The Fly6 pedals are a great addition to anyone’s cycling bag; they are one of cycling’s little accessories that will make your life a little easier. With a relatively full quiver of bikes in the garage, but none with flat pedals, I was often left simply “making due” with riding on clipless pedals in my tennis shoes whenever I wanted to run some errands or head up to the gym. Using my race bike for double duty as a commuter bike isn’t ideal, but can be necessary when you don’t have the cash to drop on a commuter specific bike.
The hassle of swapping pedals for each type of ride is more trouble than it is worth so most of the time I have simply ridden the clipless pedals with tennis shoes on for errands and commuting when I didn’t want to haul around an extra pair of shoes.
The Fly6 has changed my utility riding by providing an option that doesn’t require swapping out pedals. I have to admit I was pretty excited about the impending arrival of the pedals. As soon as they arrived I made plans to head up to the gym that evening for a trial run.
The pedals themselves are made out of aluminum and are very light; at 67 grams per pedal they feel much lighter in the hand than I expected, yet they are very sturdy. Fly6 pedals are designed to work with pretty much all major pedal systems. They are drilled to accommodate multiple bolt patterns for cleats. I set them up to use with my road bike, attaching an extra set of Shimano SPD cleats to the bottom each pedal. The attachment was quick and simple, no more complicated than attaching the cleats to your shoes. Each pedal also comes with an adapter that can be used if you are attaching crankbrothers pedals to the cleat.
The Fly6 is compatible with the following pedal systems: All Shimano SPD and SPD-SL, LOOK Keo and Keo2Max, S-Track & Delta, crankbrothers Egg Beaters & Candy, Time ATAC, Clic & RXS, Infinity, and SpeedPlay.
Much like many off-road flat pedals, the top surface of the pedal is littered with a multitude of traction pegs to help keep your shoes in place. They even incorporated small holes in the surface of each pedal to allow the pedals to securely fit together, face to face, with the peg of one pedal fitting into the holes of the corresponding pedal when they are not in use.
You can also you straps with the Fly6 if you choose.
You may want to spend a ride or two fine-tuning the cleat placement. I did find that if you slam the cleats all the way back, much like I do for my road position, or two far forward, the pedal can tend to tip fore or aft depending on your pedaling style. I noticed this most when I was standing to pedal, it would have a tendency to tip forward; moving the cleat a bit remedied this.
To attach the pedals, you simply lock them into place, pressing them in by hand. For removal, you can use your hand to twist them out but I found that they are much easier to remove if you utilize the handy 6mm hex option.
The pedals offer a large platform, plenty big enough to provide a large enough contact surface. One thing to keep in mind is that your foot/pedal interface is going to be slightly different than when wearing your cycling shoes; be careful to avoid inadvertently twisting your feet when pedaling as you won’t have the fine tactile feedback that you have with cycling shoes and you could cause the Fly6 to disengage. If this happens, as I found out when standing and putting in a few hard pedal strokes, you might come to grief on your top tube. It isn’t a flaw with the pedals, it is just a matter of understanding the nuances of the system.
The Fly6 pedals retail for 49.95 and come with a lifetime warranty. They are a quick and simple solution to help your bikes pull double duty. I highly recommend these for anyone looking to get more use out of their bikes, even if it is just to take a few trips to the store, gym, or to commute to work without having to bring two sets of shoes along for the ride.
You can find more information and order the pedals from the Fly6 website.
Photos via FlyPedals.com
