New pedals and shoes

Four Foot Snake

Can anyone tell if it is ok to put Shimano PD - M520 (i think they were designed for mountain bikes) pedals on a Orbea Road Bike and Use Shimano Road Shoes maybe a stupid question but have been offered a set of pedals free and would like to know the pros and cons if I do.
Many Thanks

neilo23

You can use the pedals with the shoes but SPD cleats with road shoes is not a good combination. The surface area of the cleat is too small: it doesn't feel secure, you get a lot of rotational movement between shoe and pedal (a mountain bike shoe has the cut-out part in the sole to reduce this) and they're even worse to walk with than road cleats.
Either buy the pedals and mountain bike shoes, or buy the shoes and a pair of road pedals.

Four Foot Snake

Thank you for your help

Thebigbee

neilo23 wrote:

You can use the pedals with the shoes but SPD cleats with road shoes is not a good combination. The surface area of the cleat is too small: it doesn't feel secure, you get a lot of rotational movement between shoe and pedal (a mountain bike shoe has the cut-out part in the sole to reduce this) and they're even worse to walk with than road cleats.
Either buy the pedals and mountain bike shoes, or buy the shoes and a pair of road pedals.

Sorry but I don't agree with any of this post at all. Thousands of people use the PD M520s as their first foray into SPDs and the reviews are incredibly positive http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-m520-pedals/

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=3759

And to say that a mountain bike spd shoe is "even worse to walk with than road cleats." - what with recessed cleats and a proper sole?

You are talking utter bollox I am afraid and not too sure why....?

CiB

I run that combination - 520 pedals & proper road shoes. It's normal to me as the first bike I had with clipless pedals had them fitted; the dealer didn't ask and I didn't know enough to question it. Never an issue - I walk short distances without a problem, never have an issue getting in or out and never come adrift unexpectedly. As bikes tend to overlap I've kept with it.

Go for it. I can't anyone who matters making an issue of it on a ride, surely?

neilo23

Thebigbee wrote:

neilo23 wrote:

You can use the pedals with the shoes but SPD cleats with road shoes is not a good combination. The surface area of the cleat is too small: it doesn't feel secure, you get a lot of rotational movement between shoe and pedal (a mountain bike shoe has the cut-out part in the sole to reduce this) and they're even worse to walk with than road cleats.
Either buy the pedals and mountain bike shoes, or buy the shoes and a pair of road pedals.

Sorry but I don't agree with any of this post at all. Thousands of people use the PD M520s as their first foray into SPDs and the reviews are incredibly positive http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-m520-pedals/

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=3759

And to say that a mountain bike spd shoe is "even worse to walk with than road cleats." - what with recessed cleats and a proper sole?

You are talking utter bollox I am afraid and not too sure why....?

I mean that it's worse to walk in road shoes when you have SPD cleats on them than it is with regualr road cleats. Of course it's easier to walk in mountain bike shoes than it is in road shoes.
And I didn't criticise the pedals at all. I only said that road pedals/cleats work better with road shoes than with mountain bike pedals / cleats and vice versa. Both options are designed to work better with each other.
The link which you provide is a link to positive reviews of the pedals, not to articles about using road shoes with mountain bike pedals as the OP asked about.

Cleat Eastwood

I think the first response is half wrong half right. My first foray into clipless was with m520's and road shoes.

The pros are that the pedals are double sided so no worries about having to scurry to find the clipping in side.

The surface of the cleat on a road shoe is adequate.

Where he's right is that they are a bit more bothersome to walk in as the cleats are metal and can wear and grate and IME stand prouder of the shoe;, not a problem with proper mtb shoes.

Thebigbee

neilo23 wrote:

Thebigbee wrote:

neilo23 wrote:

You can use the pedals with the shoes but SPD cleats with road shoes is not a good combination. The surface area of the cleat is too small: it doesn't feel secure, you get a lot of rotational movement between shoe and pedal (a mountain bike shoe has the cut-out part in the sole to reduce this) and they're even worse to walk with than road cleats.
Either buy the pedals and mountain bike shoes, or buy the shoes and a pair of road pedals.

Sorry but I don't agree with any of this post at all. Thousands of people use the PD M520s as their first foray into SPDs and the reviews are incredibly positive http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-m520-pedals/

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... delID=3759

And to say that a mountain bike spd shoe is "even worse to walk with than road cleats." - what with recessed cleats and a proper sole?

You are talking utter bollox I am afraid and not too sure why....?

I mean that it's worse to walk in road shoes when you have SPD cleats on them than it is with regualr road cleats. Of course it's easier to walk in mountain bike shoes than it is in road shoes.
And I didn't criticise the pedals at all. I only said that road pedals/cleats work better with road shoes than with mountain bike pedals / cleats and vice versa. Both options are designed to work better with each other.
The link which you provide is a link to positive reviews of the pedals, not to articles about using road shoes with mountain bike pedals as the OP asked about.

Ok - I got the wrong impression which I think you have noticed. I bought the 520s for £19.99 - budget and wasn't sure I would get on and some of these http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Mode ... elID=55382

Which I have now returned because I would find it impossible to walk in them. I also have a tiled floor and kitchen and they would have just scratched it to buggery.

I bought some MTB SPDs where the cleat is recessed "and doesn't scratch my floor - and I can walk in them!"

Personally when I go on a ride I will generally stop off somewhere and walk around for a bit and the road shoes solid plastic and protruding cleats - I just wouldn't have got on with.

HTH - and sorry if I cam across a bit arsey!!

Oh yeah - BTW - it took me literally 2 minutes to get used to clipping in and out.

I would advise not to try doing it in a doorway or with the bike stationery because you don't get the right pressure or technique. Personally I think you need to do learn whilst coasting so a quiet road or car park will be ideal.

Remember to loosen the pedals otherwise you will be pi77ing around for ages and wondering what you are doing wrong!!

Four Foot Snake

Thanks everyone I think the answer is they will work but both have pros and cons I just want to get it right first time !

neilo23

There is no wrong or right answer. I've just bought a very expensive pair of shoes which are painful: I'm not a pro, and ithey are obviously the wrong shoes for me. They won't make me faster. But they look good. The most important thing is that you feel good with the shoes. There's no point in you getting a pair of -200 carbon gramme Sidis yet. A pair of mountain bike shoes would probably be the best idea for you. When you progress and can/want to spend miore money on pedals and shoes you can do that. The main thing is RIDE. You sound like you want to do that. Good luck. Soon you'll be spending all of your spare money on all kinds of things that your wife/family/ bank manager won't understand :-)

fludey

I ran them for a while on my orbea as first clip in shoe, have now switched to spd-sl road shoes and pedals.
The only problem I ever had is whilst you can clip in both sides the pedal is bigger and I did catch them a couple of times pedaling through a corner, didn't throw me off just a warning graze.

blue07794

""I bought some MTB SPDs where the cleat is recessed "and doesn't scratch my floor - and I can walk in them!" ""

I am interested in these as i have just purchased my first road bike (Trek 1.2) and i require shoes and cleats but dont fancy them sicking out as i will also need to walk in them..........which are my best options at reasonable price

wyadvd

I advise you to scrap the road shoes, scrap the pedals and get some a600 pedals combined with rt81 shoes. feel very positive together, and walking is easy!

wyadvd

http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/s ... oes-25191/