Spd Pedals

mobilis

Having allready SPD shoes I'm thinking the Shimano M540 SPD mountain pedals for my first road bike.
What's your opinion?

sicknote

That is what I have on my bike ( well one as I cant get the other peddle off yet :roll: ) and am very happy with it
Hope to get the other one on tonight

alfablue

These would be good, but you might be interested in the M520's on offer at Merlin Cycles for £17.95 delivered. They are functionally identical to the M540's (I have used them and they are brill) but the price might be persuasive.

manick0de

I use SPD's on my road bikes. I don't race but commute and ride for fitness, I'm doing the Cheshire Cat on SPDs aswell.

sicknote

M520 are the ones I got and got them for £12 with delivery from ebay.

They had never been used, so the choice is yours

gkerr4

as above - id go for the 520's rather than the 40s - they can be had for (again, as above) under £15 on ebay.

my presonal opinion is that for a road bike - if you are not planning on commuting or using it for going to the shops - basically that you don't want to be walking when you get there - then use some of the more 'road oriented' pedals such as SPD-SL, Time RXS, Look keo etc.

fooshnicken

I also use 520's and got mine from eBay too. I love the simplicity of them and it means I can use the same shoes on both bikes.

Gav888

Would these cause a 'hot spot' compared to SPD-SL shoes, im one for getting 'hot spots' but like mobilis im very tempted to get 520's or 540's as I can use them on my MTB aswell, but I want to avoid 'hot spots'.......

Lagavulin

I've got the full house i.e. M520s on the MTB, 540s on the Allez and M970 XTRs on the Izoard.

Paired with Specialized's carbon-soled Expert MTB shoes which I find plenty stiff enough for my needs.
I think only in the unlikely event of me competing would I consider a swap to something like Speedplays.

Mossrider

I use SPD's (520's) on my commuter / winter bike and Looks on the summer/race bike. The SPD's are fine. They are much easier to clip in (hence the use on the commuter, no messing around at the lights for me!). Never had a problem and have done numerous sportifs / century rides with them.

dannyg

I use SPD's on my commuter and MTB, i haven't got any pedals on the road bike at the moment, but i'll put the 520's when i need to.

Incidentally, i've got 4 different sets of look pedals on ebay at the m,ment if you're interested

Danny

father_jack

I had Shimano M540 in the past on the roadie, then moved to PD-A520. I wouldn't buy M540them for road bikes unless they're in your spares box and just need a pair. The larger style clips on other pedals are more comfy.

keef66

I have 540's on my road bike; no trouble with hot spots and I think they look OK. (I went for 540's rather than 520's cos they matched the finish on my 105 crankset better)

alfablue

I get no hotspots with SPD's, I think this is partly to do with the design and stiffness of the shoes.

gkerr4

alfablue wrote:

I get no hotspots with SPD's, I think this is partly to do with the design and stiffness of the shoes.

i agree with this - but I think that if you are going to wear stiff shoes - i.e. proper road shoes without the cleat indent - then you aren't going to walk on them anyway and might as well use more road oriented pedals such as SPD-SL or the like - benefit from the wider platform?

surely the benefit of regular SPD is that you can use shoes with recessed cleats and actually walk places when you get there?

alfablue

yes gkerr, you would be right (using road shoes negates the advantage of SPD's), but my shoes are regular spd shoes with recessed cleats, they are not the stiffest but stiff enough to have no hotspots. (Specialized Taho, and Shimano MT-90).

gkerr4

ah - yes - it was the taho i fancied - couldn't get a pair for a C2C ride in 2007 though and ended up with the more leisure focused 'sonoma' - which are a bit on the flexy side!

mobilis

So is M540 for me. Thank you for the comments.

rb1956

gkerr4 wrote:

ah - yes - it was the taho i fancied - couldn't get a pair for a C2C ride in 2007 though and ended up with the more leisure focused 'sonoma' - which are a bit on the flexy side!

I wear Sonomas, and yeah, they've got that funny groove thing at the toe to make them easier to walk in, but I've found them stiff enough to ride 200+km without sore feet, hot spots or numbness. Mind you, I'm fairly weedy, and a spinner rather than a masher, so your mileage may vary.

dazzawazza

I brought some M520s from the CRC flood sale £14. I needed some new cleats anyway as I walk everywhere in my SPD shoes. So effectively they cost £4. Very good pedals even at full retail. They are a fill in for my PX whilst funds don't permit new road shoes and pedals
I must admit though I like my M540s more and have swapped my Allez pedals to the PX.

rally200

I have the the m324s ion my commuter they are excellent. not problem filpping them (and anyway whichever side you hit there'll be enough surface to pedal on). The cage grip is excellent on all shoes (except strangely my shimano mt41s which slide right off wet or dry).

I put them on my Allez for a brief period and they did look a bit clunky - now changed to a520s which I've yet to try on a decent run but am hoping will give a better platform than standard spd's.

Merlin do the 324 very cheap