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10 Best Bicycle Pedals for Physical Therapy

Do you want to buy a bicycle pedal that will be great for physical therapy? If YES, here are the best bicycle pedals you can buy for physical therapy. 

Cycling plays an important role in recovery from certain injuries and maintaining overall health. Whether you are exercising in your physical therapist’s office or at home, cycling can be a fun, safe and effective way to improve joint health, muscle tone, lung capacity, and cardiovascular function.

When recovering from a lower extremity injury or surgery, your doctor may suggest some low- or no-impact workouts to strengthen your muscles and the newly repaired joint. Cycling is an easy and accessible option for most patients to include in their rehabilitation.

Even if you are a healthy individual looking for a way to maintain joint and muscle strength, cycling is something to consider. For instance, recumbent bikes are seen in home gyms, fitness centers, and physical therapy rehabilitation facilities.

Sometimes they are used simultaneously with a traditional upright pedal bike. However, they are typically used more as a graduated process, from a recumbent to a conventional bicycle.

Due to their design, bikes are known to put less strain on your back, hips, and knees. When you are recovering from injury or surgery, the goal is to rehabilitate you back to the point you were before that event.

Sometimes, depending on the circumstances, this can take considerable time. You will have to start slow, as this is a good way of reducing the risk of hurting yourself, all the while providing gentle exercises to regain lost muscle tone and strength.

Note that when you look up for the best bicycle pedals for physical therapy, a million result pops up on Amazon. And so many options make it super difficult and confusing for a novice indoor cyclist to find the best pedals for their exercise bike. Nonetheless, here are top choices to pick from.

Best Bicycle Pedal for Physical Therapy

  1. Surepromise Exercise Bike Pedals

The Surpromise exercise bike pedals are designed for upright and recumbent bikes. They come with a large surface and adjustable straps to accommodate different user feet/shoes.

These oversized Pedals for exercise bikes are designed for bikes that have one-piece cranks. As far as the thread size goes, they are standard 9/16 Inch Pedals. And the pedal straps are 300mm Long to be able to fit large user feet.

Note that the materials of these exercise bike pedals are Plastic and metal and relatively heavy. In the purchase, you get the exercise bike pedals and the adjustable straps. Overall they are good quality and good value indoor exercise bike pedals for the money.

  1. Schwinn Triple-Link Pedals For Spin Bike

The Schwinn Triple Link pedals are compatible with two different spin bike SPD cleats and the normal athletic shoes. This pedal comes with the basket that gets clipped on the bike.

If you remove the basket, you can put the LOOK Delta/Road SPD cleats while on the other side you can use the MTB/SPD mountain bike pedals.

So, replacing bike pedals with these Shimano Triple Link pedals allow you to exercise with three different cycling shoes/cleats.

These spinning bike pedals comes with a 9/16 inches thread size which is standard and similar to all the best spin bike pedals in this review.

Schwinn exercise bike pedals also feature durable construction and nice design. With the purchase, two baskets and two pedals are included.

You need to buy the SPD cleats for cycling shoes separately. Also note that the Schwinn Triple-Link pedals are compatible with the regular SPD-cleats and LOOK Delta cleats.

  1. Spinner NXT Two-Sided Spin Pedals by Mad Dogg

The Spinner NXT two-Sided Spin Pedals by Mad Dogg is specially designed for spin bikes only. On one side they have moulded toe cages and on the other side, they are Shimano SPD compatible.

Note that these exercise bike pedals with toe clips and adjustable straps allow you to do the spinning workout using regular or specific cycling shoes.

The aluminium frame and the plastic clips make them some of the lightest bike pedals for spin bikes. Also note that this type of cage bike pedals is made to be used for indoor cycling. They look similar to what you receive with a spin bike/indoor cycling bike.

Except they are with better materials featuring an anodized aluminium body and the heavy-duty stainless steel axle that lets you ride with toe clip or clipless cycling shoes.

Also note that they are a little pricey but coming from the well-known Mad Dogg, this set of two-sided pedal incorporates a larger axle and sealed bearings which makes them some of the most durable pedal on the market.

  1. Shimano SP-SL Clipless Pedals (PD-R540)

Unlike the Schwinn pedals, these Shimano SPD-SL pedals are designed only for one type of cleats. All you have to do is to open your exercise bike pedals and put this set of best spin bike pedals on. They can replace your peloton bike pedals as well as pretty much any other standard 9/16″ spin bike SPD pedals.

The Shimano PD-R540 SPD-SL exercise bike pedals also comes with low maintenance sealed bearing cartridge axles which makes them last longer. Have it in mind that this set of Shimano bike pedals for spinning comes with two Yellow SPD-SL cleats with 6° floating.

And if you want to exercise with 2° floating cleats, you can purchase these Blue SPD-SL cleats. Generally, they are the best pedals for spinning because of their high-quality aluminium quality and wide platform. They also have an adjustable entry as well as a tension setting.

  1. Venzo Sealed Look Delta and SPD Exercise Spin Bike Pedals

According to reviews, this pair of Venzo sealed exercise spin bike pedals is unique. These spinning bike pedals are made of chrome steel and sealed bearing which makes them sturdy and solid.

Venzo indoor cycling bike pedals have double-sides. One can be used for three-bolt Look Delta cleats while the other side fits the two-bolt SPD pedals. If you decide to use the Look Delta cleats, you can benefit from the wide surface to transfers more power into the pedal.

By leveraging the Venzo best-rated SPD pedals for spinning, your feet will always stay stable so you can concentrate on exercising.

The Venzo spin bike pedals also comes with low maintenance sealed cartridge axle unit and large binding target for quick engagement. The release tension on these Venzo Look Delta pedals is also adjustable.

  1. Sunlite Exercise Bike Pedals 9/16″ Shimano SPD Compatible

The Sunlite has been one of the best seller replacement bike pedals for spin bikes. With an aluminium body and well-made cages, it’s very light and perfect for indoor cycling bikes. It’s both easy and cost-effective to upgrade your toe clip bike pedals to these dual-sided stationary bike pedals.

Like the rest of the spinning bike pedals in this review, the Sunlite pedals also feature the standard 9/16 threads. Howbeit, switching out your exercise bike’s factory pedals is no headache as long as your bike’s cranks come with standard thread size.

For under $40, these Sunlite SPD cage bike pedals bring road riding tech to your indoor workout. You also don’t need to buy the straps for exercise bike pedals because these are spin bike pedals with clips and straps. While you might think they are the stationary bike pedals only, they are not. You can use them for outdoor cycling as well.

  1. Wellgo WPD-E003 Spin Bike Pedals

The Wellgo indoor cycling bike pedal straps are on the side while on the other side they are the SPD Compatible Spin Bike Pedals.

It simply entails that you can do your indoor spinning exercise with either regular athletic shoes or clip in the SPD cleats for cycling shoes.

The adjustable straps on these indoor exercise bike pedals are adjustable. So, even with regular shoes, your feet will stay firm and stable while spinning.

Although they are good quality spinning bike pedals, most experts recommend you consider Shimano pedals because they are more durable and reliable.

Although, if you are just beginning to exercise, then these Wellgo indoor exercise bike pedals will last. Last but not least, the E003 indoor cycling Pedals Are compatible with SPD Cleats and Not SPD-SL.

  1. Venzo spin bike pedals with clips, cleats, and straps

These top pedals are usually used in Studio class and gym to serve users with spinning shoes and users with gym shoes. Therefore, if you have been looking for SPD for Sunny spin bikes or Keiser, Platone, etc, these Venzo exercise bike pedals are a good choice. With two sides, these spin bike pedals with clips and straps would let you exercise with and without cycling shoes.

You can jump on the stationary bike and start pedalling using the toe baskets or do a more professional intense cycling workout with Spinning SPD shoes.

The SPD side is ideal with Shimano SPD cleats and this means its standard SPD cleat type, although they are not compatible with SPD-SL cleats.

Generally, they are some of the best indoor cycling bike pedals that have straps and SPD. Check them out if have been looking for a good replacement of Schwinn spin bike pedals or other types of spin bike pedals. They are high-quality and worth the price.

  1. Shimano Indoor Cycling PD-M520L SPD pedals

Made by Shimano, these performance bike pedals feature durable and heavy-duty parts. So, if you are ready to change bike pedals and take your spinning workout to the next level, The Shimano PD-M520L exercise bike pedals are a great option.

Note that they boast dual-sided Shimano SPD bindings. It simply entails that on both sides you can clip in your SPD shoes and exercise. These metal bike pedals also come with an entry and exit adjustment so you can make it attach and detach difficult or easy.

For extra durability, the Shimano spinning bike pedals feature Chromoly axles and sealed bearings which makes them the best mountain bike Pedals. The PD-M520L Shimano pedals weigh 380 grams and their design is pretty compact.

With this bike pedals SPD package there is a set of spin bike SPD cleats included. They the Shimano SH051 Cleats requires a bit more force to clip in and out compared to SH056. Generally, they are the best mountain bike pedals that fit perfectly in your indoor cycling bike

  1. Spinner Trio QR SPD Pedals For Indoor Bike

Unlike the other SPD pedals, the 9/16″ Spinner Trio SPD pedals and cleats are a bit different. They work with SPD cleats, SPD-SL cleats, and regular shoes. Note that on one side there is a snape-in pedal platform surface for you to exercise with your athletic shoes.

On the other side, there are the SPD cleats. Therefore, if you want to exercise with your mountain bike SPD shoes but your partner wants to do spinning with her regular athletic shoes, these Dual-sided SPD spin bike pedals are an excellent choice.

Another good feature is that the float, entry, and release tension are adjustable on these spin bike clip Pedals. This Spinner versatile bike pedal set is not too heavy but not the lightest that Spinner makes. Also note that these pedals are an ideal choice for indoor cycling exercise.

The flat oversized platform of these stationary bike pedals lets you hop on with regular shoes for quick rides and cardio workout at home. Generally, it’s one of the best types of SPD for Sunny spin bikes and other brands of indoor cycles.

Investing in the best bicycle Pedals for physical therapy is not an easy job. Irrespective of how long you have been spinning, if it’s your first time looking to buy bicycle pedals for exercise bikes or physical, you are going to need some guidance and tips and it is ideal you get them adequately to avoid mistakes.