Cycling Shoes Help Please!

simonjbooth

Hello everyone.

My 13 year old Son has recently acquired a pre-used road bike and it has SHIMANO VERO F5 pedals fitted to it, as far as I can see!

I know very little about cycling gear, could anyone advise what sort of shoes he needs to fit these pedals, whether he needs to buy some sort of additional item (cleats?) and if possible a recommendation of where is a good place to buy them?

He's in a uk size 4 shoe at the moment, I think it'd be best to look at the budget route considering his growth spurts! He's also using the money from the sale of his old road bike to buy new equipment so I'd like him to stretch the money out as far as possible (good life lesson!)

Thanks for reading, apologies if the thread's in the wrong place, and thanks in advance for any help.

k-dog

That's not a pedal I've heard of.

Are they mtb type ones - fairly square and double sided - or road pedals- more triangular and can only be used on one side.

Probably best to post a picture and you can get the right cleats.

Decathlon is good for shoes - good budget ones as they won't last at his age.

simonjbooth

k-dog wrote:

That's not a pedal I've heard of.

Are they mtb type ones - fairly square and double sided - or road pedals- more triangular and can only be used on one side.

Probably best to post a picture and you can get the right cleats.

Decathlon is good for shoes - good budget ones as they won't last at his age.

Thanks a lot for the reply.

They're kinda triangular, on further inspection I suspect the 'Vero F5' part might be the name for the pedal spinner bar things (I did say I don't know much about bikes haha) and the pedals only have the shimano branding on.

I'll try to find an image hosting site to post a photo.

Thanks again.

cooldad

Vero 5 are FSA cranks.

Presumably pedals are Shimano something or other.

simonjbooth

https://imageshack.com/i/pngevVV3j

https://imageshack.com/i/poXrptnyj

simonjbooth

cooldad wrote:

Vero 5 are FSA cranks.

Presumably pedals are Shimano something or other.

Thanks a lot for the reply, I've posted some links to photos - hopefully they'll a) take people to the photo b) be good enough photos to identify the pedals from!

cougie

Shimano SPD SL cleats like these. https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-spd ... AuGe8P8HAQ

Lots of shoes will fit them.

simonjbooth

cougie wrote:

Shimano SPD SL cleats like these. https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-spd ... AuGe8P8HAQ

Lots of shoes will fit them.

Thanks so much! So if I buy those cleats, is there anything I can look for in the description of shoes to say they're compatible?

cougie

Well all Shimano road shoes fit. Three point fixing is pretty standard so you'd be doing well to get it wrong.

Evans and wiggle both have question sections for their kit so you can browse there to double check.

Stay away from MTB shoes though as they're usually two point fixing.

simonjbooth

cougie wrote:

Well all Shimano road shoes fit. Three point fixing is pretty standard so you'd be doing well to get it wrong.

Evans and wiggle both have question sections for their kit so you can browse there to double check.

Stay away from MTB shoes though as they're usually two point fixing.

Right, I'll investigate further! The 'three point fixing' thing makes more sense to me than any of the jargon that's spun my head on the subject so far so thanks especially for that, and for your time and help.

Mr _Tibbs

simonjbooth wrote:

cougie wrote:

Well all Shimano road shoes fit. Three point fixing is pretty standard so you'd be doing well to get it wrong.

Evans and wiggle both have question sections for their kit so you can browse there to double check.

Stay away from MTB shoes though as they're usually two point fixing.

Right, I'll investigate further! The 'three point fixing' thing makes more sense to me than any of the jargon that's spun my head on the subject so far so thanks especially for that, and for your time and help.

The pedals that your sons bike has are called SPD-SL. The "SL" is the important part as other variants of SPD pedal are available.

For him to clip into those pedals he needs two things. First a compatible cleat (the thing that attaches to a shoe and clips onto the pedal) and a shoe that will accept that type of cleat.

The cleats you want look like this



And they will only fix to a shoe who's sole looks like this



Notice the three holes.

Not like this



Notice the two holes (looks like four but it's two that can move about in a little groove.

However, there are three colors of SL cleat (see the image above) and each offers a different amount of "float". Float is the amount that you can wiggle your shoe when clipped in. Yellow offers the most float and if I recall red is the least.

Float is important, especially for a new rider as having too little float can result in discomfort and long term issues. I would only use red cleats if I was totally sure that my pedals, cleats and general bike were all adjusted to fit me pretty well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Now that you know more about pedals than most riders (and probably a few guys in the bike shop too); here is something else to consider;

You can swap the pedals on your sons bike out for a different pedal,cleat and shoe system if your son feels that the SL pedals are a bit to specialist for him. A standard SPD pedal can fit a General purpose shoe with more of a sole that can cover the clear a bit and make it easier to walk in if he thinks he needs to. See below image of a kind of general purpose/ Mountain bike/Road shoe with a deep sole that hides the right cleat.



the cleat for this two hole system looks like this


and the sort of pedal that it fixes to is a standard SPD, like this



The SPD Mountain/cross bike pedal is really useful if your son wants to clip in and out a lot, because it is double sided, easier to clip into and generally more robust (the cleats are bullet proof as they are small and made of metal, unlike the SL's which are plastic and more fragile) so these may suit a commute to school or Uni. or if he wants to wear a shoe that allows him to get off the bike and walk about more easily. So its worth thinking about whether the SL pedals are right, before you go ahead and invest in the associated cleats and shoes


Sorry if any of that sound patronizing, I just typed it all assuming that you are new to the world of pedals and stuff.

Hope he gets hooked!

dinyull

Shimano branded SPD SL cleats will be something like £20.....wiggle do a own brand version (Lifeline) for something like a fiver.

I'm using them at the minute and haven't noticed any difference from Shimano's.

Mr _Tibbs

Dinyull wrote:

Shimano branded SPD SL cleats will be something like £20.....wiggle do a own brand version (Lifeline) for something like a fiver.

I'm using them at the minute and haven't noticed any difference from Shimano's.

I'll have to check those out, I seem to get through a set of SL's every month...but then I commute in them so stopping at the lights and walking through Greenwich foot tunnel kills them.

dinyull

Mr _Tibbs wrote:

Dinyull wrote:

Shimano branded SPD SL cleats will be something like £20.....wiggle do a own brand version (Lifeline) for something like a fiver.

I'm using them at the minute and haven't noticed any difference from Shimano's.

I'll have to check those out, I seem to get through a set of SL's every month...but then I commute in them so stopping at the lights and walking through Greenwich foot tunnel kills them.

They've managed 2.5k miles so far this year including commuting and still have plenty of life left. Don't do much walking in them though...

fenix

Cant you get covers for them ? You certainly could for Looks. I've never bothered but then again I don't need to walk the bike.
Kool Kovers I think they were called ?

simonjbooth

Mr _Tibbs wrote:

simonjbooth wrote:

cougie wrote:

Well all Shimano road shoes fit. Three point fixing is pretty standard so you'd be doing well to get it wrong.

Evans and wiggle both have question sections for their kit so you can browse there to double check.

Stay away from MTB shoes though as they're usually two point fixing.

Right, I'll investigate further! The 'three point fixing' thing makes more sense to me than any of the jargon that's spun my head on the subject so far so thanks especially for that, and for your time and help.

The pedals that your sons bike has are called SPD-SL. The "SL" is the important part as other variants of SPD pedal are available.

For him to clip into those pedals he needs two things. First a compatible cleat (the thing that attaches to a shoe and clips onto the pedal) and a shoe that will accept that type of cleat.

The cleats you want look like this



And they will only fix to a shoe who's sole looks like this



Notice the three holes.

Not like this



Notice the two holes (looks like four but it's two that can move about in a little groove.

However, there are three colors of SL cleat (see the image above) and each offers a different amount of "float". Float is the amount that you can wiggle your shoe when clipped in. Yellow offers the most float and if I recall red is the least.

Float is important, especially for a new rider as having too little float can result in discomfort and long term issues. I would only use red cleats if I was totally sure that my pedals, cleats and general bike were all adjusted to fit me pretty well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Now that you know more about pedals than most riders (and probably a few guys in the bike shop too); here is something else to consider;

You can swap the pedals on your sons bike out for a different pedal,cleat and shoe system if your son feels that the SL pedals are a bit to specialist for him. A standard SPD pedal can fit a General purpose shoe with more of a sole that can cover the clear a bit and make it easier to walk in if he thinks he needs to. See below image of a kind of general purpose/ Mountain bike/Road shoe with a deep sole that hides the right cleat.



the cleat for this two hole system looks like this


and the sort of pedal that it fixes to is a standard SPD, like this



The SPD Mountain/cross bike pedal is really useful if your son wants to clip in and out a lot, because it is double sided, easier to clip into and generally more robust (the cleats are bullet proof as they are small and made of metal, unlike the SL's which are plastic and more fragile) so these may suit a commute to school or Uni. or if he wants to wear a shoe that allows him to get off the bike and walk about more easily. So its worth thinking about whether the SL pedals are right, before you go ahead and invest in the associated cleats and shoes


Sorry if any of that sound patronizing, I just typed it all assuming that you are new to the world of pedals and stuff.

Hope he gets hooked!

Thanks very much for this, really helpful and not in the slightest bit patronising, I really do appreciate your time and effort in explaining it all to me.

We went for the SPD SL cleats, he does tend to stay on the bike most of the time. He's spent just over half the money from the sale of his old bike (sold today, phew!) so he's got some left over if he doesn't get on with this system and wants to try the SPD Mountain/cross pedal/shoe/cleat setup.

This is his second road bike, he does about ten miles most weekdays on it and at weekends he'll usually do a 20-30 mile ride one of the days so I think he's certainly got the bug!#

Again, thank you so much for your help.

simonjbooth

Dinyull wrote:

Shimano branded SPD SL cleats will be something like £20.....wiggle do a own brand version (Lifeline) for something like a fiver.

I'm using them at the minute and haven't noticed any difference from Shimano's.

Thanks very much for this. I got the Shimano branded ones for £13. They only had the red ones in the Lifeline brand at time of purchase otherwise I'd have given them a go.

Thank you for the advice.

Mr _Tibbs

simonjbooth wrote:

Mr _Tibbs wrote:

simonjbooth wrote:

cougie wrote:

Well all Shimano road shoes fit. Three point fixing is pretty standard so you'd be doing well to get it wrong.

Evans and wiggle both have question sections for their kit so you can browse there to double check.

Stay away from MTB shoes though as they're usually two point fixing.

Right, I'll investigate further! The 'three point fixing' thing makes more sense to me than any of the jargon that's spun my head on the subject so far so thanks especially for that, and for your time and help.

The pedals that your sons bike has are called SPD-SL. The "SL" is the important part as other variants of SPD pedal are available.

For him to clip into those pedals he needs two things. First a compatible cleat (the thing that attaches to a shoe and clips onto the pedal) and a shoe that will accept that type of cleat.

The cleats you want look like this



And they will only fix to a shoe who's sole looks like this



Notice the three holes.

Not like this



Notice the two holes (looks like four but it's two that can move about in a little groove.

However, there are three colors of SL cleat (see the image above) and each offers a different amount of "float". Float is the amount that you can wiggle your shoe when clipped in. Yellow offers the most float and if I recall red is the least.

Float is important, especially for a new rider as having too little float can result in discomfort and long term issues. I would only use red cleats if I was totally sure that my pedals, cleats and general bike were all adjusted to fit me pretty well.
_________________________________________________________________________________________

Now that you know more about pedals than most riders (and probably a few guys in the bike shop too); here is something else to consider;

You can swap the pedals on your sons bike out for a different pedal,cleat and shoe system if your son feels that the SL pedals are a bit to specialist for him. A standard SPD pedal can fit a General purpose shoe with more of a sole that can cover the clear a bit and make it easier to walk in if he thinks he needs to. See below image of a kind of general purpose/ Mountain bike/Road shoe with a deep sole that hides the right cleat.



the cleat for this two hole system looks like this


and the sort of pedal that it fixes to is a standard SPD, like this



The SPD Mountain/cross bike pedal is really useful if your son wants to clip in and out a lot, because it is double sided, easier to clip into and generally more robust (the cleats are bullet proof as they are small and made of metal, unlike the SL's which are plastic and more fragile) so these may suit a commute to school or Uni. or if he wants to wear a shoe that allows him to get off the bike and walk about more easily. So its worth thinking about whether the SL pedals are right, before you go ahead and invest in the associated cleats and shoes


Sorry if any of that sound patronizing, I just typed it all assuming that you are new to the world of pedals and stuff.

Hope he gets hooked!

Thanks very much for this, really helpful and not in the slightest bit patronising, I really do appreciate your time and effort in explaining it all to me.

We went for the SPD SL cleats, he does tend to stay on the bike most of the time. He's spent just over half the money from the sale of his old bike (sold today, phew!) so he's got some left over if he doesn't get on with this system and wants to try the SPD Mountain/cross pedal/shoe/cleat setup.

This is his second road bike, he does about ten miles most weekdays on it and at weekends he'll usually do a 20-30 mile ride one of the days so I think he's certainly got the bug!#

Again, thank you so much for your help.

It's a pleasure. For what it's worth, I think you made the right choice both in sticking with the SL and also in going for a greater float version for now. Sounds like your son does a good amount of miles each week.

Glad we could help.