Road pedals

TyeBag · January 2011

Hi guys new to cycling so need some advice on pedals

At the minute I have the standard flat pedal on my bike

I've found a pair of shimano m520 SPD pedals for £20 Inc cleats but say they are for mountain bikes,I know this won't matter too much buy I don't wanna buy a pair of pedals that are one sided and look a prat at every set of lights

The other pair are look keo style and are £25 Inc cleats which are one sided

Do you think I should go for one sided or as a newbie get two sided pedals till I'm used to the clipping in/out,I don't have a great deal to spend on pedals and shoes so looking at these two,and they come in White which will match my allez 

Thanks guy

Philby · January 2011

Lots of people use MTB double-sided pedals on their road bike and IME are easier to clip into and out of than road specific cleats. They are also a lot easier to walk in.

The advantages of the Look Keos is that they have a larger contact point with the shoe which should reduce 'hot spots' under your feet and also help improve the transfer of power. Road shoes tend to have stiffer soles. Downsides are clipping in and walking.

Ensure that if you may switch from MTB to Look Keos that your shoes have the appropriate slots in the sole.

Don't bother too much about the colour, but focus on their functionality.

x8swift9x · January 2011

I went straight to Look keo's when I took up road cycling; and so did two of my friends. As with any clipping in system it takes a couple of rides to get used to them. If road cycling is your sport, and you don't mountain bike then I'd recommend a road pedal, not SPD.

Practice pulling away/stopping in an empty car park when you first fit them if you don't feel totally safe. Enjoy!

PS - I assume you haven't purchased shoe at this point (otherwise you'll be limited to a specific type)

bilirubin · January 2011

I also went straight to Look Keos when I decided to go clipless and it was fine.

As other people have said practice somewhere to get the feel of clipping in and out and make sure of the following:

1/ You get the grey cleats for your shoes because they have the greater amount of float which is good for a newbie and good for your knees.

2/ There is a small allen bolt on the pedal that can be adjusted to alter the clip in/clip out tension, make sure you have it on the easiest tension until you get used to them.

Good luck

bakerstreet · January 2011

+1 for the Shimano SPD-520s. I have had mine for about 4 weeks now and they are great.

I chose them as they are double sides and people recommended them as good pedals for beginners

You can also buy MTB shoes too, which mean you can walk normally unlike Road specific shoes. I can't stand the shound of the metal cleats scraping on the tarmac.

In hindsight I should have bought MTB shoes as I have to walk round outside at work opening shutters and the like, but hinidsight is a wonderful thing!

noiseboyfeetman · January 2011

Another one for Look Keos, easy to clip in and out off, also my first clip in pedals and had no issues whatsoever and find them easy to clip in and out off on my commute to and from work as well as comfy for longer rides.

Buckled_Rims · January 2011

All my bikes, Road and MTB are M520 equipped. I'll put road pedals on in the summer, but I still prefer SPD.

For me it's this. If I ride in town traffic then M520 pedals are the best, easy to clip in and out and I can walk in the shoes if I have too.

Road pedals are great where there's town little traffic and open countryside, they are harder to clip in and out and are also singlesided. Very hard to walk in road shoes with road cleats.

However the choice is yours.

paulbox · January 2011

A bit of a halfway house... Why not consider A520's ([/url]http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=28051 )?

I've been MTB'ing for years using SPD's so didn't want to buy different shoes for the road (also need to be able to walk in my shoes when I get to work). When I first got my road bike I put an old set of M520's on which work fine, but this weekend I fitted a set of A520's and they are great. You get the benefit of a larger contact area and they are lighter than the M's because of only having the mechanism on one side.

mankybianchi · January 2011

As has been mentioned already, the M520s being double sided are an advantage in traffic. I had been using these with Shimano MTB shoes which also had rubber on the soles for over 4 years on my fixed wheel bike. I found that being double sided and the grip of the rubber helped me get going if I wasn't able to get clipped in straight away, usually the traffic lights half way up a hill.

My shoes fell apart and went back to using Look pedals and road shoes. I taped a piece of rubber across the underside of the pedal to help the cleat grip if, as above, I wasn't able to clip in straight away. This worked great, but to be honest, they usually clip in first time anyway.

I've had similar experience of Time pedals.

In terms of feel, the small size if the spd cleat felt that my foot was able to pivot round it if you see what i mean. Time feel very similar, whereas I feel that the Look cleats being larger are more obviously pivoting at the back since the toe of the cleat is the pivot point.

Road pedals

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