BAREFOOT PEDALS - Bike Pedals That Support The Full Length Of Your Foot - Ride Comfortably With Shoes, Sandals or Barefoot
- 16 hours ago
- 2 min read
Mountain bike pedals have larger more comfortable platforms than they used to, but most bikes still have miserable narrow pedals that are uncomfortable to ride, even with shoes.
Cruising at the beach on the bike means riding in something comfortable like sandals or barefoot. Most bike pedals are extremely uncomfortable and painful to ride barefoot. You feel like a bird grasping a rose stem.
I set out to make a better bike pedal designed for comfort especially when riding with sandals or barefoot.
It should have a platform that is large enough to support the full length and width of your foot.
It needs to have a non-slip surface that is comfortable for bare feet.
THE PLATFORM
The platform is 3D printed and has a unique honeycomb core with flat outer surface, like a composite panel. The honeycomb core makes the pedal strong and supports the flat outer surfaces. The outer surfaces increase the strength, like an I beam.
I made the outer surface flat and fully enclosed the honeycomb core for maximum surface area for the foam grip tape to bond.
3D Printing Filament Material
Since this pedal needs to be strong enough to support the force applied by an adult and general abuse that a bike takes, I chose to use GF PETG. Most plastic bike pedals are glass filled, usually GF Nylon. Nylon is more challenging to print. GF PETG is easy to print and very strong.
THE GRIP SURFACE
Since this pedal is meant to be used comfortably while barefoot, the surface of it needs to be comfortable underfoot. It can't have spikes or hard edges that will hurt your feet. It needs to have large surface area to spread the pressure.
Self adhesive foam decking for boats, paddleboards, etc is a perfect surface for a grippy yet comfortable barefoot pedal.
The hard plastic base is designed with a full coverage flat surface for maximum adhesion for the self adhesive foam grip tape.
THE SPINDLE (AXLE)
The design uses an inexpensive pair of donor pedals to harvest the spindle, bearings and cap from.
The quality of these pedals is quite impressive.
WHERE TO BUY:
The grease on the axle is thick and very tacky. I suspect its purpose is to keep out dust and water, or it's damping grease to dampen and slow the spin of the pedal. It's too thick to be bearing grease.
The retainer screw and cap are threaded into the end of the pedal. The thread is M14 x 1mm. This tap will be needed to thread the hole in the 3D printed part for retainer screw and cap.
WHERE TO BUY:
I will test if the thread can be 3D printed as part of the pedal, eliminating the need for manual threading using the tap.
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