Road SPD pedals

surlyandy

I have always used MTB type spd pedals in the past, but now having converted to road cycling have bought a pair of road shoes which can take road style spd,s with three bolt fixing. My question is the difference when buying the cleats for my shoes in that on evans web site there are three types, zero float, 2 degrees float and 6 degrees float, what is the difference.? Is it to do with how much your feet can swivel when clipped in
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lettingthedaysgoby

Exactly that.

lincolndave

Yes it is to do with foot movement on the pedals, start with the yellow 6 degs float, it will allow more movement in your ankles and knees just in case they are not fitted in the correct position on the soles of your shoes

milemuncher1

The lower the float, the more stress you’ll put on your knees, unless you are adept with the set up. Stick with yellow ( 6 degree ) float until you’re used to them. You don’t need to close down the amount of float, until you’re trying to maximise the efficiency of your pedal stroke / smashing stuff.

surlyandy

Thankyou for the advice, I am using the Shimano spd cleats, mtb style, for the time being. I will be changing in the near future so will definitely go with the yellow. My old Shimano mtb shoes only take the mtb style cleats, but they are suffering with age being about 15 years old, so are getting past there best.

wongataa

Why are not just sticking with SPD 'MTB Style' cleats? You know all about those. You can always get new shoes that take 2 bolt cleats. SPD-SL is very unlikely to make you faster.

mrb123

wongataa wrote:

Why are not just sticking with SPD 'MTB Style' cleats? You know all about those. You can always get new shoes that take 2 bolt cleats. SPD-SL is very unlikely to make you faster.

Added to that the clipping in action of SPD-SLs is a lot more tricky than for SPDs, which are essentially just "stomp and go".

Coming from a background of SPD use I was never really able to adapt to SPD-SLs - particularly for hill starts - and ended up switching to Speedplays. Some people probably have no problems with the transition but I suspect that others do.

lakesluddite

MrB123 wrote:

wongataa wrote:

Why are not just sticking with SPD 'MTB Style' cleats? You know all about those. You can always get new shoes that take 2 bolt cleats. SPD-SL is very unlikely to make you faster.

Added to that the clipping in action of SPD-SLs is a lot more tricky than for SPDs, which are essentially just "stomp and go".

Coming from a background of SPD use I was never really able to adapt to SPD-SLs - particularly for hill starts - and ended up switching to Speedplays. Some people probably have no problems with the transition but I suspect that others do.

I tried SPD-SL after using SPD on touring shoes, and I'm one of those who had problems with the transition. If there were definite advantages to three-bolt (other than slightly nicer looking shoes) then I would probably have stuck with it, but I don't really think there are any. With commuting, stopping and starting and living in the Lakes with plenty of hill starts, decided to go back to SPD.
Plus these days you can get some pretty nice looking two-bolt shoes. Plus the cleats last much longer. And you can walk in them much easier.

keef66

I'm going to try SPD-SL on the summer bike. Been on SPDs for 15 years, most of that on road. The M520 and M540 pedals appear to be indestructible, but the (2 bolt touring) shoes are getting pretty tatty now. I'll keep using them on the winter bike with overshoes, but I have new 3 bolt shoes, cleats and pedals for the summer one. I figured that most of my rides I barely put a foot down, and there's never any walking about so if I can master clipping in and out I'll give them a go.

prawny

I’m a commuter and mtber and I love SPD-SLs. I’ve gone back to MTB shoes and pedals on my commuter because it’s a cx bike and there have been times I’ve used it off road so it makes sense, but I’d definitely go for road pedals on a road bike. They feel much better, they’re lighter and most importantly they look more pro.

Mine are currently in a box in the garage waiting for a bike to stick them on.

saftlad

It would take a lot more than a set of SPD_SLs to make me look pro

prawny

Emphasis on the more pro

pblakeney

prawny wrote:

They feel much better, they’re lighter and most importantly they look more pro.

I use SPD on my road bike.
I had been a regular in a club for two years before somebody noticed I wasn't using "road" pedals.

craker

I've got SPD-SLs on my fixie again, after a couple of incidents of accidental unclipping of SPDs when pulling away sent me sprawling to the floor. The first time in front of a police car, he had the blue lights on, stopped the traffic on the A38, wound down his window just to check that I'd made an arse of myself. 2nd time I'd just overtaken someone, he found me sprawled on the floor moments later and suggested I needed new cleats. Yeah, cheers ;-)

So road cleats for a bigger platform and more secure clipping. Getting your foot into a single sided clip with a moving crank takes a bit of practice (ie pulling away from the lights stomping on the wrong side of the pedal could be catastrophic).