Pedals... Road or MTB?

mrobbie

Recently bought a Trek road bike and looking to swap out the pedals to go clipless (1st time)

I primarily use my bike for a 10 mile commute to work, where I lock the bike in the work bike store then head to the showers. No real walking there.

I am reading about many people getting street/touring shoes and MTB pedals for commuting which has confused me.

I am doing a 4 day charity ride this summer which is swaying me to the road shoes and pedals.

Can anyone shed some light on this to help me get to an answer??

Thanks
Mike

simon_e

Groundhog Day!

http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12768340
http://www.bikeradar.com/forums/viewtop ... t=12757594

Or do a search for 'SPD shoes'.

lvquestpaddler

From what I know road shoes(road, race type) have less float in them side to side, and you're shafted if something goes wrong and you have to walk anywhere- they are built for on the bike and max power through the pedals....
SPD's as found on MTB's etc have more float so are probably simpler to set up. I use these on my road bike and mtb(one of them) with Shimano MO86 mtb shoes and they work perfectly well on both.
(You may get ignored/blanked/looked down the nose upon by those cretinous roadie fashion victims- you know the sort, team everything blah blah shave a gram off my stem blah blah types but I don't care!!)
Other than that there are touring type shoes which in my experience are really only good for that- they generally have lace ups, are pretty comfy but can be more like a pair of merrell walking shoes with spd capability added in as an afterthought....and can be wide at the heel so may be tight off the chainstays.

You could always get pedals with spd one side, flat the other for normal shoes?
A lot of options really hope that helps a bit!!! :P

Marcus_C

mrobbie wrote:

I am doing a 4 day charity ride this summer which is swaying me to the road shoes and pedals.

That shouldn't sway you one way or the other really, it should sway you to your LBS to try the most comfortable shoes you can afford with fairly stiff soles. Maybe you'll be able to work out a cleat system from that, you'll probably have 3/4 options whichever way you go.

wizzlebanger

From my point of view it comes down to this :

road race type : Clip in. Don't clip out for a few hours on a long long ride.

spd type : clipping in and out every 5-10 minutes.

Of course you can commute in both but I personally think one is more suited than the other in regard to commuting.

simon_e

lvquestpaddler wrote:

From what I know road shoes(road, race type) have less float in them side to side, and you're shafted if something goes wrong and you have to walk anywhere

I tried a pair of Shimano 105 road pedals with Specialized BG shoes today.

Clipping in and out was tighter than the average SPD but not really different from my Shimano A520 one-sided SPD pedals. A bit less play (good) but also less float (bad). I didn't like walking the short distance I had to.

Can't see it's worth the expense of an additional pedal & cleat system unless you're racing. I find double-sided SPDs ideal for commuting and general riding, the 'stamp and go' without needing to look down or flick the pedal over is great. If you have reasonably stiff soles the smaller contact area isn't an issue. I've never found this a problem with my MT40 shoes, which are not even particularly stiff-soled.

If anyone gets sniffy about your 'inferior' SPD shoes or pedals you will know that person is a tosser.

tptvmbircn

me personally I go for MTB, you can walk places easier than road. MTB and ROAD difference, both them sound like your wearing hi heals, just you look more like a pengiun in road cleats

mrobbie

Thanks all

I had tried searching but did not see anything that related - seems I was searching wrong as those 2 other posts were great info :oops:

Thanks wizzlebanger - think you nailed it with the commet re clipping in and out frequently - as a commuter a foot down is something that happens a lot on the journey with traffic lights etc. Seems MTB pedals are easier to get in to on a frequent basis.

Now to decide on the shoes... Bontrager Street or Specialized BG Sport Touring....

tptvmbircn

I really love Specialized BG items, got a sadlle and grips and looking to get shoes also, they are so comfy.

wizzlebanger

No probs! I would suggest the place to start for pedals would be a pair of shimano m520's.

Dual sided and yours for about £25. Bomb proof as well.

mrobbie

just tried on the Specialized shoes... they felt like slippers! Perfect.

Buckled_Rims

wizzlebanger wrote:

No probs! I would suggest the place to start for pedals would be a pair of shimano m520's.

Dual sided and yours for about £25. Bomb proof as well.

+1 Shimano M520

But you can get the pedals and cleats for £20 if you look around. I've 3 pairs of M520 and not one has let me down in 5 years. Be awhere there's 2 slightly different cleats available. One seems to be very floaty and the other not so floaty

gilesjuk

Road shoes and cleats are a nightmare to walk in and I've ridden MTB pedals for over 90 miles and never had problems with comfort.

So the perceived benefit of a larger contact area seems to be of a very negligible benefit.

mrobbie

Yes, seen the 520's for £20... got them in my sights for this weekend...

mrobbie

Shimano 520 pedals and Specialized BG Sport Touring shoes bought 8)

Shame they only do the shoes in black as the white road ones look fantastic

Still no road bike as yet - damned cyclescheme voucher!

Not going to fit the pedals onto my MTB - just going to hold off as the voucher should hopefully be through this week so can get the new bike at the weekend and fit the pedals straight onto it.

alfablue

Buckled_Rims wrote:

wizzlebanger wrote:

No probs! I would suggest the place to start for pedals would be a pair of shimano m520's.

Dual sided and yours for about £25. Bomb proof as well.

+1 Shimano M520

But you can get the pedals and cleats for £20 if you look around. I've 3 pairs of M520 and not one has let me down in 5 years. Be awhere there's 2 slightly different cleats available. One seems to be very floaty and the other not so floaty

The two tyoes of cleat are single release (which come as standard) and multi-release. The float is the same at 5 degrees, the difference is the multi-release will release no matter which way you twist your foot, single release is heel outwards twist to release. Multi's are arguably better for beginners, but with the pedal tension set low there is little difference really, and not worth the extra £9 or so IMHO.

I have M520' XT and XTR SPD's, the difference between the 520's (£20) and the XTR's (£80ish) is £60 and 24g per pedal, in use I couldn't tell them apart.

Buckled_Rims

alfablue wrote:

The two tyoes of cleat are single release (which come as standard) and multi-release. The float is the same at 5 degrees, the difference is the multi-release will release no matter which way you twist your foot, single release is heel outwards twist to release. Multi's are arguably better for beginners, but with the pedal tension set low there is little difference really, and not worth the extra £9 or so IMHO.

I have M520' XT and XTR SPD's, the difference between the 520's (£20) and the XTR's (£80ish) is £60 and 24g per pedal, in use I couldn't tell them apart.

You are correct I was getting float mixed up with releases.

However, my commuting MT40 shoes with SH56 cleats are far more "floating" then my more serious Time shoes with SH51 cleats on.