Which pedals/cleats to buy for a novice?
IamPlod
Posts: 23
Hi,
Sorry if it's a silly question or the terminology isn't correct! I'm buying my first road bike later this week (Connondale Synapse 105) but I don't know what pedals/cleats will suit me best. I haven't used these before and I'm sure I will be off the bike at some point, but I've heard MTB pedals would maybe suit me better as they are easier to click in/out? Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Mike
Sorry if it's a silly question or the terminology isn't correct! I'm buying my first road bike later this week (Connondale Synapse 105) but I don't know what pedals/cleats will suit me best. I haven't used these before and I'm sure I will be off the bike at some point, but I've heard MTB pedals would maybe suit me better as they are easier to click in/out? Any advice or recommendations would be greatly appreciated.
Many thanks,
Mike
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Hard to see past these for a novice for value, performance, reliability and ease of use.
Having said that, I started on Shimano SPD-SL for the first couple of years and managed fine. And I never forgot to unclip, not once. And I'm not sure why 'ease of walking' is a useful feature of MTB shoes, it's a bike ride not a walk. 10 steps at a cafe stop maybe.
That said I have never tried road pedals, I expect they give better power transfer, more comfortable for 6 hour rides and are half the weight
MTB shoes tend to be cheaper and more comfortable for walking than road shoes. Your initial expense for a pair of MTB shoes and pedals will therefore be a lot lower. If you later decide to change to road pedals and shoes, however, you will be spending the money twice.
Some road shoes will take MTB cleats so you could start like this and just upgrade the pedals at a later date (most pedals - road or MTB - come with cleats).
What's spd?
SPD-SL are road
Because normal people like to get off their bike and walk around once in a while?
The weight difference is minimal though. Unless you're a top lever racer where every seconds counts I don't think that matters much does it?
Shimano Pedalling Dynamics. What Shimano call their clipless system, but an initialism that doesn't actually mean anything.
Clearly I'm not normal, when I go out on a ride I have no intention of walking anywhere other than at a cafe.
Why would you just get off and walk around? If it's a ride around the local country park with the family or kids I wear trainers and flat pedals.
Well a lot of people do; myself included. We're not ones for solely riding around continuously a few hours, then going home. I may want to explore on foot where I've ridden to for a bit. Plus it's a break to be off the bike if you're ridding around for several hours. And i might want to use my bike for a quick trip to the shops or something.
I've had mine for about three years now, still like them a lot.
I was a novice then, but now I'm merely slow.
I have and use both so whilst that may be true of most, its not of me
Pro MTB people often seem to have chips on their shoulders IMO.
They seem to be desperate for other people to do as they do (especially M520 owners!).
Its so funny when people slag off road shoes/pedals and people who use them, then say they have never tried them :roll:
As has been said, there are not really 'novice' pedals/shoes, and how long do you plan on being a novice anyway?
What other novice cycling items do you have?
What other novice things do you have for other aspects of your life?
Do you actually plan on changing them then?
After how long?
If you view MTB as novice, and road as non novice, then you will have to buy new shoes too.
Reality is that you will just keep them for ages (like others that have recommended things for novices :? ) so just get what you want to have post novice.
Personally I would get road for a road bike unless you have a specific reason not to.
When I was a novice, I went SPD because initially I wanted pedals that were flat one side and cleats the other. So I got some Specialized SPD shoes to go with.
Then when clipping in and out was easy, I got some M520s - they were cheap, and did the job, not for any other reason.
Then when I discovered that I get terrible cold feet, and got some winter boots similar to these, I was pleased I'd stayed with SPD.
Wind the tension right off, double sided, and the cleats refuse to ever wear out, as do the pedals come to that.
That combo was fine for rides up to about 4 hours, after that I might start to get a small 'hotspot' on my foot, but other than that it was fine, probably rode like that for 5 years, and they are stil faultless
I had never ridden clipped in at the time, but have since moved that setup on to my MTB, and have now chosen LOOK pedals as my pedal of choice, and very nice they are.
I have them fitted to all of my bikes in one form or another, and still have the tension wound mostly off, where I have the choice - one pair are preset at 12nm.
For me, M520's make the best starter choice, as they are stupidly cheap, ultra reliable, and you don't have to worry about cleats wearing out, they just work, day after day.
Fairly sure you can pick a pair up for circa £15, and a reasonable pair of ratchet shoes can likely be had for £50 or so.
Marin Palisades Trail 91 and 06
Scott CR1 SL 12
Cannondale Synapse Adventure 15 & 16 Di2
Scott Foil 18
One doesn't need to have tried them, because it's pretty common knowledge, and common sense, that road pedals/cleats/shoes are much more of a pain to live with, unless one never gets off the bike.
And I don't know what you mean by having "a chip on their shoulders" either tbh............
Also, with MTB shoes it is easier to pedal with one foot unclipped when coming up to a junction or in stop/start traffic, as with a completely smooth flat-soled road shoe it is not that easy to keep pedalling as your unclipped foot will probably slip off the pedal.
Shimano Pedaling Dynamics.
Good luck
In my case my racing bikes are on SPD-SL and my commuting/ winter bikes use SPD (2 bikes using each).
My best bike was out of action for a couple of weeks getting a new groupset fitted, so been training on my SPD equipped winter bike (complete with guards but with the wheels from the best bike). So obviously this has had a detrimental effect on my performance. Actually not at all; my average speed was up compared with the same route, but that is likely to be due to better conditions rather than the bike. I've also done century rides plus on SPDs with no hotspots.
Bottom line is, I don't this it is correct to say SPDs are for beginners and you'll want to upgrade them once you're hardened. You'll want to upgrade every component of your kit and bike once you're hardened, and then your old kit becomes winter or commuting kit. And SPDs make fine winter/commuting kit!