Safety fixture for trike pedals

I have posted previously about the dreaded "leg suck", when a foot falls off a pedal onto the road surface while travelling. Knowing me, this is a potential issue, as when touring, hour after hour, I will tend to become dreamy, lose attention. Most recumbent trike riders don't bother with pedal safety fixtures, but I want them, and that has been a bit of a saga.

I posted about bicycle shoes with cleats, that clip onto the pedals. This also requires special pedals. That post was in May 2023

• How to be safe on a recumbent trike — May 18, 2023

So, I bought mountain bike pedals and special shoes with cleats.

I'm a beginner at all of this, and after further research, discovered that there is a fundamental difference how the feet should be placed on the pedals when riding a recumbent bike/trike compared to an upright bicycle. To look after the tendons in the feet, and for long distance comfort, on a recumbent trike the central shaft of the pedal should be in the arch of the foot. On bicycles, it is more toward the front of the foot, the ball.

There is lots of online advice about foot placement on the pedal, for example, here.

This means that the cleat on bicycle shoes is in the wrong place. This is important for long distance touring, so abandoned cleats and those shoes and pedals are now stored in a closet.

After further online research, I discovered what could be called the "Rolls Royce" of safety pedals for recumbent trikes. Which I purchased, see post July 2024:

• Foot and leg safety on a recumbent trike — July 10, 2024

...terrible price!

Unfortunately, these also ended up in the closet. They are very big, designed to take very large shoes, which is a serious problem on my trike. My customized trike has the wheels moved closer together, with total trike width now only 740mm. This imposes a restriction on the turning radius, and those safety pedals are just too wide. I have considered a future project to replace the front 20 inch wheels with 16 inch, but for now have to live with the current situation.

Yes, can turn with the pedals in a certain position to allow a sharper turn, and I could probably train myself to do that when cornering.

Another problem with those pedals is they are very heavy. They have weights underneath, so when your foot is not inserted, they stay upright. Each pedal weighs just under 1kg. I recently thought about selling them, but saw on a local trike Facebook group, someone else has them for sale, asking AU$50. Hey, I paid AU$245! For now, they are also residing in the closet.

I purchased some straps, that can be fitted to ordinary pedals. Actually, intended for a certain type of pedal. Actually bought a couple of different types:

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005002192895075.html

https://www.aliexpress.com/item/1005005528714005.html

...still the fundamental problem that they are designed for a bicycle, with pedal shaft more forward under the foot. However, ended up using the leather straps of that last purchase.

Enough throwing money at trying to find a solution. Yesterday, looked at the original pedals that came with the trike, and figured out a simple foot restraint system. Today went to the men's shed and built it...

Very simple, a short length of 30x3 mm aluminium strap with some angle on the bottom end:

That is a snug fit into the bumps underneath the pedal:

And a bracket to stop it from falling off:

When touring, there is never a need to put the feet on the ground. Unlike a bicycle, where you can get into serious trouble with cleats if they don't unclip reliably. So, I can go one step further, and optionally restrain the feet with straps (the ones purchased earlier from Aliexpress):

...the strap is a quick-release type, and there are various places it can be fed through the pedal to secure the shoe.

Simple DIY solution.   

Tags: light