New Road bike - What Cleats/Shoes will i need?

samueloldfield

Hi,

I have just brought my first Road Bike online and am picking it up tonight. It is a 2009 Trek 1.2. It already has Hybrid pedals on but i am wondering if anyone can tell me what type they are/what shoe i will need. See the link below to the bike, you can see the pedal 3rd image along.

Thanks

Sam

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231222103513? ... 1439.l2649

dj58

Hi Sam,

Bit confused when you say the bike has hybrid cleats, don't you mean pedals? Cleats are attached to the sole of the shoes and engage with the pedal mechanism. Is it the white bike with red accents you are referring to?
If so those pedals look like Shimano SPD-SL road type, can't be sure because of the viewing angle, if you are collecting from the seller ask him what they are?

ai_1

samueloldfield wrote:

Hi,

I have just brought my first Road Bike online and am picking it up tonight. It is a 2009 Trek 1.2. It already has Hybrid cleats on but i am wondering if anyone can tell me what type they are/what shoe i will need. See the link below to the bike, you can see the pedal 3rd image along.

Thanks

Sam

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/231222103513? ... 1439.l2649

They look like Shimano SPD pedals. If you want to keep those pedals you'll need SPD cleats and compatible shoes. SPD are very popular and you'll have no problem finding what you need. These are usually refered to as mountain bike (or MTB) pedals although many people use them on road bikes too because they are compatible with shoes that are easier to walk in than the more road specific types.
The pedals in the picture have a clip-in on one side and are flat on the other to allow you use them in normal shoes without clipping in or clipped in with cycling shoes. These have both advantages and disadvantages (in brief: you can cycle in normal shoes but it will be less convenient to clip-in when you use cycling shoes and they're heavier with less clearance). It may be worth doing a little research to decide what sort of pedals you'd prefer before buying shoes as basic new SPD or SPD-SL pedals are cheap especially as they come with cleats which you'll need to buy anyway.

SPD pedals require 2-hole shoes. This is nearly all mountain bike shoes and many road shoes.
SPD-SL, Look, Time, Speedplay, etc require 3-hole road shoes

ai_1

DJ58 wrote:

Hi Sam,

Bit confused when you say the bike has hybrid cleats, don't you mean pedals? Cleats are attached to the sole of the shoes and engage with the pedal mechanism. Is it the white bike with red accents you are referring to?
If so those pedals look like Shimano SPD-SL road type, can't be sure because of the viewing angle, if you are collecting from the seller ask him what they are?

I don't think they're SPD-SL. They look like single sided SPD with a flat on the other side (i.e. hybrid)
Possibly the A530 touring pedals or something similar:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-a530-sp ... ng-pedals/

As opposed to normal double sided SPD pedals:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-m520-pedals/

Or SPD-SL pedals:
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-r540 ... rt-pedals/

Incidentally Sam, as you can see in these links basic pedals can be got for under €30 including cleats which are about €10-€12 on their own and which I presume you'll need anyway so I'd consider options other than the pedals supplied before buying shoes which will be the more expensive items.

If you want to splash out I really like Speedplay zeros but all the main pedal brands/types seem to work fine for most people and the basic Shimano offerings are probably the most economical introduction.

samueloldfield

Thanks guys. Would you recommend keeping the hybrid or changing to full clip on?

Sam

ai_1

samueloldfield wrote:

Thanks guys. Would you recommend keeping the hybrid or changing to full clip on?

Sam

Depends how you plan to use them.
If it's for nipping down to the shops or around to a mates house and the occasional longer road ride I'd stick with what's on it purely because you can still use the bike in normal shoes. If you'll be doing mostly road riding for fitness etc then I'd probably ditch the hybrid pedals and go for either normal double sided SPD like the M520 or road SPD-SL pedals like the R540.
The SPD is ideal as a do it all pedal. I've never tried them so can't give my personal opinion but there's certainly not much wrong with them.
The SPD-SL may be a bit more comfortable and/or efficient (very controversial subject!) but the cleats are difficult to walk around in because they sit proud of the sole of the shoe. The same goes for most other road specific pedal systems like Speedplay Zeros, Loo Keos, etc...

samueloldfield

Thank you very much! I'll stick with the pedals on their for now and see how they go.

Sam

jackk1992

They look very similar to the A530 pedals. I have just purchased and fitted them to my bike myself. Made up with them as I don't want to buy shoes just yet and really gripping on the flat side with my trainers. Really good ideas for pedals, and you don't want to have to put the shoes on everytime you want to nip round the corner on your bike to bike up a loaf!

samueloldfield

Thats what i was thinking that if i was just nipping around the corner or took my bike out and forgot to pack the shoes that i would still be able to ride it.

jackk1992

I would recommend these pedals to anyone! Not tried the clips yet as i still havent got round to buying shoes but the flat side is really grippy for any shoes. Makes the bike alot more useable! If the bike is more usable you more likely to use it! haha

Initialised

You should try DMR V8s for grippy pedals.

I think your pedals are A530 so will take a standard SPD cleat so look for touring shoes or mountain bike shoes

Anonymous

Do they have any support on the clip in side?
Touring shoes are soft and will probably be painful after a while if not.

Touring shoes are for touring only imo

jackk1992

Initialised wrote:

You should try DMR V8s for grippy pedals.

I have them on my mountain bike, another pedal i strongly recommend!

samueloldfield

They were the A530 pedals. Cheers guys

ai_1

samueloldfield wrote:

They were the A530 pedals. Cheers guys

I win! I said A530 first
What's the prize?

samueloldfield

A second hand set of A530 Pedals haha

ai_1

Doh!

simonj

The A530 are great starter clip in pedals especially if you want the flexibiklity to wear normal shoes also, you may love and stick with or you may progress on from.

I would recommend against buying touring shoes as the soles are not stiff enough. So I personally would not get something like these :-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-mt33-sp ... hoes-2013/

Choices are dedicated MTB shoes like these, which are easy to walk in as well as easy to clip on and off the pedal with :-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-m064-sp ... ike-shoes/

Else if you think you may progress on from MTB SPD pedals to road SPD-SL :

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-r540 ... rt-pedals/

you can get shoes that can accomodate both SPD or SPD-SL cleats, which means if you want to move to SPD-SL at a later point you do not need to buy new shoes, however they are probably not as easy to walk in as dedicated MTD shoes, but are just as easy to clip in and out with :-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-r064-ro ... ing-shoes/

To make the clipping in and out easier you may want to go with the multirelease cleats SH56 instead of the standard release SH51, if the pedals came with free cleats they are likely to be SH51, if you do not have cleats are are nervous about going to cleats get the SH56 and set the pedals to their loosest setting utnil you get used to them :-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-spd-mtb-cleats/

fatsmoker

Ai_1 wrote:

you can get shoes that can accomodate both SPD or SPD-SL cleats, which means if you want to move to SPD-SL at a later point you do not need to buy new shoes, however they are probably not as easy to walk in as dedicated MTD shoes, but are just as easy to clip in and out with :-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-r064-ro ... ing-shoes/

Question on this one. Do the spd cleats sit very proud of the sole on these? And if so, doesn't that mean you get hot spots on your feet?

simonj

They do unless you put the intended optional MTB adapters on, but any people say they're not needed, although I have no idea either way.

ai_1

fatsmoker wrote:

Ai_1 wrote:

you can get shoes that can accomodate both SPD or SPD-SL cleats, which means if you want to move to SPD-SL at a later point you do not need to buy new shoes, however they are probably not as easy to walk in as dedicated MTD shoes, but are just as easy to clip in and out with :-

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-r064-ro ... ing-shoes/

Question on this one. Do the spd cleats sit very proud of the sole on these? And if so, doesn't that mean you get hot spots on your feet?

When you say "hot spots" do you mean walking or riding?
The cleats are the only point of contact with the pedal in most systems so having the cleat proud of the sole will have no impact on riding comfort. The sole around the cleat on MTB shoes is for grip on the ground and not part of the pedal interface.
Hot spots shouldn't be an issue with any system unless the shoes you use don't have a stiff enough sole. Cycling shoes are designed with rigid soles and your feet rest on these, not the cleat, so the size of the contact area should be irrelevant with respect to foot comfort.

fatsmoker

simonj wrote:

When you say "hot spots" do you mean walking or riding?

Riding. The reason I ask is that I bought a cheap pair of Aldi shoes a couple of years back for commuting and the cleat sits prouder than those on my touring shoes. The 'proudness' of the cleat makes pedaling quite uncomfortable as I can feel the cleat pushing into my foot. Having said that the cleat those Spec shoes is fixed to a hard sole, so yes, i can see nowwhy they wouldn't push into the sole of the foot.