Winter Cycling -- More Qs

Disk brakes are more powerful than the calliper brakes you see on road bikes and don't get clogged up with dirt.  I don't know why the UCI etc. doesn't allow them on road/TT bikes.

Disc Breaks are good and are much more reliable for stopping in wet conditions. As far as a good pedal/foot system I Love PowerGrips. It is basically a strap that goes diagonally across the pedal and you can "lock" your foot into it with a simple twist or get out of it just as quickly. They also work with any type of shoe you could need. It might not be what you are looking for but it works great for me. Good luck!

For cleats I suggest egg beaters. For shoes, Scott's Boulder and Sport are pretty flexible shoes with vibram soles. They're not going to be optimal for power transfer, but they'll be more comfortable for hiking in.

scott

I never really cared for disc brakes on my mountain bike. Never realized any advantage. Honestly, I didn't notice any performance gain.

Cantilevers are pretty standard stuff for cross bikes. Decent enough for the job. One knock against disc on a cross bike (other than not legal for racing) is that you get lots of fork chatter for the front (or so I've read). Plus parts are more universal for cantilevers. You might have to special order pads, etc for a particular disc model.

I like my Frogleggs brakes I'm using now. The Avids I had before were terrible, the XTR Shimanos were OK, but not great.

Braking on a cross bike isn't like a MTB. You're not in life or death descents and technical sections of trail like on the MTB. You don't need immediate stopping, but most times just want to scrub some speed before getting going again. Whole different animal.

As for pedals, I have no complaints with my Time ATAC's. IMHO: Simple eggbeaters have no platform, hence, you need to hit them balls dead on and clip in immediately. With a small platform, you get the luxury of a couple of sloppy pedal strokes before clipping in.

MTB shoes are OK for short walking sections, but I once hiked about 4 miles in them. I broke the chin on my MTB while riding to work one morning and it fell off the bike into a huge mud puddle. I wasn't going to go fishing for it. The shoes got soaked when I unclipped into 6" of standing water. I walked the bike to an LBS which was on my way to work, left it there, then finished the walk to work. Blister and pain city.

Make sure you get fenders if you're going to use it in snow / slush / early spring. Makes riding so much more comfortable that way.

Edited by pitt83 2008-10-29 6:16 PM