shoes and cleats

SteveR_100Milers

any recommendations for entry level shoes and pedals to match - I need lots of float (dodgy knees) and easy entry (I am used to road Time RXE pedals) Was thinking about Time atac's and soem cheap (DHB, sixsix etc) shoes......bike has currently got spd pedals, but have heard they have little float.

batch78

From memory the Times have 5 degrees of float, Shimano's 4 degrees, so I'm not sure you'll notice the differance.

I've only ever used Shimano on road (spd-sl) and mountain bike (spd) and my dodgy knees never been a problem.

The dhb shoes are fantastic value for money, but if your used to a nice lightweight, comfortable, road shoe you'll probably be a little underwhelmed with the feeling of them!

I took the insole out of mine and replaced with an aftermarket padded one.

Hope this helps.

Strongy

it may only seem a little on the figures but the times do have soooo much more float, allow your legs, knees, feet etc to move around much more than shimano's, or so i've found.

However i'm going back to shimano, i find them easier and quicker to get out of, i;ve had too many sketchy moments with my times, although they are comfortable and allow a much nice pedal motion, more natural i find, but maybe i'm just twisting my feet oddly.

pdid

For shoes can thouroughly recommend Specialized BG:

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/spe ... s-ec011618

The BG (body geomentry) is supposedly good for knees.

Only ever used shimano spd`s so can`t advise.

Phil

kingderham

I also want to get some spds i have deciced on shimano deore xt pedals and shimano m122 shoes. Does anyone know if these shoes are waterproof and also recommendations are well receieved

Thank you

SteveR_100Milers

and why exactly are road pedals not such a good idea? less easy to unclip in an accident?

Strongy

less easy to clip out of, only have one side engagement, wouldn't imagine they would fare too well in mud and all that either, also if you ever have to get off and push i can imagine it would be a nightmare walking up a steep hill with road cleats on your shoes...

SteveR_100Milers

Tried spd's today, what a load of crap! They just about *work* in that the shoe is located on the pedal, but once it gets rough they bounce out. I cant seem to get them locked in properly, and I thought that Time RXE road pedals were sh1te for engagement! Good fun though this MTBing lark, nothing quite like belting downhill at 25mph going sideways!!

BorisSpencer

Have you adjusted the release tension ?

omegas

You must have the tension set all the way off, if you have a look at the mechanism you will see the a small grub screw , tighten this up a few clicks, sit on the bike in a doorway and try releasing and adjust until you find what feels good. Take the allen key with you on your next ride and fine tune while you are out .

What pedals are you using ?

SteveR_100Milers

Aha, yes perhaps thats the problem. I'm not sure exactly which pedals as they came on the bike (2nd hand). They have got a flatty plate clipped in one side, and the clipless mechanism on the other (so double sided but oine side has the flat pedal plate attached).

I'll try adjusting the tension tomorrow, but if anything it feels as if its set way too high, as I cant push the mechanism open enough to push the cleat under the rear clip.

salsarider79

If you have dodgy knees, then you must try egg beaters. They are realy easy to get in and out of. I've tried various pedals (But not time pedals) and egg beaters win it for me.
Also the Spec shoes are brilliant. I've got both road (Pro and Comp) and MTB (Comp) shoes. Well reccommended.

BlackSpur

salsarider79 wrote:

If you have dodgy knees, then you must try egg beaters. They are realy easy to get in and out of. I've tried various pedals (But not time pedals) and egg beaters win it for me.
Also the Spec shoes are brilliant. I've got both road (Pro and Comp) and MTB (Comp) shoes. Well reccommended.

It sounds like the OP wants a positive click to signal engaging/disengagind of the pedal. Crank Bros pedals are known not to offer this. Shimano SPDs, on the other hand, do very much so when set up properly.

SteveR_100Milers

Well, left cleat is engaging ok, in fact too well as I fell off twice today at Afan. Right cleats is still not set up right. To be honest, id have felt safer in road pedals, at least I can reliably unclip in a hurry, whereas I had to fit one direction cleats (none others in LBS) and I find them a bugger to unclip quickly.

nferrar

It's not SPD itself that's the problem there's either something wrong with the pedals or cleats you're using or you have them adjusted wrong. I've used various clipless pedals over the years and never had issues with any of them. I used to prefer Time for road pedals but now use Shimano and have always used SPDs on MTBs (apart from when I did some XC racing with my Time road pedals/shoes - not great if you need to walk though ).

Unless you do the tension up way tight it's probably easier to unclip from SPDs than road pedals (the uni-directional release SPDs are fine btw) but you shouldn't be accidentally unclipping unless you have a weird pedalling style (assuming the tension is OK).

You might just need a few more rides to get used to it but it should be easier to switch from road to mtb clipless than the other way around.

craker

They might not be very good pedals. I got some Lidl ones a while back, rubbish (as you'd expect), not very positive engagement etc,

However I've always offroaded on Shimano pedals (m520s, £16 ish off ebay) and had plenty of offs where they disengaged and they keep my feet nice and attached at other times

SteveR_100Milers

I suspect that most of the cause of the off's were down to my p1ss poor balance, but I do need to try adjusting them before ditching them for atac's or something else. I expected MTB pedals to be looser than road pedals (not as in float but as in ease of disengaging).