Just bought my dream bike and don’t think I can bring myself to fit SPD pedals! I have used SPDs for all my bikes for a few years now for ease of swapping one to the other even for my road bikes. This means only one pair of cycling shoes required.

Now I have a £3k road bike and think I need proper road pedals but which ones?

Are there any that are interchangeable with SPDs and if required what new shoes to buy?

The Shimano touring ones are good. Stronger spring, bigger platform and single sided but use the standard offroad cleat.

A520 and A720 I think.

Are there any/many high end shoes wihth spd drilling?

That would decide it for me, I’m happy with spd but my early carbon shimano shoes are ultra stiff.

3 grand bike is going to be light,so, I’d be looking at a carbon pedal with 3 bolt road cleats. Just get used to riding with them. Look Keo style are very common and easy to get on with. Bigger cleats give a bigger platform for the shoe to sit on and will be more comfortable than 2 bolt spd cleats.

Al, a lot of shoes are shying away from 2 bolt fixing.

I used to use Time MTB pedals on my road bike but last year I changed to Speedplay road pedals. Lots of float like the Times. So far I really like them. Needs road specific shoes though but then most roady pedals will.

I run A600 spuds on my roadie. Pretty light and I can run any (MTB) shoe I like. Carbon MTB shoes aren’t as light as roadie shoes but they aren’t far off. I have a pair of roadie shoes set up for spuds too, if I need to go as light as possible. Many like road shoes+pedals. I didn’t.

Specialized sworks shoes and speed play zero stainless pedals.

Perfect setup

Go three bolt with a nice stiff road specific shoe. I’ve found there’s not as much between them as you might think. What groupset is on the new bike and is there a pedal in the groupset? If so, fit that, just for completeness.

I’ve been using speedplay zeros for a couple of years on my road bikes. I had trouble with spds due to an d
Ankle injury. Zeros have been great-although I killed apairofbearings last winter

Thrusty, that’s my point.

Pick the Shimano road pedal that matches your budget or groupset would be my advice. Anything from 105 upwards will do a job.

Roadie SPDs are great in the country but I just can’t get on with them when I’m having to constantly clip/unclip in traffic around town.

I find the flipping of the pedal a hassle, and the number of times my carbon soles have slipped off the pedal and I’ve smashed my balls into the top tube is beyond a joke.

Also, getting started on a hill is near impossible…

The group set is campag chorus….

I have SPDs and MTB typespd cleated shoes currently so working out if I have to buy pedals or pedals and shoes

Get some 105 pedals; buying smashing lovely pedals is a waste because they get battered, so just get something nice enough…

Will my SPD cleats fit those cricket?

No, those are SPD-SL pedals, you will need three bolt shoes like this;

Thanks crikey

These are my road shoes

No need to walk like a penguin off the bike 😉

True enough, lots of people manage perfectly well with SPDs on the road and there are advantages if you walk a lot, like up hills, with your bike. 😉

I like my Speedplay pedals.

SPD same as MTB saves money and just the same and you can walk in recessed cleats. No brainier

Some people might balk at the idea of having SPDs on a £3k road bike. You have to ask yourself, do you care enough about what they think to fork out for a new pair of shoes and pedals?

(As an aside, I made the move from SPDs on the road to SPD-SL and genuinely think there’s a performance/comfort benefit over long distances).

There my MTB shoes.

I run specialized BG carbon soled shoes and carbon grey exustar pedals, very good combo

Some people might balk at the idea of having SPDs on a £3k road bike. You have to ask yourself, do you care enough about what they think to fork out for a new pair of shoes and pedals?
(As an aside, I made the move from SPDs on the road to SPD-SL and genuinely think there’s a performance/comfort benefit over long distances).

Completely agree with this but…

The snob in me is wanting to tell you “you can’t put MTB pedals on a £3k road bike, let alone anything that says Shimano on a Campag equipped bike! Get some Look Keo 2 Max’s and some carbon soled road shoes man!” 😉

I’m currently using TIME ATAC pedals on my road bike and have just ordered some Shimano R107 shoes but have yet to decide on an accompanying road pedal system.

I do like the sounds of Speedplay pedals but the price of the pedals and cleats is prohibitive – or do the pedals come with the cleats?

If u are looking to ride properly long distances my carbon mtb shoes give me hot spots on the road in a way that my carbon sidis and road pedals don’t

I’ve just gone for shimano 6800 SPD-SLs. Lovey light carbon and ~£80 if you hunt

I’ve just gone for shimano 6800 SPD-SLs. Lovey light carbon and ~£80 if you hunt

Same here. Very nice.

Very happy with my DHB carbon soled road shoes as well btw, from Wiggle.

If you MUST go with spds, Welgo RC713s are available and will work but are cheap. Nothing like XT. Personally, this hardened Look KEO carbon blade rider would probably go with Ultegra spd-SL, second time around. The cleats last longer and the pedals are easier to clip into. Get some cleat covers and carbon soled shoes.

You don’t need cleat covers with SPD-SLs because the yellow bit wears down without wearing the actual pedal-cleat interface…

The new 105s are carbon too.

I’d say for your £3k bike you want high end carbon sole road shoes, which means 3 bolt pedals

I just bought some Diadora road shoes from CR for £70 . Carbon soled. A bit lively in the colours, but the comfort difference is fab compared to my tight Sidis. I have flat feet which haven’t helped. Wifes road bike for work, I managed to find a set of road shoes with 2 bolt cleats, so she has spd’s with cages for traffic and light stopping.

cynic-al – Member
I’d say for your £3k bike you want high end carbon sole road shoes, which means 3 bolt pedals

why? i’ve got shimano a600 pedals and normally ride in my carbon soled giro guage shoes. I reckon in a blind test you’d be hard pressed to tell the difference between that and a three bolt system. The shoes are more than stiff enough for me to ride 200miles in without any hint of hotspots.

I used Time RXS pedals, switched to Speedplay Zero’s but didn’t get on with them so I’ve now switched back to my trusty Time RXS’s.

I have never used a carbon-soled shoe for MTB, but the difference between my stiff XC race shoes + Shimano SPDs and my carbon road shoes + SPD-SL is phenomenal. A complete different level of stiffness and contact with the bike. They’re definitely an improvement, and if you’ve spent £3k on a road bike, you should probably pay an extra £100 for the right shoes and pedals. IMO of course.

I still can’t get the hang of quickly clipping into SPD-SLs though!

Fair enough pjt201, I had thought you couldn’t get carbon sole shoes spd-drilled.

Haven’t read all of that, but you’re after roadie pedals which don’t say Shimano?

http://www.xpedo.com/products/pedals/road/89/r-force-ti

I have an older version of those on my nice Campag equipped road bike http://singletrackworld.com/forum/topic/clipless-pedals-for-road-bikes#post-296986 – was using them with a 3-hole to 2-hole cleat adapter, but have now redrilled 😯 the soles of my S-Works road shoes for 2-hole cleats.

Carbon Keos here and some decent dancing shoes. I’ve tried Speedplays but don’t like the wobble, I like to be locked in until I decide to un clip, however my whippet mate loves his frying pans.
It’s a bit harsh not being able to try out pedals & shoe combos until you’ve bought them, they are an integral part of your riding and if you don’t get on with the ones you’ve bought its tough… 😐 and expensive 😐 😐