Tried out the Met helmet and S works biking shoes

Wheels of Happiness

Met helmet

Last week, VM Jun Vic gifted me with a Colnago bike, a Met helmet and a S works biking shoes (with Boas and lightweight Dymax  upper.  The Met helmet is equipped with MIPS  (Multi directional Impact Protection System -  it mimics the brain own protection system and its main indicator is the yellow sticker at the bottom of the helmet.  It is claimed to reduce the injury to the brain on impact)

I tried this on bike ride today on MTB.  It takes some getting used to after having been away from cleats shoes for more than a year.   It always feels as though I would fall, as if I would be unable to uncleat.  There is no problem with the helmet.   

You can feel the full power transfer when using the cleats.   The S works shoes (SRP P24K)    is also very light compared to Shimano, Sidi shoes.   

After a month of riding I would get used to cleats again?

The matter with cleats

Real Cyclists

Angono, Rizal  PHL     | July 7, 2013

My Shimano cleats on Scott carbon cycling shoes has gone kaput and has begged for replacement. I had it temporarily replaced with hard plastic Exustar (which works well only with Exustar pedals). 

Some observations on Shimano cleats:

l. Its price has gone up from P500.00 a pair to P680.00 as per my canvass in bikeshops last Wednesday in Cainta.

2.  While it is  one of the best:  easy to engage and disengage, it seems to wear out easily if you walk too much with your biking shoes on.

3.  My conversation with others showed that the left cleats usually fail:  it gets misaligned or breaks.;  not the right cleats.  Why.  Because when you ride you engage first your right shoe then followed by the left shoe.   As you engage the left shoe and you are not looking or as you pedal, the shoe and cleats hit the wrong places and and wears out.  (Perhaps engage the left shoe first)

4. You have to clean it regularly especially after walking through sand, soil or grass.  Dirt can fill the gaps in the cleans and can make this malfunction.

5. Oil or put Armor all so that the cleats can slide in and out of the pedal easily.

6.  Tighten, or check the screws before every ride;  they can turn loose and the cleats may malfunction

Pay Close Attention to the Driveline

Bike and Save the Earth

If there is anything that you must pay attention to in your bike, it is your drive line:   your shoes, your cleats, the pedal, the crank, the chain ring, the chain, the sprocket and the rear wheel, its hub and bearings.  They are the ones constantly subjected to wear and do a lot of constant repetitive cyclical motion when   you ride.

For instance, if your current cycling shoes weigh 600 grams and you can buy one that is 400 grams.  You multiply the weight loss per pedal stroke as savings in effort/energy.  Say you pedal  5000 times during your ride, youi have saved a total of  l,000,000 grams or l,000 kg or a ton of effort.  That is substantial.  The pedal weight, crank arm length (l70, l72.5. 175) are critical.

There was a champion biker used to 172.5 crank length.  However he heard everybody shifted to l75, and he shifted to l75 on a raced day.  All was well until the last l0 km when his legs gave way under him.  He could not pedal anymore and all the vigor was gone.  The 2.5 mm difference in length, though how tiny it was blew his effort to be first.  2.5 mm extra crank length multiplied by number of revolutions would have mean great energy effort more for the poor cyclist and former champion