First road shoes and pedals question?

Tumba

I will be buying my first pair of road bike shoes and pedals on the 20th of this month.I have never ridden a bike with clipless pedals before. I am 6'2 and 260 pounds. I have been road biking since June and I currently ride an aluminum mechanical disc break bike. It's a specialized secture with disc breaks. I am trying to do as much research as I can on what road shoes and pedals I should get for my first set up. So I can get the most bang for my buck and make the correct purchase the first time. None of my local bike stores have demo shoe programs, so I was hoping to get your professional opinion on what setup you would recommend me if I were to come into your shop looking for my first clipless shoe and pedal system?
My road biking goals are to be able to complete a century ride with out stoping and to complete the triple by pass mountian ride that takes place in Colorado every year and assends and decends 3 major mountian passes. I have been able to ride 40 miles with just tennis shoes and know I need road bike shoes and pedals to take my training to the next level and to be able to get the most out of my biking experience. I have a total budget of $300 for both shoes and pedals. My plan is to ride my Secture with the new shoes and pedals I get for a year. After a year I plan to uograde the Secture to a Carbon framed hydraulic disc break bike. I will either buy a Specialized Roubaix, or a Trek Domane, or a hydraulic disc offering from Giant or Cannondale, which ever bike fits me and feels the best after I test ride them all. I know Trek does not yet offer the Domane in a disc break version nor does Giant or Cannondale, but I am hoping they will in a year. My plan is to transfer the pedals I buy on the 20th of this month to which ever new bike I get.
I would grately appreciate any and all recomendations you could give me on selecting my first road bike shoes and pedals keeping in mind I can't spend more than $300 for both. Thank you very much for your help

chadders81

That's a decent budget and I'd be putting the majority of it towards shoes rather than pedals. Shimano road pedals in my experience all feel the same once you're clipped in and engaged. The only difference is weight and the release mechanism.

Looking at your goals, I'd be looking at proper road shoes, ideally with a stiff carbon sole. But you need to try on because fit varies wildly.

Bont are mouldable to your feet after going in the oven, so you should be able to get a decent fit.

northpole

Pedals
You should firstly decide if during the course of 2014 if you will be doing any walking in your cycle shoes. If you will be, other than a few metres at any one time, you would be better off with spd pedals and mountain bike type shoes. With carbon technology, mountain bike shoes can provide a decent stiff platform.
If you won't be walking about much then I'd suggest road specific pedals. There are plenty of manufacturers who make decent quality pedals - Shimano, Look, Speedplay, Time to name a few. I have only tried Shimano and Look and between the two my preference would be the Shimano product. They seem to be bullet proof, I find them easy to clip in and out off and their cleats are relatively cheap, robust and hard wearing.
Shoes
Shoes and saddles fall into a similar category - I don't think that any rules of thumb apply as we are all such different shapes. You need to visit a decent bike shop and try on various types. If the choice isn't great don't hesitate trying another shop to form an opinion on what feels most comfortable. Make sure you wear roughly the right thickness of socks! Also bear in mind that you need to leave a bit of room for feet expansion when out in the heat of summer.
For what it's worth, I have found Specialized and Sidi to make great shoes, the Sidi's coming in normal and wide 'Mega' fittings.

Peter

FransJacques

Sensible advice so far. I'll add that no matter whether you go for road or MTB pedals please spend 70% of your budget on a good racing shoe. The dividends it will pay back over the long events you want to do, esp. with so much climbing, will pay off in spades.

You must have a stiff carbon sole (careful if it's just plastic, it might not be stiff enuf, esp. at your weight/power. 1 ratchet main buckle and 2 Velcro straps is a common fastening approach.

Check out the Bont Vaypor, Giro Factor and Spesh Pro Road. Also looks for deals on the out-going versions of racing road shoes. This is a good time of year to catch deals as models change over. For eggzample: http://www.evanscycles.com/products/bon ... e-ec035854 If you have big feet you're always lucky b/c those are the sizes which are normally left.

Try to get some good fit advice from someone knowledgeable (doesn't have to be a store and usually isn't, unless you're buying something from them). B/c set up of the cleat is quite an art-form to get it 100% correct. Luckily it's easy to get it 85% correct.