Shoe's and pedals

calonuk

Ok so i have been on here for a few weeks now and hear a lot of people talking about shoes and pedals and how it benefits and help acheive better effeciency.

I have a b'day coming up and found these items which i plan to ask ppl for. Are they any good? are they compatible? will i need anything else.? Will i fall on my arse into traffic the first time i use them


http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/Shimano-MT52-SPD- ... 1e624467d7

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shi ... RRWidgetID

Many thanks

EKE_38BPM

In brief:
Yes, they are good (maybe not for racing, but fine for commuting)
Yes, they are compatible
No, you won't need anything else
Yes, you will fall off, but probably not the first time you use them. Practice away from traffic (like a park) before venturing onto the open road.
You'll be fine in the park and the first few times you use them, then you'll relax, forget you are using them and fall off at about 2mph.
Sorry, thats just the way it is.

calonuk

so really silly question how do the clip/attach togeather?

Ian.B

Hi Calonuk,

Yes they are compatible, no you won't need anything else, and you will get used to them very quickly. The pedals will come with the cleats that you need to bolt onto the bottom of the shoes. To start with,at least until you are used to them, set the tension on the pedals to the loosest setting - you'll need a small allen key, using the bolt by the +/- sign which you can see in the picture on the link you attached

Ian.B

calonuk wrote:

so really silly question how do the clip/attach togeather?

Just put your foot on and push forwards to engage with the front bit of the pedal and then stamp down withe your heel and it will click in, if that makes any sense. Once you see how to do it it's obvious but it's hard to explain so If you're buying them from Evans, why not get them from the shop and ask them to show you?

calonuk

Thanks I think i understand what you mean, so to release your foot you just have to twist out then? knowing my luck will forget at a busy junction and land on someones bonet.

lots of practice first i think.

rolf_f

Ian.B wrote:

Just put your foot on and push forwards to engage with the front bit of the pedal and then stamp down withe your heel and it will click in, if that makes any sense.

Not that complicated with SPDs. As long as you have the cleat over the pedal, you can push straight down pretty much like you would using an ordinary flat pedal. No stamping either - just a firm pressure.

The outward flick of the heel does become second nature but there probably will be a painful incident or two - usually when something else distracts you.

Kieran_Burns

calonuk wrote:

Thanks I think i understand what you mean, so to release your foot you just have to twist out then? knowing my luck will forget at a busy junction and land on someones bonet.

lots of practice first i think.

It will happen, be assured of this. It's the ".....oooOOOoooo..." WHUMP! moment.

That dawning realisation that you forgot something really important just as the bike leans over while you're at a standstill.

That moment of frantic leg wiggling that makes you look like you're suffering from St Vitus dance and then the gentle topple, increasing in speed and momentum and inevitably your foot pops out a millisecond before impact.

Oh and it's ALWAYS the wrong foot. It just is.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and bow to the appreciative crowd. Oh yes, there's always a crowd. Get on the bike and ride off.

You are now an experienced cyclist 8)

shouldbeinbed

Kieran_Burns wrote:

calonuk wrote:

Thanks I think i understand what you mean, so to release your foot you just have to twist out then? knowing my luck will forget at a busy junction and land on someones bonet.

lots of practice first i think.

It will happen, be assured of this. It's the ".....oooOOOoooo..." WHUMP! moment.

That dawning realisation that you forgot something really important just as the bike leans over while you're at a standstill.

That moment of frantic leg wiggling that makes you look like you're suffering from St Vitus dance and then the gentle topple, increasing in speed and momentum and inevitably your foot pops out a millisecond before impact.

Oh and it's ALWAYS the wrong foot. It just is.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and bow to the appreciative crowd. Oh yes, there's always a crowd. Get on the bike and ride off.

You are now an experienced cyclist 8)

This. the only thing to do when you have your moment is smile and wave.

have you looked at any shoes in shops & tried any on. It may be my feet but I never feel 100% happy in Shimano shoes, they never feel as grippy round my heel as Specialized do, even when just walking and its worse when riding and pulling up on the pedal. I've never had them pop off my foot or anything dramatic like that and I use them as a Plan B shoe if my Spesh Sonomas are still wet or have hidden themselves overnight but they just don't feel as firmly attached to me as I'd like.

Wrath Rob

It will still get you years later. I've beet clipless on all of my bikes for 3.5 years now, yet I had my last moment on a club run whilst leading the newbie ride. Doh! It was the opposite to most though, we'd stopped at the top of the hill and when we got going again I pushed off, failed to clip in with my left foot and then toppled over to the right before I could clip back in and pedal off, or unclip and stand up. Double Doh!

rick_chasey

Could I recommend asking for eats shoots & leaves for your birthday?

bails87

Rick Chasey wrote:

Could I recommend asking for eats shoots & leaves for your birthday?

Your write, that would be useful.

nation

Rolf F wrote:

The outward flick of the heel does become second nature but there probably will be a painful incident or two - usually when something else distracts you.

I'm commuting on flat pedals at the moment and realised the other day that I still instinctively do the unclipping twist-flick before putting a foot down.

il_principe

bails87 wrote:

Rick Chasey wrote:

Could I recommend asking for eats shoots & leaves for your birthday?

Your write, that would be useful.

You may never have a clip-less moment. I'm yet to have mine. Find I occasionally heel flick when riding a Boris Bike etc... really does become second nature.

Initialised

Kieran_Burns wrote:

calonuk wrote:

Thanks I think i understand what you mean, so to release your foot you just have to twist out then? knowing my luck will forget at a busy junction and land on someones bonet.

lots of practice first i think.

It will happen, be assured of this. It's the ".....oooOOOoooo..." WHUMP! moment.

That dawning realisation that you forgot something really important just as the bike leans over while you're at a standstill.

That moment of frantic leg wiggling that makes you look like you're suffering from St Vitus dance and then the gentle topple, increasing in speed and momentum and inevitably your foot pops out a millisecond before impact.

Oh and it's ALWAYS the wrong foot. It just is.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and bow to the appreciative crowd. Oh yes, there's always a crowd. Get on the bike and ride off.

You are now an experienced cyclist 8)

You make it sound so appealing, I might just go SPD, one thing though, wil it actually make me faster/more efficient or will it just turn dismounts into comedy moments?

dhope

Initialised wrote:

Kieran_Burns wrote:

calonuk wrote:

Thanks I think i understand what you mean, so to release your foot you just have to twist out then? knowing my luck will forget at a busy junction and land on someones bonet.

lots of practice first i think.

It will happen, be assured of this. It's the ".....oooOOOoooo..." WHUMP! moment.

That dawning realisation that you forgot something really important just as the bike leans over while you're at a standstill.

That moment of frantic leg wiggling that makes you look like you're suffering from St Vitus dance and then the gentle topple, increasing in speed and momentum and inevitably your foot pops out a millisecond before impact.

Oh and it's ALWAYS the wrong foot. It just is.

Pick yourself up, dust yourself off and bow to the appreciative crowd. Oh yes, there's always a crowd. Get on the bike and ride off.

You are now an experienced cyclist 8)

You make it sound so appealing, I might just go SPD, one thing though, wil it actually make me faster/more efficient or will it just turn dismounts into comedy moments?

Yep, slightly more efficient. The sole of the shoe is rigid so you put more power down, and as you get a bit more power through the whole of the rotation instead of just the down part of the stroke.

Not lots mind, but it's noticable going back to trainers after.

optimisticbiker

dhope wrote:

Yep, slightly more efficient. The sole of the shoe is rigid so you put more power down, and as you get a bit more power through the whole of the rotation instead of just the down part of the stroke.

Not lots mind, but it's noticable going back to trainers after.

Indeed, after riding clip-less for nearly 10y I had the misfortune of trying out a Boris bike the other day in my normal office shoes... took ages to get to grips with the fact that my foot kept coming off the pedal on the upstroke and that you couldnt position the pedals for a push-off by pulling them round with the foot that wasnt on the ground...

dhope

OptimisticBiker wrote:

dhope wrote:

Yep, slightly more efficient. The sole of the shoe is rigid so you put more power down, and as you get a bit more power through the whole of the rotation instead of just the down part of the stroke.

Not lots mind, but it's noticable going back to trainers after.

Indeed, after riding clip-less for nearly 10y I had the misfortune of trying out a Boris bike the other day in my normal office shoes... took ages to get to grips with the fact that my foot kept coming off the pedal on the upstroke and that you couldnt position the pedals for a push-off by pulling them round with the foot that wasnt on the ground...

Multiplied when you're used to riding fixed and clipless. Nearly fell over because I got used to anticipating the weight of the bike when lifting the back wheel to position the pedal...