Baffled by pedals and cleats

jellybellywmb

I am currently using double sided Shimano pedals that i shifted over from my MTB as I only had one pair of shoes and wanted them compatible with both bikes, they have the 2 bolt shimano cleat.

I have bought new road shoes now and thinking of changing pedals for road pedals.
Will road pedals make much difference??
what is best Look, Time Impact, SPD, SPD-R, SPD-SL and Speedplay.

Its all a little confusing

Budget approx £50.00

craker

I was surprised how much nicer I found spd-sl after fitting them to my roadie (similar situation to you - had been sharing shoes and cleats with MTB).

The engagement is much firmer - this could be a set up thing though.

The best thing is the level of support your feet get. The big cleat sits underneath more more of your shoe and is in contact with a bigger area of the pedal - I used to suffer from aching feet after long road rides but this disappeared completely after changing (though the shoes are much stiffer than my old mtb boots.)

No experience of other roadie pedals though.

Limburger

SPD is what you have at the moment I guess. Its generally what you get on MTB pedals.

SPD-R was a failure and I don't think it is still available.

Look, Time and SPD-SL all use a 3 bolt cleat which is most common but they are not inter-compatible.

Speedplay uses 4 bolts, gives alot of float too. Entry cost is high though and I dont think you would get a set for 50 but I may be wrong.

Best bet is one of the three bolt types. Time, Look and Shimano. I have used all three. They have the same basic feel and a large platform but tensions and angles vary from model to model.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of their sub 50 offerings other that Time Xen pedals which are horrible. RXS pedals are much nicer to use. Time pedals also have large tabs on the cleats which make it rather precarious to walk on (for me). The other two do not.

Pretre

I've tried both Look Keo & Time RXS & definitely found the Time to be superior. They feel much more comfortable to me, quite possiblly due to the large amounts of float.
It's also almost impossible to walk in the Keo (I have the scars to prove it! ) but walking in the Time, whilst not exactly elegant, is fine. The other issue with Look is that due to their engagement system if you have to do a bit of walking they get worn down very quickly & become unusable but the Time only engage on a very small piece of metal at the rear of the cleat so if the plastic gets completely worn away you can still use them.

andy_wrx

You can get rubber covers for Look cleats, which a) gives you grip on slippy surfaces like tiled floors, b) means the cleats don't wear down if you walk on them.

It's worth mentioning that none of these road cleat systems are intended for walking any distance on though - if you commute to work and have to put your foot down at lots of traffic lights and junctions en-route, then walk from the bikeshed to your building and then up the stairs, you might be better with the SPD system you have now, which is designed for off-road MTB'ing where you might have to walk or push.

Brocade

Limburger wrote:

SPD is what you have at the moment I guess. Its generally what you get on MTB pedals.

SPD-R was a failure and I don't think it is still available.

Look, Time and SPD-SL all use a 3 bolt cleat which is most common but they are not inter-compatible.

Speedplay uses 4 bolts, gives alot of float too. Entry cost is high though and I dont think you would get a set for 50 but I may be wrong.

Best bet is one of the three bolt types. Time, Look and Shimano. I have used all three. They have the same basic feel and a large platform but tensions and angles vary from model to model.

I don't think you can go wrong with any of their sub 50 offerings other that Time Xen pedals which are horrible. RXS pedals are much nicer to use. Time pedals also have large tabs on the cleats which make it rather precarious to walk on (for me). The other two do not.

Agree re Time RXS. Easier to walk in, more float, guides the foot to centre so doesn't feel like you are on ice... and my knees hurt less, relative to Look. Would recommend.

jellybellywmb

Went for these in the end

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Shima ... 360011753/

Thanks for all the advice