Are footpegs superior if you don't pedal?

Offroader

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I hardly pedal at all, almost never really since the Max-e gives me perfect throttle control at slow speeds, and i'm thinking about using foot pegs instead. My bike is simply too heavy to pedal, even when I have problems and couldn't use the electric motor I simply had to push the bike up anything that wasn't flat or downhill.

I am thinking that foot pegs will give me a more natural stance on the bike and alleviate some knee pain in my right knee from constantly standing up and down. I also assume that I may have better handling and performance with the foot pegs rather than the wide stance of the pedals.

I can get rid of the chain system and chainring to give more clearance and not constantly worry about the rear derailleur hitting rocks.

My question is if I never pedal the bike does footpegs make more sense? I only ask because maybe I am missing something. I also don't care about my ebike looking like a bicycle.
 
You would have to accept you don't own an ebike. Nobody will be fooled. It will be an unregistered motorcycle to everyone that see's it. Which it already is, but are you ready to accept it.

Having each fixed foot location mirror the other will require less brain processing power. Which could lead to more pleasant rides. It could narrow the chassis giving greater clearance. I don't think you will be sitting down any more often though. A bad knee could benefit from the multitude of pedal locations a crank offers, while pegs insist on a more limited range of movement.
 
Not much benefit to pedals on a 3000w+ bike, unless you tend to smoke your motor often.

If your bike (flyweight motorcycle) is solid and doesn't tend to break down or just run out of battery, why not do foot pegs?

The only real issue is how do they attach? Be nice if you could just ebay up a bottom bracket with foot peg length.

Bolt pegs to a cut down crank arm? They'd move some. Weld pegs onto a cheap steel square taper bb? To remove them later if you needed to, just cut them off.
 
Or course pegs are better, both for balance and handling. When you need pedals for stealth or legal issues, use a shorter crank arm length to make aggressive riding safer.
 
Just to elaborate on knee pain. With a lot of riding I will get slight pain or irritation in my right knee. What I find myself doing is when I have to stand I will actually move the pedals to the 12 and 6 o'clock position to stand up as it hurts less than if I have my feet in a spread out stance.

I also find that if I try and pedal I will instantly irritate my right knee. This may be due to the lower seat height of my bike.

When I ride I'm usually standing up and down constantly as I use the bike like a dirt bike or urban assault bike. I also go for 2 hour rides often as I have the battery capacity for this. So I ride a lot in the summer which makes the problem worse.

I'm thinking that the wide stance with pedals puts a lot of strain on the knees.

For me pedals really don't make much sense and pedaling is a guarantee to irritate my knee very quickly.

I'm really thinking foot pegs may be the way to go. I was thinking about building a 2nd raptor bike and will order the foot peg option that they have on their new frames.

It will be interesting to then see what I like better as foot pegs usage seems very rare on the forum.
 
I'm not a doctor, but when I first started riding singletrack trails, non motored, I irritated the hell out of an old ski injury in my knee. Not the ACL, but a minor tear on one of the side ligaments.

The injury happened because I pedaled too hard, on a bike with not low enough gears. It happened about 3 times in a year, and each time healing it better was done by easy pedaling on an ebike, commuting to work. Each time it happened, it healed a bit faster than the first one. Then I stopped tearing it when I got a real MTB, with much lower gears than a walmart bike shaped object.

Maybe it will work for you, maybe not. But you have to get your healing in motion IMO. Ebike perfect for that. But not a bike you blast down rough trails on. You need spinning I think. More fun to do it going someplace, than doing it in a gym.
 
adjustable length cranks.. :
ciamillo-gravitas-3point1-crankset-prototype-photos03.jpg

http://www.bikerumor.com/2015/02/17...ular-ciamillo-gravitas-3-1-crankset-unveiled/
 
At one point when I was building my bike, I was thinking about using a BMX square tapered crankset so the pegals could be removed and welding a mount for "insertable" footpegs at a location a few inches behind the BB, since I have no front derailleur and stick a square bar though (or fold-up moto pegs). That would also get rid of that annoying chain thingy we don't use! That way you could run either pegs or pegals....... In the end, I decided just to go with a small crank length (150 mm). They do have BMX cranks as small as 120 mm for square tapers though.
 
not sure if you can see what I did, but I basically bought a spare set of bb cups and inserted the fattest threaded rod I could find at home depot that still fit through it. (the rod was cut to give me the length i wanted on either side of the bb) .

then I got two really large nuts and tightened the whole assembly down. I haven't ridden it yet so cant give you a ride report on whether its better. I'm still going to cover them in skateboard grip tape or something so my foot has butter purchase on it, but it seems like it should work.

I wanted to come up with a reversible solution so if I attract too much heat or tickets, I can swap back to pedals.

phasor_02.jpg
 
Yeah to be fair I haven't tried riding with them yet. They aren't that much thinner than motocross pegs though. I'm working up some alternatives in case.
 
Finally got footpegs on my bike. Qulbix made it an accessory that they sell.

I can finally say that footpegs are so much better than pedals. I am actually blown away how much better they are. Everything is easier with them. Bike seems more agile, suspension is smoother, bike tricks are much easier. They are also comfortable and a lot less strain on my knees.
 
2 years later, you finally got them !

Yes they are making riding much more natural than pedals. Yet I need the crank, but I am still thinking about fitting a brake on the BB to make a remote locking crank some day.
 
Did some more riding with the foot pegs. The last report was only based on my first ride.

I'm liking the footpegs more and more. They make everything so much easier. Things I wouldn't attempt to do before I can do easily now.

It brings a whole new experience to riding an ebike also.

Landings from jumps are much easier and so much less harsh on my body and knees. Riding over things are far easier, partly because the extra ground clearance but also from your feet being directly below you. Having the feet directly below you on a solid unmovable footpeg gives some much better support and control.

They give you super control of the bike. They make the bike feel much more solid without the chain and pedals.

I haven't been doing wheelies lately that much but will have to see if it make that easier.

Couldn't recommend them more for an ebike.
 
Another thing I like about the footpegs, you can lift the bike on any flat surface to work on the rear wheel and it sits perfectly stable.

819IiHU.jpg
 
I also considered going to footpegs being an old MX racer :lol: .

But where I ride a motorized vehicle isn't legal. A bicycle with a motor is legal...well up to a point so I use 75mm crank arms that I bought from Unicycle.com. I can actually ride faster with the short crank arms than with footpegs because they allow me to weight the outside peg...I ride with my right foot forward and rotate the crank 90 degrees front or rear depending on which way I am turning.

Lots of info out there on weighting the outside peg on a motorcycle and how it allows you to corner faster...being able to weight the outside pedal AND drop it down 75mm from horizontal helps even more. Feels pretty strange initially but once you get the hang of it, you can ride a lot faster than anyone who doesn't drop the outside pedal and put the majority of your weight on it.

Best of all, I am totally legal with my "bicycle" to ride the mountain bike trails. I just have to be careful and rotate my pedals/crank occasionally when people are watching so they don't think I am riding an electric motorcycle :D .
 
Offroader said:
It brings a whole new experience to riding an ebike also.

Couldn't recommend them more for an ebike.

I think you're really getting out of the realm of ebike and into small electric motorcycle/dirtbike now...
 
If you don't need stealth, sure. But if you don't need stealth you're probably somewhere a motorcycle would be more fun.
 
Switching from riding a motorcycle to a moped, once and a while I'd catapult myself around a corner if I forgot to raise the inside crank arm. It's stupid to have pedals on a moped, makes you legal but is seriously dangerous. I pedaled a moped 50 feet once and it was not pleasant. "Thank God my moped has pedals" said no one ever.
It's different on a bike. At least with a mid-drive the bike is still rideable. Clearance issues in corners aren't a big deal so I'm a fan of pedals.

I was hoping to find crank arms on a folding bike that would allow you to rotate 1 crank arm 180 degrees. Something a bit shorter that did this would be perfect for my needs. I thought about putting the crank arms on the same direction but the thought of it being "fixed" in that position kind of bugs me.
 
With direct drive, there is the extra friction when no power is applied. Feels like your riding a flat tire. Consider reducing weight, if you can so you can pedal, but if you dont want to pedal then put on pegs, I've seen people using the bottom bracket as a peg mount, but its easy enough to slap on some U-clamps and put the where ever you want.

https://downhilllife.com/2018/10/23/unchained-downhill-bike-with-mx-pegs-instead-of-pedals/
s1600_IMG_12.jpg

https://newatlas.com/stealth-h52-electric-bike-review/40663/
https://img.newatlas.com/stealth-bike-h-52-electric-29.jpg?auto=format%2Ccompress&fit=max&h=670&q=60&w=1000&s=e4ab3d4d5e91e98f102d11d6dbbf7e26

https://www.amazon.com/motorcycle-highway-stiletto-p-clamps-sportster/dp/b00y43o0ci

http://www.victoryonly.com/product/frame-mount-highway-pegs-chrome/
 
Old thread - but I recently swapped the pedals on my Q140MD for footpegs, and it was absolutely brilliant. I only ride in the forest, so I'm not so worried about what people think as long as the bike is silent.

Pro's:
- No more pedal strikes!
- No more worrying about what foot to have up, down, forward and backwards
- No problem to lift one foot off for balance
- Finally able to control the bike through the pegs like a motocross bike
- Less noise, no more clicking from the freewheel hub

Con's:
- Theoretically less range, but I haven't seen any reduction in practise
- Less legal - although a 15kW e-bike isn't legal anyway
- Less comfortable in very specific circumstances. I sometimes found it nice to pedal when I'm on flat ground moderate speeds.

Overall I'm very pleased with the swap. Not had any negative attention yet either, but only done one long ride so far!
 
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