# Dura-Ace AX Series?



## LeShaghal (Sep 4, 2011)

So I got hit by a car last April. When the Car hit me my left pedal got jammed in the cleat, Don't know how or why it just did. I couldn't free my foot, leaving me helpless in the intersection, when got hit by a second car (DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE EVER!!!!) long story short, my skeleton beeps at TSA checkpoints.

I vowed in hospital Never to ride clip-less again, so I'm looking for a good toe clip pedal& I'm leaning toward the Shimano AX system or the Shimano 105 PD-1050. 
The real question here is what is the best old style pedal?
Fuji sells a pedal that is basically an XLC PD-R01 that looks nice and is cheap but I don't know anything about them...I asked m LBS guy an he looked at me like I had asked to buy a bay dinosaur. Any and all help would be appreciated.


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## Dave Hickey (Jan 27, 2002)

If you are talking about the Dura Ace AX components from the 80's, the pedals won't work this modern cranks.. The AX pedal uses an oversize spindle that only works with Dura Ace AX or Shimano 600 AX cranks..

If you don't want to use clips there are plenty of pedal/strap combinations out there

Here is an example

MKS Sylvan Lite Pedals with Clips and Straps | eBay


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## zmudshark (Jan 28, 2007)

I think you want the original 7400 series pedals. They can be spendy:
​









Cleats were available for them as well, but any cleat will work with them. They are my favorite clipped pedal.


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## LeShaghal (Sep 4, 2011)

*umm no*

no I mean the AX series...








I was going to buy an AX Crankset&the pedals for $130... theres a full NOS set on Ebay fo $200. Is there a drawback to the short spindle on them? were they good? fatally flawed?The 7400s in the above post are a generation earlier, I believe, than the 105s i'm talking about. 
I mean the the PD-1050s 








after which came the two piece PD-1051s, they don't have a plastic cap at the spindle end like the 1050s do. 








Notice there are no horns on the sides of the 1051s ^
or these? they are on all the fuji's at the LBS


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## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

The AX Dyno Drive pedals could only be used with the AX crank, but you could buy Shimano adaptors that would screw into the cranks, so that you could use "normal" Shimano pedals.


As for "I vowed in hospital Never to ride clip-less again", you could always take up bowling..

I do not believe that anybody makes shoes that work with the plastic cleats that you would need with toe clips.

(and I'm not selling my old Duegi 101's, with the wooden soles)


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## LeShaghal (Sep 4, 2011)

*Bowling... I'm not from Iowa*

Ok lets clarify, I don't wan to adapt anything, I have 9/16x20 cranks and am wiling to buy AX cranks IF i buy AX pedals...IF anyone could tell me anything about them. I don't plan on wearing any cleats! addidas sambas all the time. I just want the best caged pedals and i assumed they'd be whatever was best before clip-less. I just didn't know if there was a flaw in any of these pedals (bearing,seals, manufacturing flaw, etc) that I should be aware of
Can't bowl, or golf or play tennis and swimming still hurts. I can ride my Seduza and my Equinox they seem to line up my shoulders correctly. 

Had a Carola that tried to cheat the light parked on the rear of my caad 8, a broken femur, a smashed hand and a clip (wont name, names) all ****ed up that trapped me under the bike that was under a car... I watched as some teeny-bopper Sorostitute came at me at 30mph while she checked her facebook status on her I-phone ...then I got to feel EXACTLY how much her dad's Jeep Rubicon unlimited weighed as it bucked over my chest and collar bone...I loved clips...I loved being part of my bike, until it almost killed me, and I will forever miss that harmony.


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## zmudshark (Jan 28, 2007)

I rode DA AX for 25 years. Alexi Grewal won a Gold medal with them. They are nice pedals, completely rebuildable. The deal with them is that they put your foot lower, below the axle. It was supposed to help pedal stroke. You need to lower your seat a cm or so to make up for the lower pedal position

Make sure you get a BB with the crank, a 740x BB won't work. It's JIS taper, 112mm total length, 27.0, 50.0, 35.0 measurements on a 68 mm BB.


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## marathon marke (Nov 14, 2011)

I think because of the bearing design/placement, they often developed a lot of play and wore out much sooner than any other pedal would. OTOH, I always wanted them myself, especially since they had a very low (negative even?) stack height.


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## ziscwg (Apr 19, 2010)

Why not MTB clipless. you come out much easier with SPD. In fact, the multi release spd mtb cleats come out real easy.

I hate to say there is a reason they call those old toe straps "death straps". It's harder to get out of them than normal clipless when you are off angle (like in a crash)


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## latman (Apr 24, 2004)

new shimano shoes even come with a useless( for most riders) "slotted "cleat for strap style pedals , will they fit any brand ?


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

As noted, there are plenty of good pedals from back in the day... just about any old Campy set, Shimano, SunTour, on and on. 

Nothing wrong with the AX's that I ever heard about, and I knew a bunch of guys who raced on them.


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## Creakyknees (Sep 21, 2003)

Also, shoes are still available. I just can't remember the website right now.


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## Quattro_Assi_07 (Jan 13, 2006)

LeShaghal said:


> So I got hit by a car last April. When the Car hit me my left pedal got jammed in the cleat, Don't know how or why it just did. I couldn't free my foot, leaving me helpless in the intersection, when got hit by a second car (DON'T TEXT AND DRIVE EVER!!!!) long story short, my skeleton beeps at TSA checkpoints.
> 
> I vowed in hospital Never to ride clip-less again, so I'm looking for a good toe clip pedal& I'm leaning toward the Shimano AX system or the Shimano 105 PD-1050.
> The real question here is what is the best old style pedal?
> Fuji sells a pedal that is basically an XLC PD-R01 that looks nice and is cheap but I don't know anything about them...I asked m LBS guy an he looked at me like I had asked to buy a bay dinosaur. Any and all help would be appreciated.


I have both the Dura Ace AX and EX Dyna Drive style pedals.

AX On my 1982 Miyata PRO...









EX on my 1982 Miyata TEAM...









AX cranks on my brother's 1982 Miyata TEAM showing adapter...









EX on my 1981 Koga-Miyata Full-Pro...

















EX on another Miyata TEAM frame I have. This one you will notice, has a set of clipless pedals mounted to the DA DD pedals. 

















Later 7400 series pedals on my Tesch built Specialized Allez

















I also have the Superbe Pro pedals on my Univega Competizione. For my Zullo that I am building up, it will also have Superbe Pro pedals as well. My Tesch S-22 will probably end up with the later Dura Ace pedals.

Just like shoes, I've come full circle with pedals. Started of with these early 80s pedals and then went to the first generation clipless all the way up to the 7800 Dura Ace pedals. Now I am outfitting my older bikes with the late 80s/early 90s pedals, both Superbe Pro and Dura Ace. I have such wonderful shoes, so why not take advantage of them?

Started off with Maressi shoes and now I am back once again to Maressi.


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## RoadBoy1 (Oct 1, 2011)

Thanks for the trip down memory lane gentlemen. One of the bikes I owned was a Bridgestone RB-1 with the full Dura-Ace AX or EX (I can't remember that far back and sadly I don't have any photos) groupset including the Dyna Drive crank and pedals and the funky looking brakes. This bike had the friction shifters that mounted side by side on top of the downtube in an early effort to be "aero".

As has been stated here the major problem with the pedal/crank setup was the presence of only one bearing. Shimano made it a large one to give it some umph but due to the side loads (especially if you were a heavier rider) it quickly developed slack and began to fail but the negative stack height was a nice item for conversation but the negative stack height came at the price of some cornering clearance but they were nice.


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## carlosflanders (Nov 23, 2008)

Check the yellowjersey website. They have a lot of old stuff and a lot of new stuff for toeclip users. I think they have suitable cleats for modern shoes.


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## LeShaghal (Sep 4, 2011)

snagged a pair of PD-1050s for $20 on ebay.
Thanks for all the input guys.


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