newbie question - idiots guide to shoes / pedals?
aclivity
Posts: 94
Go easy on me (here's hoping) ...
I'm a recent returner to cycling, logged just over 1000 miles on my Brompton on my commute, and am now moving up to a proper (ish, given financial constraints) road bike. I've sold a load of my wife's ornaments on eBay (I never used them anyway) and have enough to buy a B'twin Triban 3 from Decathlon.
Back when I was cycling a lot, the footwear option was either trainers or cleats, SPD's were not around. I wore a pair of casual Agu Sport trainers with toeclips on quill pedals. I suspect quill pedals are a thing of antique nature these days? Anyway, the point of the post is, is there a simple guide to shoe / SPD / cleats / pedal / toeclip combinations? It's been easy on the Brompton - I just wear my Dr Marten's!
So, is there a simple guide to footwear, and any recommendations of where to go to get suitable shoes and what pedals go with which shoes?
I'm a recent returner to cycling, logged just over 1000 miles on my Brompton on my commute, and am now moving up to a proper (ish, given financial constraints) road bike. I've sold a load of my wife's ornaments on eBay (I never used them anyway) and have enough to buy a B'twin Triban 3 from Decathlon.
Back when I was cycling a lot, the footwear option was either trainers or cleats, SPD's were not around. I wore a pair of casual Agu Sport trainers with toeclips on quill pedals. I suspect quill pedals are a thing of antique nature these days? Anyway, the point of the post is, is there a simple guide to shoe / SPD / cleats / pedal / toeclip combinations? It's been easy on the Brompton - I just wear my Dr Marten's!
So, is there a simple guide to footwear, and any recommendations of where to go to get suitable shoes and what pedals go with which shoes?
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Comments
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for example, this is a pair of cheapish shoes on Amazon: http://www.amazon.co.uk/Muddyfox-RBS100-Cycling-Shoes-Black/dp/B008XB50SK/ref=sr_1_25?s=shoes&ie=UTF8&qid=1346772691&sr=1-25. What is SPD-SL, or Look, and are these shoes any good for actually walking in?0
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Basically there are road and MTB versions of clipless pedal systems. The MTB ones are OK for walking in up to a point, as the cleat is recessed into the sole. There are also some styles that look more like normal shoes than cycling ones if that matters to you.
Road ones are not for walking in, as the cleat sticks out the bottom.
Road and MTB are not interchangable, and there are various different proprietary approaches (also not cross-compatible). Strictly speaking SPD refers to Shimano only, but it's a bit like Hoover. SPD is the MTB version, SPD-SL is for road. The other common road one is Look. For MTB there's Look (again) and Crank Bros as well as a few others.
There's nothing to stop you using MTB style pedals/shoes on a road bike (lots of people do) and unless you're a Pro the advantages of proper road ones are largely academic.
Look and Shimano road cleats are bolted to the shoe in different ways, but I think most shoes will accept either. When you buy pedals you should get the appropriate cleats with them. So I'd say you just need to decide between road and MTB and then you should be able to just pick what shoes you like and away you go. There might be the odd exception to this so check with the shop.0
