Why Do Most Roadies Waddle Around On Their Heels ?

davecooper

I use SPD's for the 20 mile round trip to work and they are fine for this. The only thing about these is the crunching noise of stones under the cleats when walking on paved surfaces. I always think this can't be doing the cleats any good. Strangely, I sometimes find myself walking on my heels to avoid such events which totally negates the advantages of the system. Perhaps I shouldn't be so paranoid.

pliptrot

Thankyou aracer for a little sense. I'm really not sure how to justify paying more than 100 quid on shoes made in China, as many companies ask us to do, but one thing you (should be) are paying for is a rigid sole. Hence the total negation of the size-of-platform argument. But, that's poor marketing - never sell one pair of shoes when you can sell two. Of course, the purists would recoil in horror if you turned out with off-road shoes on a road bike for serious rides, and whenever I see this herd mentality I wish I sold bicycle equipment. For a little while there Shimano were putting SPD road pedals under some very distinguished feet, and I love to see others who have to make their living as widget managers (-whatever-) talking with the earnest distinction of those whose living it is to ride bicycles.

A quick look at what couriers use might be instructive as to what you really need to put the power down.

redddraggon

pliptrot wrote:

But, that's poor marketing - never sell one pair of shoes when you can sell two.

Not all of us need two pairs of shoes anyway. I'm happy with just a pair of road shoes.

mercsport

pliptrot wrote : " A quick look at what couriers use might be instructive as to what you really need to put the power down "

Still avidly following this thread but as I don't live in the 'smoke ' or any other city I'd be intrigued to know what 'couriers' do use . SPD's ? :?:

redddraggon

You have to remember that couriers have to get off the bike aswell.

mercsport

reddragon wrote : " You have to remember that couriers have to get off the bike aswell.
"

We all do . Hence my mystication at why it is amateur roadies opt for a 'so called' road racing shoe when an spd'd road racing shoe with a tread pattern - otherwise known as a racing mtb shoe - does the job at the cost of - I'm guessing - a very few hundredths of a second over a century .

The The

mercsport wrote:

We all do . Hence my mystication at why it is amateur roadies opt for a 'so called' road racing shoe when an spd'd road racing shoe with a tread pattern - otherwise known as a racing mtb shoe - does the job at the cost of - I'm guessing - a very few hundredths of a second over a century .

I almost never get off my road bike when I'm out for a ride. I step out my door, get on the bike and, save perhaps for a nature break, I remain on my bike until I get home again.

Not everyone needs, or cares, to walk around when out riding.

scherrit

Hmm,
I think that some of the issues that some people have with spuds relate to the pedal/shoe interface... if this is not tight enough (or the materials in contact are not solid) then you tend to get rolling of the foot in the "pronation/supination"dimension (aka foot inversion/eversion). Some shoes (eg spec tahoe) have a feebly designed rubbery outsole which misses the side body of the spud when trying to get the foot tight against the crank, giving a very wobbly foot.

If the shoe/pedal interface is good and if the shoe is also very rigid, you can get close to road shoe-like security.YMMV!!
S.
PS....I'm still using two strong straps on ancient dura ace pedals!

couscous

The The wrote:

I almost never get off my road bike when I'm out for a ride. I step out my door, get on the bike and, save perhaps for a nature break, I remain on my bike until I get home again.

Not everyone needs, or cares, to walk around when out riding.

Exactly, couldn't have put it better.

Although not an "amatuer roadie", I have tried Look orignal, Time, Look Keos and SPDs. The Keos are by far the best IMHO, I found it incrediblely difficult to "click" into the SPDs where as the "roadie" pedals with their bigger platform are much much easier. Plus with "roadie" pedals if I want to ride to the shops I can wear trainers, something I couldn't do with the SPDs, but then each to their own.

I race TTs and suspect that the cost of using MTB shoes would be a bit more than a few hundreths of second.

simbil1

couscous wrote:

I race TTs and suspect that the cost of using MTB shoes would be a bit more than a few hundreths of second.

That seems to be a common concern - but what's it based on? Obviously a soft or heavy MTB shoe will have some loss but I can't see where a loss would come from with the SPD system (SPD pedal plus carbon soled MTB race or road shoe) compared to SPD-SL system - not saying there isn't one just can't find any kind of evidence other than 'suspicions'.
It's funny that there is lots of data for rolling resistance of tyres and wind resistance of wheels but very little for power transfer from foot to rear tyre contact point :?:
My suspicion is that like a lot of kit, it actually makes bugger all difference :shock: (unless you are placing in TTs or races).

Toj

When I race TTs with my carbon soled MTB shoes I always have shoe covers on as do most of the other racers. I thought that made the difference as opposed to what shoe you are wearing?

andrewgturnbull

Hi folks.

Just to confound the spd-wearers even more...

When I race I usually leave my (carbon-soled, treadless) shoes clipped into the pedals and dismount barefoot. At speed.

;-)

Cheers, Andy

simbil1

You should take some flip-flops in your back pocket

brit66

I have to walk about 100m from my bike rack at work to the entrance and then clip-clop up a flight of shiny stairs to the shower. This is why I've still got normal pedals on my bike at the moment.

Come the summer, when I don't need to wear socks, I intent to leave the shoes attached to the bike and carry in my rucksack a pair of flip-flops.

Surely someone can invent some lightweight road shoes you can also walk in?

simbil1

http://www.vibramfivefingers.com/

Or deck/beach shoes are light and small.

ddraver

Could nt we (or really you as i'm a MTBer) come at this from another angle and ask why Roadie shoes, or perhaps at least non performance shoes, are not designed to accomodate walking in Road pedal cleats more

There must be a way of protecting the cleat at the front or building up the heel pad a little more to allow people to stand up straight to walk about a little.....

i don't like walking in my MTB shoes cos it will ruin the cleat

robbarker

Blonde wrote:

Spds give you a small surface area in contact with the pedal. This is fine if you are not doing long distance.

I don't agree with that at all. The larger contact area of SPD-SL is good for performance - I have them on my road/triathlon bike, mainly because they allow use of massively stiff-soled racing shoes.

In contrast, I run Shimano A520 SPD touring pedals on my audax bike. To be honest, there's not that much difference in feel with the road setup - even with Shimano touring shoes. They are fantastic over long distances, up to 600Km Audaxes in my own experience.

Lhance

i did a lot of audax long distance rideing with crank brothers so i could walk easily . ended up badly injured . spd are great on MTB , but wider support is needed on road riding . I lost 18 months of riding and the worst pain ever, be warned

robbarker

The A520s also have a platform to support the foot, so offer the best of both words in one sense:

fluff.

Does that platform actually do anything, other than add weight, if you have a decent carbon soled shoe with little or no flex though?

Lhance wrote:

i did a lot of audax long distance rideing with crank brothers so i could walk easily . ended up badly injured . spd are great on MTB , but wider support is needed on road riding . I lost 18 months of riding and the worst pain ever, be warned

Well that's one experience, I got increasing knee pain with road pedals and now use Time MTB pedals, with their lateral as well as rotational float, on all my bikes to great effect.

Felix-da-house-mouse

i dont know about everyone else but i dont tend to go up the town shopping in my cleats, i put them on at the bike and take them off at the bike cos if you walk in them they wear like hell and can also crack. i think the whole idea of proper road cleats is simply for peddling efficency using the stiffness of the shoe to take alot more power to the pedal and not into the shoe hense most if not all good pairs of road shoes have carbon soles or something similar.

nasahapley

fluff. wrote:

Does that platform actually do anything, other than add weight, if you have a decent carbon soled shoe with little or no flex though?
quote]

I would humbly suggest that no, it doesn't. The shoes I've got aren't pricey carbon soled jobs either, just plain old plastic. I've done loads of miles in them, including a fair few centuries, and not only have I never had any problems with the small contact area (I never thought about it before this thread, TBH), it never crossed my mind that anyone else would either.

Guess I'm just lucky that a cheap pedal system that allows me to walk normally doesn't cause me any problems! This thread is good, could turn into the new campag v shimano

andrewgturnbull

nasahapley wrote:

This thread is good, could turn into the new campag v shimano

Hi there.

This thread started to go badly as soon as mercsport started to type in the subject...

No-one I know who road races refer to themselves as 'roadies', usually that is a term that others, mountain bikes, commuters, tourers etc use. So what we basically had was someone taking the p*ss out other people because they didn't understand their point of view.

Road racing shoes are minimalist, stiff soled shoes that aren't designed for walking in - they are just designed for riding fast. Thats it.

One final thought for the original poster:

Never judge another man until you've walked a mile in their shoes...

...then you can say what you like 'cos you're a mile away and they've got no shoes!

Cheers, Andy

pliptrot

andrewgturnbull wrote:

Hi folks.

Just to confound the spd-wearers even more...

When I race I usually leave my (carbon-soled, treadless) shoes clipped into the pedals and dismount barefoot. At speed.

;-)

Cheers, Andy

Deliberately? :twisted:

andrewgturnbull

pliptrot wrote:

Deliberately? :twisted:

Almost always...

aracer

I'm interested in your use of the word "almost", and think details of the other times should be provided...

andrewgturnbull

aracer wrote:

I'm interested in your use of the word "almost", and think details of the other times should be provided...

I've been reading the 'guns in cycling' thread, and I think I should be able to reserve my rights under the 2nd ammendment...

Cheers, Andy