I’ve been an SPD addict for over 30 years. I actually bought a set of my buddy’s old Shimano M737 SPD’s back in ’91 or ’92 when he “upgraded”. But I’ve been a SPD pedaler ever since and I’ve always biased the cleats slightly ball of foot forward of the pedal spindle so strictly a forefoot pedaler by most peoples gauge. All this has changed suddenly to my chagrin recently. Last season, as I was indulging myself in the Snakedriver V4 prototype, I decided I really, REALLY wanted to give flat pedals a serious go. I had started out on flats riding BMX, then mountain biking on flats for a short spell before “upgrading” to toe clips and then to the aformentioned M737’s. But with the FS project, I wanted to go back to my roots, run flats and subsequently “re-learn” the basics especially getting back a true Bunnyhop.
Bunnyhops on flat pedals is totally different than on SPD’s if you’re doing it right. You can really cheat with SPD’s in a way by essentially picking the bike up with your feet in many instances. Most notably, unweighting the rear wheel over obstacles (For the record I’m still reacquainting myself with that one but I’ll come back to that). There’s a rhythm to bunnyhopping on flats: Load, Crouch, Jump, Push forward to unweight the rear and loft. I had that dialed as a kid and teen. I got sloppy over the years with SPD’s and lost the rhythm to vortex of time. But I wanted to give it a go and get back that rhythm.
The first part of the process was finding a set of pedals and shoes I was comfortable running. I went through a few sets of pedals trying different sizes, shapes, materials and degree’s of concavity before I landed on a set of Wolftooth Waveforms. Matched up with 5.10’s Freerider Pro’s and I had found my setup. I instantly felt at home on these pedals. The stock longer length pins were traded out for their shorter pins (ask me why and I’ll pull up my right pant leg and point out the scar…). As opposed to the outright length and sharpness of the longer length pins, the shorter pins actually allowed me to move my feet around a bit easier to dial in the “where” I wanted to put my feet. The biggest part of the learning curve ironically for me was understanding where in space the pedals were to the ground. I had to completely relearn where that threshold resided. I spent many rides thinking I was going to tag an obstacle only to awkwardly realize indeed, NO, all was going to clear. Funny thing about clearance is its a bit of a zen state of mind: You just know where the limits are. Sorta like parallel parking a car without a backup camera? You just know your cars corners and limits instinctively, intuitively. But there’s a bit of zen mixed in there too where you just “know”. Same goes for where the pedals are. So once I mastered that, man.. I just got into a flow and started to relearn my bunnyhop (I’m still getting there for the record).
Just before the 2024 Philly Bike Expo, I was out on a ride and stomped on the pedals and it hit me: I had found that zen position of foot and pedal placement. It just felt right. I happened to look down and low and behold to my own suprise? I was clearly positioned mid-foot. Something that wasn’t supposed to be or at least something I wasn’t expecting. Up to this point, I was fiddling with foot positioning, getting my feet set and about 50% of the time, continuing as I pedaled to squirm around a bunch trying to get things set just so. Well, here I am and apparently mid-foot is what is working. One of the difficulties I’ve found with concave pedals is your foot sinks in yes, but knowing how much to unload them to reposition your foot when your outsole is dug in is actually quite challenging (I’ll come back to this). So I go off to the show stoked. Then the dudes from Wolftooth come over to my booth and say “Hey kid, you wanna see something we haven’t released yet?” We had been talking (I’m sorry I forget the chaps name!) and we were talking about pedals and foot positioning as it was a fresh revelation on my mind and I absolutely love these Waveforms. Well, off he goes to his booth to return with a purple masterpiece named the Ripsaw. I’m given the sales pitch of concave vs convex, sinking into the pedal vs wrapping around the pedal, midfoot vs forefoot placement. I have to say on the trip home, I was still thinking about this concept of a convex shape your foot wraps around vs sinking in to the pedal.
Up to this point, I had well over a full season and then some on the Waveforms and was quite happy. So when the Ripsaw was released, I actually ordered a set because the designer in me was extremely interested in this concept of wrapping my foot around a pedal. I’m just as surprised as everyone reading this: First ride out and I have to say the pedal outperformed anything I had ridden before and is one of the most natural feeling pedals I’ve ever experienced. My feet instantly clicked right to where they’re supposed to be. My shoes hooked up incredibly well as they are now wrapping around the pedal. The leading edge is 7mm and tapers out to about 12mm through the center but flares a tad out towards the edges to even out the profile a tad and get the pins all about even-steven. Moving my feet around and adjusting mid pedal was quite simple now because, I think, my feet aren’t busy being sunk into the middle of the pedal. That spindle everyone apparently has been complaining about in other reviews? I actually couldn’t feel it. In fact, I thought the pedals sorta melted away under me, like I was part of the bike now. And the ball of my foot was well forward of the spindle..
Now keep in mind some details: I’m 6’1″ and about 187-190lbs with a 11.5 US foot. Not too big, not too small. But I carry weight like a freight train and have had a tendency to absolutely destroy components in the past. I’ve read some reviews of these pedals recently, most notably from Pinkbike where the rider has a size 7 female shoe. Something to keep in mind about these pedals is the platform is quite large. I was a shoe designer at one point. I sorta know something about shoes and sizes. A woman’s size 7 is basically a mens size 5… That’s a huge difference between my size 11.5 flipper. I’m sorta thinking that smaller riders with smaller feet aren’t going to have the same experience as I have and will most likely not be able to benefit from a true wrap. That smaller shoes going to be stiffer, so less wrap but more likely I’d expect them to feel the spindle due to that lack of flex (which is what the reviewer felt). I’ve been on these for well over a month and I’d say that’s not long enough but I’ve had enough rides on these to compare them to the Waveforms. I’ve also been on a set of size small Waveforms. Those are WAY too small for my feet and the large size is just right. These are comparable to that profile.
One glaringly obvious data point? Pedal strikes. NH is aptly nicknamed “The Granite State”. We have a lot of rock on the trails here. I was good for at least 2-4 pedal strikes per ride on the Waveform’s and that’s in a zen like state of knowing where my pedals are. These Ripsaws? Nary a strike. The scratches on the pedals above? Most of that’s from walking my bike and accidentally sliding a pedal between a set of rocks. They’re quite svelte across their profile and its super evident when I’m riding these pedals that rock strikes are really reduced (Waveform vs Ripsaw profiles below)
Waveform and Ripsaw alike, I’m not getting any creeping (I’ve read some riders feet creep forward on other pedals? I haven’t experienced that..). Pedaling up on the Ripsaw’s is quite comfortable and descending my foot is absolutely glued to the pedal. Scrubbing motions are a tad easier with this pedal. Like when you need to stand up, climb and haul on the pedal as it goes round or unweight the rear to get up and over an obstacle. One thing is to be mindful of toe location… I pointed my foot down slightly on one climb recently only to be stopped dead in my tracks by a root and all of my weight went up and through my right shoulder with an audible “click”. I’m riding through it, and currently in PT for shoulder recovery, but from me to you: Don’t get lazy with your toes on climbs if you’re midfoot or further forward. Remember, I’m new to all this midfoot pedaling stuff! But overall, both pedals hook up nicely and provide ample traction, grip and support. I will say after riding both for a while now, I prefer (and I’m ducking) the Ripsaws. My foot just feels way more natural on them. Placement just happens each and every time and I’ve actually found that if my foot isn’t “just so” even if its back a bit further or dead in the middle, pedaling is still feeling good. If I stomp my foot too far forward on the Waveform or to close to the center of my foot the pedal doesn’t quite have that same zen like state of connection. Also moving my foot around the pedal if I happen to be too forward, too inboard or too outboard, is noticeably easier. Again I think this is because I’m not picking my foot up and out of a pedal vs just unloading my foot which subsequently releases the amount of wrap I’m experiencing. And remember that 7mm edge vs 12mm spindle center? That’s 5mm total, so 2.5mm per side of difference. That technically isn’t much despite what those characters in the Pinkbike Comments will be roaring about. Also of note is Wolftooth’s right to repair stance. Basically every single part on both of these pedals is replaceable. That’s rare where you have a beloved product and actually be able to source replacement parts for everything (and actually perform the repair yourself with reasonable knowledge).
So my hat goes off to Wolftooth for two pretty amazing pedals. Yes, they’re pricey. But nice things made in the USA cost money. Those M737’s? I still have them and they still spin. I imagine I’ll have these pedals for just as long and they too will still spin nicely in a few decades. Who knew I’d actually go from SPD’s, to flats and then make the jump over to convex pedals. I’m just as perplexed as anyone.
Midfoot
I’ve been an SPD addict for over 30 years. I actually bought a set of my buddy’s old Shimano M737 SPD’s back in ’91 or ’92 when he “upgraded”. But I’ve been a SPD pedaler ever since and I’ve always biased the cleats slightly ball of foot forward of the pedal spindle so strictly a forefoot pedaler by most peoples gauge. All this has changed suddenly to my chagrin recently. Last season, as I was indulging myself in the Snakedriver V4 prototype, I decided I really, REALLY wanted to give flat pedals a serious go. I had started out on flats riding BMX, then mountain biking on flats for a short spell before “upgrading” to toe clips and then to the aformentioned M737’s. But with the FS project, I wanted to go back to my roots, run flats and subsequently “re-learn” the basics especially getting back a true Bunnyhop.
Bunnyhops on flat pedals is totally different than on SPD’s if you’re doing it right. You can really cheat with SPD’s in a way by essentially picking the bike up with your feet in many instances. Most notably, unweighting the rear wheel over obstacles (For the record I’m still reacquainting myself with that one but I’ll come back to that). There’s a rhythm to bunnyhopping on flats: Load, Crouch, Jump, Push forward to unweight the rear and loft. I had that dialed as a kid and teen. I got sloppy over the years with SPD’s and lost the rhythm to vortex of time. But I wanted to give it a go and get back that rhythm.
The first part of the process was finding a set of pedals and shoes I was comfortable running. I went through a few sets of pedals trying different sizes, shapes, materials and degree’s of concavity before I landed on a set of Wolftooth Waveforms. Matched up with 5.10’s Freerider Pro’s and I had found my setup. I instantly felt at home on these pedals. The stock longer length pins were traded out for their shorter pins (ask me why and I’ll pull up my right pant leg and point out the scar…). As opposed to the outright length and sharpness of the longer length pins, the shorter pins actually allowed me to move my feet around a bit easier to dial in the “where” I wanted to put my feet. The biggest part of the learning curve ironically for me was understanding where in space the pedals were to the ground. I had to completely relearn where that threshold resided. I spent many rides thinking I was going to tag an obstacle only to awkwardly realize indeed, NO, all was going to clear. Funny thing about clearance is its a bit of a zen state of mind: You just know where the limits are. Sorta like parallel parking a car without a backup camera? You just know your cars corners and limits instinctively, intuitively. But there’s a bit of zen mixed in there too where you just “know”. Same goes for where the pedals are. So once I mastered that, man.. I just got into a flow and started to relearn my bunnyhop (I’m still getting there for the record).
Just before the 2024 Philly Bike Expo, I was out on a ride and stomped on the pedals and it hit me: I had found that zen position of foot and pedal placement. It just felt right. I happened to look down and low and behold to my own suprise? I was clearly positioned mid-foot. Something that wasn’t supposed to be or at least something I wasn’t expecting. Up to this point, I was fiddling with foot positioning, getting my feet set and about 50% of the time, continuing as I pedaled to squirm around a bunch trying to get things set just so. Well, here I am and apparently mid-foot is what is working. One of the difficulties I’ve found with concave pedals is your foot sinks in yes, but knowing how much to unload them to reposition your foot when your outsole is dug in is actually quite challenging (I’ll come back to this). So I go off to the show stoked. Then the dudes from Wolftooth come over to my booth and say “Hey kid, you wanna see something we haven’t released yet?” We had been talking (I’m sorry I forget the chaps name!) and we were talking about pedals and foot positioning as it was a fresh revelation on my mind and I absolutely love these Waveforms. Well, off he goes to his booth to return with a purple masterpiece named the Ripsaw. I’m given the sales pitch of concave vs convex, sinking into the pedal vs wrapping around the pedal, midfoot vs forefoot placement. I have to say on the trip home, I was still thinking about this concept of a convex shape your foot wraps around vs sinking in to the pedal.
Up to this point, I had well over a full season and then some on the Waveforms and was quite happy. So when the Ripsaw was released, I actually ordered a set because the designer in me was extremely interested in this concept of wrapping my foot around a pedal. I’m just as surprised as everyone reading this: First ride out and I have to say the pedal outperformed anything I had ridden before and is one of the most natural feeling pedals I’ve ever experienced. My feet instantly clicked right to where they’re supposed to be. My shoes hooked up incredibly well as they are now wrapping around the pedal. The leading edge is 7mm and tapers out to about 12mm through the center but flares a tad out towards the edges to even out the profile a tad and get the pins all about even-steven. Moving my feet around and adjusting mid pedal was quite simple now because, I think, my feet aren’t busy being sunk into the middle of the pedal. That spindle everyone apparently has been complaining about in other reviews? I actually couldn’t feel it. In fact, I thought the pedals sorta melted away under me, like I was part of the bike now. And the ball of my foot was well forward of the spindle..
Now keep in mind some details: I’m 6’1″ and about 187-190lbs with a 11.5 US foot. Not too big, not too small. But I carry weight like a freight train and have had a tendency to absolutely destroy components in the past. I’ve read some reviews of these pedals recently, most notably from Pinkbike where the rider has a size 7 female shoe. Something to keep in mind about these pedals is the platform is quite large. I was a shoe designer at one point. I sorta know something about shoes and sizes. A woman’s size 7 is basically a mens size 5… That’s a huge difference between my size 11.5 flipper. I’m sorta thinking that smaller riders with smaller feet aren’t going to have the same experience as I have and will most likely not be able to benefit from a true wrap. That smaller shoes going to be stiffer, so less wrap but more likely I’d expect them to feel the spindle due to that lack of flex (which is what the reviewer felt). I’ve been on these for well over a month and I’d say that’s not long enough but I’ve had enough rides on these to compare them to the Waveforms. I’ve also been on a set of size small Waveforms. Those are WAY too small for my feet and the large size is just right. These are comparable to that profile.
One glaringly obvious data point? Pedal strikes. NH is aptly nicknamed “The Granite State”. We have a lot of rock on the trails here. I was good for at least 2-4 pedal strikes per ride on the Waveform’s and that’s in a zen like state of knowing where my pedals are. These Ripsaws? Nary a strike. The scratches on the pedals above? Most of that’s from walking my bike and accidentally sliding a pedal between a set of rocks. They’re quite svelte across their profile and its super evident when I’m riding these pedals that rock strikes are really reduced (Waveform vs Ripsaw profiles below)
Waveform and Ripsaw alike, I’m not getting any creeping (I’ve read some riders feet creep forward on other pedals? I haven’t experienced that..). Pedaling up on the Ripsaw’s is quite comfortable and descending my foot is absolutely glued to the pedal. Scrubbing motions are a tad easier with this pedal. Like when you need to stand up, climb and haul on the pedal as it goes round or unweight the rear to get up and over an obstacle. One thing is to be mindful of toe location… I pointed my foot down slightly on one climb recently only to be stopped dead in my tracks by a root and all of my weight went up and through my right shoulder with an audible “click”. I’m riding through it, and currently in PT for shoulder recovery, but from me to you: Don’t get lazy with your toes on climbs if you’re midfoot or further forward. Remember, I’m new to all this midfoot pedaling stuff! But overall, both pedals hook up nicely and provide ample traction, grip and support. I will say after riding both for a while now, I prefer (and I’m ducking) the Ripsaws. My foot just feels way more natural on them. Placement just happens each and every time and I’ve actually found that if my foot isn’t “just so” even if its back a bit further or dead in the middle, pedaling is still feeling good. If I stomp my foot too far forward on the Waveform or to close to the center of my foot the pedal doesn’t quite have that same zen like state of connection. Also moving my foot around the pedal if I happen to be too forward, too inboard or too outboard, is noticeably easier. Again I think this is because I’m not picking my foot up and out of a pedal vs just unloading my foot which subsequently releases the amount of wrap I’m experiencing. And remember that 7mm edge vs 12mm spindle center? That’s 5mm total, so 2.5mm per side of difference. That technically isn’t much despite what those characters in the Pinkbike Comments will be roaring about. Also of note is Wolftooth’s right to repair stance. Basically every single part on both of these pedals is replaceable. That’s rare where you have a beloved product and actually be able to source replacement parts for everything (and actually perform the repair yourself with reasonable knowledge).
So my hat goes off to Wolftooth for two pretty amazing pedals. Yes, they’re pricey. But nice things made in the USA cost money. Those M737’s? I still have them and they still spin. I imagine I’ll have these pedals for just as long and they too will still spin nicely in a few decades. Who knew I’d actually go from SPD’s, to flats and then make the jump over to convex pedals. I’m just as perplexed as anyone.
(Yup there it is… The hot set up!)