SPD SL for commuting through London

theotherjake

I just ordered a new road bike (CAAD8). Normally I commute on my Boardman Pro MTB but will now use the road bike. Normally I use SPD's (M520) on the Boardman and they work fine in the west end traffic.

I fancy trying some road pedals on the new bike (see link) but not sure how they will work pulling off from the many traffic lights etc.

Any thoughts?


Jake

http://www.evanscycles.com/products/shimano/r540-spd-sl-road-pedals-ec006321

Pufftmw

They will work just fine, no different to bombing it through the woods. Why don't you get SPDs for the road bike & save swapping over cleats or buying new shoes?

pitchshifter

Not ideal for commuting. I find them a pain to get in without looking down, which isn't great when pulling away from a junction or roundabouts. Not easy to walk in either, if you do walk in them you wear the cleats out.

Stick with mtb pedals for the commute, just stick them on your road bike.

theotherjake

I could do but fancy a less bulky road shoe (dhb R1). Are the SPD SL's a pain to clip in when pulling off?

AidanR

They're a bit trickier to clip in to (single sided for a start!), and much harder to walk in. If you're commuting I'd personally stick with SPDs.

phy2sll2

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

tgotb

What they said.

There are loads of non-bulky spd shoes out there, look at some of the ones targetted at CX.

Road pedals have limited advantages and a number of significant disadvantages; these days I use spds for everything except racing...

HamishD

Speedplay Zeroes.

That is all. 8)

seadog12

Good quality SPD SL pedals are fine - when unclipped they are weighted so they angle upwards so, after a bit of practice, you just nudge it with the front of your foot, press down and it clips in without bother. the cleats are a lot easier to walk in then my old Look Delta's too.

kipperonabike

I'm with pitchshifter, stick with the SPD's and dont suffer from pedal envy. Doing a sportive? Fine, swap to better pedals.

uphillbothways

There's no reason to use road pedals for anything other than racing. Double-sided SPDs are cheaper, more durable, easier to use, you don't need to carry a change of shoes and you don't risk going arse over tit if you put your foot down on a manhole cover.

If you want a stiffer pedal interface, buy stiffer shoes. If you want a more solid connection to your pedals, fit single-release SPD cleats and crank up the spring tension on the pedal.

As TGOTB said, road pedals are a lot of downside for very little upside. If you like the cachet of being a "proper roadie" then fine, but there's no real practical benefit.

theotherjake

Some good advice. What I don't understand is why you are more likely to fall with road pedals...

Is it the shoes or cleats?

navt

phy2sll2 wrote:

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

I still do. With floats of course.

gtvlusso

Okay:

SPD-SL or Look cleats: work fine commuting or whatever. Buggers when you put your foot down on a wet road surface for balance or walk in them.

SPD: Can buy shoes that grip on loose surface and on the wet road - walkable with right shoes.


So - I would base it on how often you need to put your foot down or walk. Big cleats (SPD-SL and Look) are awful for balance on wet roads or loose surfaces.

Clipping in and out is the same for all of them - fairly easy, just gotta pre-empt it a bit.

UndercoverElephant

navt wrote:

phy2sll2 wrote:

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

I still do. With floats of course.

Personally, I found R1s to be near lethal with regular SPD cleats, arse over tit on many occasions. If you're wearing road shoes, use road pedals. I use Look Keos on my commute, and they work fine, especially the ones with the grips on. They probably will wear out quite quickly though.

tgotb

theotherjake wrote:

Some good advice. What I don't understand is why you are more likely to fall with road pedals...

Is it the shoes or cleats?

Combination of both. The cleats are hard plastic and stick out below the shoes, so you end up walking on them, whereas most SPD shoes have them in a recess. Because of this, you also end up in a very "toe-high" position, as road shoes generally have no heels. Basically, SPD shoes are (generally) designed for walking, whereas road shoes (generally) aren't. If I have to walk more than a few yards in my road shoes, I take them off and walk in bare feet.

For an example of an SPD shoe with most of the (good) features of a road shoe but which also allows you to walk, look at the Sidi Dominator. You should be able to get something similar for a lot less money, but they're a good example of a road-style shoe designed for SPDs.

DonDaddyD

I use SPD SL as my choice of clipless pedal. Used them for three years. I love them. I have no difficulties clipping in out or whatever.

Love them.

phy2sll2

UndercoverElephant wrote:

navt wrote:

phy2sll2 wrote:

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

I still do. With floats of course.

Personally, I found R1s to be near lethal with regular SPD cleats, ars* over tit on many occasions. If you're wearing road shoes, use road pedals. I use Look Keos on my commute, and they work fine, especially the ones with the grips on. They probably will wear out quite quickly though.

I'm assuming the problems you had were when you were walking around, is that correct? You can get rubberised cleat covers to clip over the cleats but it's a bit of a hassle to carry them around with you. I ended up with one pair of shoes for the commuter bike with the SPDs and one paid for the racer with SPD SLs. All good for me.

daviesee

I use the Sidis as here

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sidi-dominator- ... n=products

and Shimano A520s as here

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-a520 ... -pedals-1/

All the advantages from SPD, very few (if any) disadvantages and looks like road/touring set up. No-one in my club had noticed that they were a mtb set up till I mentioned it.

Cheaper alternatives will be available but I would recommend a similar set up.

mroli

spd sls for me too and absolutely fine. No problem walking the 400m or so to my bike at the start/end of the day, no problems clipping in/out and have them on all my bikes (apart from Cross). Basic SPD SLs are relatively cheap too and have performed throughout the year for me.

No worries.

navt

UndercoverElephant wrote:

navt wrote:

phy2sll2 wrote:

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

I still do. With floats of course.

Personally, I found R1s to be near lethal with regular SPD cleats, ars* over tit on many occasions. If you're wearing road shoes, use road pedals. I use Look Keos on my commute, and they work fine, especially the ones with the grips on. They probably will wear out quite quickly though.

I found this too, but hence the qualification with the floats. Works a treat.

SmellTheGlove

navt wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

navt wrote:

phy2sll2 wrote:

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

I still do. With floats of course.

Personally, I found R1s to be near lethal with regular SPD cleats, ars* over tit on many occasions. If you're wearing road shoes, use road pedals. I use Look Keos on my commute, and they work fine, especially the ones with the grips on. They probably will wear out quite quickly though.

I found this too, but hence the qualification with the floats. Works a treat.

dhb R1s are sitting in my w!ggle shopping basket waiting for me to squeeze the trigger; now I find this little nugget. Near lethal???
I have some Aldi/Lidl MTB shoes with SPD cleats at the minute, no problem with unclipping even with surrounding tread. Seems odd that SPD cleats on the R1s could be worse when the sole's smooth? Or is the problem with something other than unclipping?

cjcp

M520s for the commute (on a road bike), and SPD SLs for the weekend bike.

I got fed up of wearing out my cleats on the SLs through all the touching down at the lights. I have a Kingston-City commute, with 50 sets of lights each way.

tgotb

SmellTheGlove wrote:

navt wrote:

UndercoverElephant wrote:

navt wrote:

phy2sll2 wrote:

You can use the R1 with SPD style cleats too. I did for a long time.

I still do. With floats of course.

Personally, I found R1s to be near lethal with regular SPD cleats, ars* over tit on many occasions. If you're wearing road shoes, use road pedals. I use Look Keos on my commute, and they work fine, especially the ones with the grips on. They probably will wear out quite quickly though.

I found this too, but hence the qualification with the floats. Works a treat.

dhb R1s are sitting in my w!ggle shopping basket waiting for me to squeeze the trigger; now I find this little nugget. Near lethal???
I have some Aldi/Lidl MTB shoes with SPD cleats at the minute, no problem with unclipping even with surrounding tread. Seems odd that SPD cleats on the R1s could be worse when the sole's smooth? Or is the problem with something other than unclipping?

I assume the problem is with walking (where SPD-specific shoes win because the cleat is recessed).

EKE_38BPM

SPD-SLs are OKfor commuting in. You have to have your wits about you with regards to clipping out at junctions etc, but all clipless pedals are the same.
The only problem with SPD-SLs is trying to walk in them. If you have to walk more than a few steps, they are a pain in the bottom bracket and wear out quickly, but if you don't have to put your foot down or walk in them, they are great.

I used SLs for years around town and the only problem I ever had was walking from the car park to the office, actually on the bike is fine, better than SPDs, but that is the whole point of them ennit?

rolf_f

You get used to whatever you use so it probably doesn't matter that much in functional terms which you pick. However, it is hard to ignore the facts that the M520s are cheaper than road pedals and the cleats last far longer. Given that there aren't really any advantages in SLs for most commutes, and a few disadvantages, it is hard to see why they would be a preferred choice particularly if you use them already.

Incidentally, I have done 3 one hundred mile plus rides this year - two using M520s and one on Look Keo road pedals. I can't recall at any point whilst riding with the M520s wishing I was on the Keos. Not to say that I don't like the Keos but I'm not convinced that they are a real tangible improvement on the 520s; but I could never put 520s on my Look just because it would be wrong

gaz545

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=trp_UZgMWTE
Walking in SPD-SL cleats is easy. Just like normal walking.
I commute 30miles a day with them through London with an average of 7 traffic lights each mile and i've never fallen over or nearly slipped due to the cleat or my shoe.

It's easy to clip in as the pedal is weighted so all you need to do is learn where to put your foot to get the cleat to go through the loop at the top of the pedal. It may take me a fraction of a second longer to clip in away from the lights than those using MTB SPD, but the gain i get over in a better clip, bigger platform and stiffer shoe means i'm accelerating past them pretty soon.

rolf_f

gaz545 wrote:

but the gain i get over in a better clip, bigger platform and stiffer shoe means i'm accelerating past them pretty soon.

Lol - That's the most optimistic thing I've heard since someone bet a quid on the UK winning the Eurovision song contest

Still, good point. Instead of doing lots of serious training this year, I now know I can knock an hour off my Fred time by just using the Keos instead!

gaz545

Rolf F wrote:

gaz545 wrote:

but the gain i get over in a better clip, bigger platform and stiffer shoe means i'm accelerating past them pretty soon.

Lol - That's the most optimistic thing I've heard since someone bet a quid on the UK winning the Eurovision song contest

Still, good point. Instead of doing lots of serious training this year, I now know I can knock an hour off my Fred time by just using the Keos instead!

LOL that isn't what i meant, but go ahead fred, buy some keos.

Not all of us are freds, some of us have big legs which can push big power. Using little egg beaters with a small cleat means you can't put all your power down.

H*Bomb

I use M520s on my road and mountain bike - makes everything a lot easier. But do find on very long rides my feet can go numb with the smaller cleats/softer soles.
Currently awaiting some SPD shoes with stiffer soles.

tgotb

H*Bomb wrote:

Currently awaiting some SPD shoes with stiffer soles.

The correct answer.

I honestly can't feel any difference between the SPDs on my commuting/training bike and the Looks on my race bike (apart from the release tension, which is intentionally set up differently), but I do have pretty stiff shoes on both. If you can feel the small size of the SPD pedal/cleat, your shoes aren't stiff enough.

I race with proper road pedals because I can (and I guess it must make *some* difference), but if someone told me I had to race in SPDs I wouldn't be that bothered...