- Okay, so in this video today, I'm riding
a cross country bike, and I'm gonna do one lap
on my clipless pedals I normally
ride my cross country bike on.
Then again on flat pedals
to see the difference in pedalling efficiency.
(electronic music)
'Kay, so the course I'm riding today is pretty mellow.
Lot of hard packed cross country style trails,
but also a couple of pretty punchy climbs
where I'm gonna have to put the power down.
On my bike, I've got a power metre.
I'm wearing a heart rate monitor.
So all that information's gonna go
to my computer up on the stand.
It's gonna tell me how hard I'm working,
how much power I'm putting through the pedals,
but also lots of detailed information
on things like smoothness.
So I'm trying to ride two really consistent laps
with how much effort I'm putting in.
And be able to go back to the Dirt Shed
have a look at the stats to see if there is
any difference between flats and clips.
'Kay, so lap one on the clipless pedals.
I've done a quick warm-up.
I've done a bit of a cycling lap, so
let's see what I can do on clipless pedals.
(electronic music)
'Kay, so lap one done on the clips.
Felt good, felt normal.
I always ride cross country on clipless pedals now.
So, time to put the flats on.
Doesn't feel right sticking some big pedals like this
on a carbon 29er, but
let's give it a whirl.
(electronic music)
Okay, so we're back in the shed
to have a look at some results,
but first thing we'll say is,
obviously, all cross country pro racers run clipless pedals,
so there must be a good reason for that, eh?
So let's look at the times on flat pedals.
I did the 6.3 kilometre lap
in 18 minutes and 32 seconds.
On clips, I did it in 17 minutes 56.
So, faster on clips.
However, you're looking at the heart rate results,
it does look like I worked that bit harder on clips.
So that doesn't really sort of mean that
clips were more efficient, I don't think,
which means I probably didn't pace it quite the same.
But I think the actual interesting thing
is when you come to the cadence and the power.
So definitely the cadence,
had a slightly higher cadence on clips.
But, they're much less spiky,
so it felt like I kept a much more consistent cadence
as on the flat pedals.
It's much more spiky,
so I put loads of pedal spins in
and then I coast for a second and then again.
Same with the power.
The power curve is much more consistent,
so much less spiky.
So I think that is the biggest difference really.
Yes, it does look like I was working slightly harder
'cause my heart rate was slightly higher on average
on the clips.
But, I definitely, that's what it feels like for me.
With the clipless pedals on,
I feel like I'm just spinning a much more
consistent race, and I'm not just having
to just sprint and then coast.
So, what's the conclusion?
I think from this relatively short task, should I say,
I definitely think that clipless pedals
are slightly more efficient.
And for me, it definitely feels that way,
especially trying to ride a carbon 29er.
They're quite a harsh ride,
so on flat pedals, I was bouncing around
all over shop, having to readjust my feet quite a lot.
Whereas on the clips, it just felt normal,
felt good.
Felt like I could spin the pedals really well.
Also, after the test, I actually did a max power test.
And on the flat pedals, I got quite a weedy 920 watts.
On the clips, I got 1173 watts.
So a big difference there,
250 watts in max power difference.
Okay, so we've done a few of these videos in the past.
We've done clips versus flats in the lab,
where we really didn't see much difference.
And then on a downhill bike where the flats
came out on top.
So this is the first time we've actually seen
clips take a bit of a lead.
I think the next video we need to do
is a marathon version of this, so 50k.
That's where I think we'll really see a difference.
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And for clips versus flats in the lab,
click up there.
And on the downhill bike, down there.
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