I’m going to get some road pedals for my new road bike. With MTB pedals the current Shimano (since they sorted the mud shedding) are clear favourites with everyone. I assume there’s not such unanimity with road pedals.

My criteria for choosing MTB pedals are…

– Don’t need servicing
– Don’t fall off the spindles
– Cleats not made of cheese
– Don’t break when knocked against something
– Either a decent amount of float or require some force to unclip
– Good value
– Light weight

…and I’m prepared to compromise on the weight. All of these would also apply to road pedals. I’d also prefer something as easy as possible to walk in. And I believe stack height and platform size start are important on road pedals. Any other factors?

So what should (and what shouldn’t) I get?

I have Look Keos. I think they fail on your cleats not made of cheese and easy to walk in criteria.

If I was buying again I’d get Ultegra SPD-SLs.

Time RXS, the cleats last for years, the pedals last for years, good float, not made by crank brothers (most importantly)
sl200 – I might have some spare if you want to drop me a line.
A.

I have look keo. I have a set of cleats in one pair of shoes that are coming to the end of their life after about 6-8 months, but I have been using them for commuting and club/ socials rides. I don’t find them that hard to walk in. They also have rubber pads on them for grip.

The cleats come in three variants. Black – 0° float, Grey – 4.5° float and Red – 9° float.

Can’t comment on others as these re all i’ve ever used.

keos here too.

Time i-Clic – despite the terrbile name, very good pedals.

LOOK Keos.

got a set of Time RXS work, last, what more do you want, oh and they don’t squeak.

If you do a lot of road miles and decide to go for the look keos make sure you get the ones with the stainless steel plate. The all plastic body ones wear after a few years.

I like Time RXS and run them on my summer and winter bike. However, the bearings last two seasons before they go very notchy and gritty*. I get a lot longer out of the Shimano SPDs on my commuter. Shimano SPD-SL pedals weigh about 100 grams more than Times though, and the cleats don’t last as long.

*Based on three pairs of pedals.

keos…been selling them for over 7 years now…theyre the best all-round road pedal in my op…

Shimano 105 SPD-R here. They’re so close to Ultegra in construction and weight it really isn’t worth paying more. Plus the cleats are tough and will withstand plenty of walking. I’ve heard tales of the cheesey nature of Look cleats.

Look Keos here. Agree on the “cheese cleats” though. Haven’t tried the latest ones with the Teflon inserts though.

Look Keo2Max, or Blades if you can push the budget.
Without a doubt the best pedals on the market.

Time i-Clics here too, not had them long so can’t vouch for durability.

Happy with every else so far.

Shimano 105 here too.

First of all, Keos and SPD-Rs don’t qualify as “easy as possible to walk in”. If that’s a factor (like you intend to be walking around in them a lot) then consider sticking to an MTB-style cleat. The cleats last a lot longer as they are recessed into the sole of the show and the MTB style shoe also has a deep tread for grip. You can even get “road” style shoes in the Shimano RT range which suit these cleats.

If you want a bit of “platform” on your pedal (some prefer it as it reduces the chance of a hot-spot on the sole of your foot) then the Shimano A520 will work well. Alternatively, look at the Crank Brothers Candys. That’s what I’m currently using on my tourer/commuter (and in fact on my “fast” road bike at the moment.

If you want an MTB style cleat and the most minimum of pedal then the Ritchey Pro Micro V4s are gorgeous and weigh almost nothing.

Unless you are a serious roadie is there any point in buying road specific pedals?? i’ve put spds on all my bikes and binned my (old style) look pedals with delta cleats.

advantages- you don’t have to get new shoes, spd shoes are easy to walk in, double sided etc. spd pedals are cheap as chips too.

‘advantages- you don’t have to get new shoes’ !!!

Surely getting new shoes is one of the major advantages 🙂

Shimano here and no complaints

Thanks all!

That’s definitely ruled out Looks for me with the cheesey cleats. I hate when the clipping out action changes even slightly as cleats wear.

aP – that’s a v kind offer – I’ll email you.

With MTB pedals the current Shimano (since they sorted the mud shedding) are clear favourites with everyone

No they’re not.

Currently I’ve got a pair of Crank Bros road pedals doing sterling duty. I hope they last a long while as they’ve stopped making them. 😥

+1 for needing new shoes being an advantage!

Shimano SPD-SL’s for me as well, nice big platform, good amounts of float yet rock solid when you’re in them.

look keos with the cafe cleats. the rubber bit at front gets chewed off eventually but the bits on the rear give enough grip on shiny cafe floors when buying an espresso.
i don’t understand getting mtb choes/cleats for riding on the road? 3-6 hours in the saddle and a 10 yd walk to buy the coffee, proper shoes/pedals are the sensible choice.

Plastic cleats= impossible to walk in, plus any off the bike walking will kill the cleats very quickly.

I have old Look pedals on my best road bike, and some Shimano MTB ones on my winter bike. That means I can wear MTB type shoes when the weather is poor with less chance of shoe slipping on wet greasy tarmac.

I’m doing a London to Paris in the summer though, and I’m going to fit the MTB pedals to the good bike to make it easier to get around without looking like a complete duck off the bike.

MrSmith – Member
i don’t understand getting mtb choes/cleats for riding on the road? 3-6 hours in the saddle and a 10 yd walk to buy the coffee, proper shoes/pedals are the sensible choice.

Because outside your narrow view of the world, real people ride real road bikes on real roads to go actually go to real places where they might, heaven forfend, leave the bike for a while and go for a walk around. In some quarters, they even have a name for this and they might call it t…o…u…r…i…n…g.

I used to road race in Specialized MTB carbon race shoes and XTR cleats / pedals – never saw the point in road specific stuff.

Originally used Look pedals, but switched to MTB pedals in the end – struggled to clip in when pulling away out of junctions, much preferred doublesided, can use winter boots in teh cold and wet and it’s easier to walk up Winnatts Pass in MTB shoes 😳

Because outside your narrow view of the world, real people ride real road bikes on real roads to go actually go to real places where they might, heaven forfend, leave the bike for a while and go for a walk around. In some quarters, they even have a name for this and they might call it t…o…u…r…i…n…g.

i wasn’t talking about imaginary roads but real ones that exist outside of an imagined utopia including the roads that you ride on.
even if i have not confirmed their existence myself i am willing to accept that they are extant and i have the ability to construct a approximate facsimile in my mind.

i realise touring exists along with the associate bikes, panniers, map-holders, shorts shoes and pedals.

if the thread title was about touring i would have recommended the obvious:

My eyes, my eyes!!!

Where does the OP say they’re not for touring?

where does the OP say they are?

shimano 105 spd-sl for me

although over the winter just been using my spds instead so i can wear my winter mtb boots

i’ve got a love – hate relationship with road pedals…they do offer advantages but the walking is a problem. Last year i slipped walking down the slipway to the renfrew – yoker ferry and my bike ended up in the clyde!