Where to start? Shimano has rounded out its XTR clip-in pedal offering with the PD9220 Trail SPD pedal that joins the more XC-friendly M9200 version. According to Shimano, the “highly durable PD-M9220 pedals utilise a wide contact area that improves pedaling efficiency, assuring no wasted power when charging uphill. During descents the wider raised pedal platform combined with four adjustable traction pins increase rider stability, security, and control, especially when not clipped in.”
These four pins per side thread in from the back, ensuring you can easily replace them if they get munched on rocks. In addition, the super slim pedal body has extra traction stripes machined in to the body for further shoe grip.
The PD9220 pedals will be £179.99 (and will come with Shimano’s new cleats. Wait, what?)
A new SPD cleat after 30* years?
What’s this about a new cleat? The legendary Shimano SPD cleat has remained unchanged for thirty years and is one of mountain biking’s most enduring designs. However, there’s always room for a bit of progress, right? Shimano has responded to riders who found that the ‘front of cleat in, push down’ style of clipping in wasn’t always ideal in situations where you need a quick dab-and-reclip and riders, especially enduro racers in a hurry, could find themselves struggling to get the nose of the cleat to engage while bouncing down the trail.
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Now, first off… the new CL-MT001 cleat is fully backwards compatible with all existing two-bolt SHIMANO SPD pedal and shoe systems. And the same goes for old cleats and the new Shimano pedals.
As to what has changed, a subtle bit of reshaping of the cleat means that the new cleat can engage from any angle – whether that’s straight down, heel edge first or nose first. It still needs a twist to release, so it’s not like the frankly terrifying Multi-Release cleats that unclip in all the wrong angles. So, stamp-down, twist out. Should be simple, right? The new MT001 cleats will retail for £19.95
The new PDM9220 XTR trail pedal will come with the new cleats (while the 9200 pedals come with traditional cleats) but we assume that there will probably be a slow change over to the new cleats. And as they all play nicely together, it will be a simple upgrade in future if you have the old cleats.
Shimano sees the new cleat appealing to:
- Enduro riders and those who enjoy dynamic off-road conditions will appreciate the quick re-engagement that is critical after dismounts or foot dabs in technical terrain.
- Cyclocross and gravel racers will appreciate speedy remounts and their ability to quickly get back to pedaling and powering forward.
- New riders will enjoy the intuitive clip-in experience with added peace-of-mind that comes from the multi-entry engagement, so they can get on their way down the road, trail, or path.
And that’s it! New pedals, new cleats. Clipping in has never been so exciting, right?
* ‘But what about the PD M858 and the SM-SH52 cleat?’ you ask.
Older mountain bike folks might remember the Shimano M858 pedals that appeared around 2000 (so, the MT001 is the first new cleat for 25 years, not 30 as Shimano claims). These 858s, shockingly, required a new cleat, the SH52, which was wider in the rear and it wasn’t compatible with anything else. From memory, the M858 pedals had VERY positive engagement, more akin to the click of a road pedal, and they soon gained a reputation as being a little too unpredictable as to how much force you’d need to disengage. They appear to have been silently discontinued and they don’t even appear in Shimano’s SPD pedal timeline (which itself appears to stop in 2017…)
Here are the cleats in question. And no, I don’t think you can buy them any more…
The SH52 for the short lived PD-M858 only was released around 2000 wasn’t it?
I’ve been trying to find out what year the M858 was released, @sillyoldman, so thanks for the nudge – I remember that model well. It seems to have been quietly deleted from Shimano’s SPD timeline in the interim. I seem to remember they were pretty stiff to use, but they did allow a ‘straight down’ engagement… I’ll quiz Shimano on your/our behalf 🙂
Strangely, there’s no mention of the 858 in Shimano’s SPD history – http://www.shimano.com/en/100th/history/products/result.php?id=52 but I’d agree that they appeared in 2000 or so.
I’ll add a postscript…
Ha!
Cheers!
I think we might have at least one pair of 858s in the garage. I don’t really remember them being that bad.
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I never had the 858 but somehow, I think I have a set of SH-52 cleats in the spares room.
I have a set of M959s, will I die if I use them on my new gravel bike? Anyone know if I need the SH-52 cleats of if I can use the new cleats?
I don’t care about UDH, wireless gear changes, carbon rims or upside down Enduro forks; a new Shimano cleat is the most exciting mtb development for a long while. I expect to be using a set until they wear paper thin sometime in 2040.
I just retired my Dura Ace 7410 pedals after 25yrs of solid service, they took an sh-70 cleat.
I loved those pedals,very roadie minimalist ,and I could use mtb shoes ,so avoided the ‘penguin’ walk at cafe stops.
I believe they have essentially taken away a bit of material from the front and possibly back of the new cleat. As a result they might wear out quicker than the existing cleats, but I guess that it a small price to pay for the benefits.
https://www.cyclinguk.org/cycle/cleat
The Nukeproof SPD cleats have a chamfered front. They are way easier to engage than the SH-51 cleats, so I can imagine these new Shimano ones will be as well (hope so, as the NP ones are few and far between these days).