road shoes advice

kayceeee

Hi everyone

my first post here.

just over the summer got myself my first bike!, nothing too fancy or high end, just a basic bike.

got myself the jamis ventura comp. so rode over the whole summer and never thought i'd enjoy bike riding so much.

now i've just been riding with regular adidas runners and platforms, but looking to score myself clipless pedals and cycling shoes over the holidays in time for spring/summer.

i've been looking at the shimano r106 as well as the northwave fighter sbs, both are roughly similar in price and both fit quite well.

any reviews or opinions on which one are better? personally i kinda like the looks of the NW.

also will be getting the shimano SPD 105 pedals. which i can get for about 45, or should i spend the 90 and get the shimano ultegra pedals? will i even know a difference?

thanks a lot for any advice!

ilm_zero7

i think as youre starting out stay with pedals that match the spec of the bike. I am sure you will upgrade lots of stuff if you take to it, and money spent on better wheels is uniformly the best improvement per £ spent

kayceeee

Thanks I think I'll be getting the northwave and the 105 pedals.

AFF40N

Try chain reaction cycles for your pedals. They have got the 105's with cleats for £33.99. That'll save you a few quid!

kayceeee

Yes that's where I'm getting my shoes and pedals! It's about 50 Canadian which is half of what it is locally here in stores.

andyeb

I've got the exact same bike - notched up a good few thousand miles on it, but use it with Shimano M520 SPD pedals and MT42 shoes. I already had the shoes and SPD pedals on my mountain bike, so decided not to go with roadie-style pedals initially.

How do you find the ride on your Ventura? I found it a tad harsh, but it's got better since I swapped the stock Vittoria tyres for some Continental Gatorskins which behave much better on wet roads and generally roll quicker. I've been thinking about swapping the seat post for a carbon tube to further improve the ride.

Currently having a bit of a nightmare trying to find replacement headset bearings - will have to order some digital calipers to find out the proper size, as standard 1 1/8" headsets are about 0.5mm too big to fit.

teisetrotter

On the shoes I narrowed it to the same choice, all the advice I got pointed me to the R106 ...... so marginal though. Bit stiffer and for me a bit more comfortable.

Fantastic ventilation on them ......... which is not a bonus currently.

p1tse

AFF40N wrote:

Try chain reaction cycles for your pedals. They have got the 105's with cleats for £33.99. That'll save you a few quid!

Do pedals come with cleats?

lotus49

p1tse wrote:

AFF40N wrote:

Try chain reaction cycles for your pedals. They have got the 105's with cleats for £33.99. That'll save you a few quid!

Do pedals come with cleats?

I bought a pair of Shimano 105 pedals recently and they did indeed come with a pair of yellow (ie floating) cleats.

p1tse

What are the different cleat options and how do they differ?

ilm_zero7

the different colour option allow different degrees of float - avoid zero float - go for something around 5 deg

velohutts

have a check when you purchase the pedals that they come with cleats , most of the bigger retailers include them but occasionally some places don't ... this should help keep the cost down , shimano also do a 540 pedal which is the same style as the 105 and ultegra but a bit cheaper as they are a few grammes heavier.
Maybe worth considering as a first pedal in case you don't get on with them.

Good luck with your purchase , clipless is the way ahead.

kayceeee

long time bump here (update)

no longer about the shoes

but i did go clipless and northwave fighter sbs

and i also bought myself a new bike!

so the jamis i had was pretty heavy and entry level and it was a 54cm which is too big for me, mostly sora except for tiagra for RD. ended up getting myself a 2012 cannondale supersix 105!

in love with it! so much lighter and better compared to my old bike.

here she is