any jumps!

HBCruiser1

Wow, those original pedals do look uncomfortable. The new ones look really nice.

In case anyone is still looking I picked these up with pedaling barefoot in mind. I was concerned originally about them being plastic but they've lasted several years of 3-5k miles per year and rides of over 100 miles in sandals and seem quite comfortable.

I don't know the brand, but if you Google "barefoot bike pedals" you'll find them. I picked them up at a local LBS for pretty cheap.

tds101 

Those pedals truly do look fantastic this this baby. Quite eye catching,...and 100% functional.

SquidPuppet

One summer when I was a kid I was standing up climbing a big hill on my Stingray. The rear sprocket spun off the hub splines while I was MASHING downwards with my right foot. Right foot slipped off the pedal, hit the ground, and then got drug behind me as the bike and I rolled a few more feet forward before stopping. My toes looked like ground beef. It was a truly horrible mess, lost the nail on my big toe and it took a long time to heal. I was going all of 2 mph.

I hope you are smarter than me and limit your barefoot riding to the sand only.

When I see young guys riding motorcycles without full protective gear I give them my old man lecture. I'm 100% qualified to do so because I rode like that and paid dearly before I wised up. They always say, "We are on a slow casual ride today." I explain to them how asphalt and flesh don't get along well at any speed by giving them my baseball analogy. I tell them to wear shorts and flip flops, go out onto the street, run at only six mph, then slide into second base. Then let's look at you ankle, calf, knee, thigh and butt.


Off my soapbox now.

BassNotBass

MTB pedals look good on my cruisers and they perform well. If you're a traditionalist then I guess only block pedals are acceptable?