Skateboard Deck Clipless Platform Pedals

**Update 2** These skatedeck pedals can now be purchased at BikeTinker.com.
 **Update** A new post shows a smaller version, cut down from these.

I ride around on Eggbeater pedals in regular shoes sometimes. I like to go around the block with my son or cruise down to the beer store, and don't want to "gear up" for that.

I saw an article in the Rivendell Reader about Roger Durham (of Bullseye)'s plywood platform pedals. In my head, I conflated that with the plastic clipless inserts bike shops have for test rides and thought "what about something like that that just clips into your pedals?" Now if only there was a wood deck designed to stick to shoes!

I'm lazy, so it took about a year and half before I found a broken skateboard deck and then another long while before I cut it up and mounted cleats to it.

The real impetus was buying another pair of Eggbeaters for my mountain bike, which came with cleats. No way I'm buying $20 cleats for $60 pedals, especially not for a dirtbag hack like this.

I took pictures of the process, but that computer's long gone, and besides, it's not like hacksaws are hard to imagine.

I decided on 4"x5", since that was one of Roger Durham's sizes, and it seemed nice and big for my Euro 46 sized feet. I drew the rectangles on the underside of the deck, right on the transition between deck and nose, theorizing that when my feet are flat on the floor, the toes kind of curl up. It's comfortable like that, but it doesn't seem to matter either way.

I drilled holes that were smaller in diameter than the screws that hold the cleats on, then screwed them right into the wood. I didn't think it would last, but it has. The screws get loose after a while, but they don't seem to be stripping out. Weird.
I found some hardware that would pound in through the top and provide a metal sleeve to screw into, but the threading seems much coarser, and I'd need new screws. If the cleats start really coming off, I'll have a go at that.

I like the scuffed-up graphics, and the green color seems to go with the Quickbeam pretty well. Good support for regular shoes, and the grip tape is great. Lots of traction. Don't twist your foot, or you'll pop the platforms out of the pedal.

One day all pedals will have grip tape; it seems to make a lot more sense than pins that stick out and gouge your shin.