so, bitten the bullet and finally joined the smooth calved ranks. bike should be coming this thursday, and i need some pedals and shoes. thinking of getting the shimano 105s, but know very little about the feel or quality of road pedals. i assume those are decent due to the name and the price, is this the case?
and how similar in feel/action are road spds compared to mtb for clipping in and out of? any reasonable priced shoe recommendations?
Not the answer you're looking for but I use mtb spd's on my road bikes, it means one pair of shoes fits all my bikes. I've a pair of carbon-soled spesh shoes which I think means I've never had a problem with hotspots on all-day rides whether touring or doing a 100 miler on my 'best bike'.
I use Time rxs pedals, but to be honest look, time and shimano are all comparable, each has their quirks all are crap to walk in..
As for shoes, i like sidi, but i would really really advise trying the shoes on. You will be wearing them a while and niggles will become a pain, literally. Something i have been meaning to sort out are proper insoles, i have used Confomable in the past and they do make a difference over the cheap crap most shoes some with.
As for action similar but different is the best way i can describe it, the thing to watch is you can only clip in on one side, but most road pedals are weighted to account for this.
Think ribble have got a deal going at the moment for shimano shoes and pedals, worth a look.
Shimano pedals are pretty great, but lots of others out there as well. 105s will be solid, but so are the models below, and they're proper cheap.
And of course specialized shoes are fantastic for comfort and performance.
To the mob: Not going to bother coming back on this thread so no need to spam it 
to be honest, hf, that's a great answer. i've got xtr spds on my "proper" bike and it would be quite useful/economical if i could just use those and my current shoes. i wasn't sure if i'd get things thrown at me if i did, though!
edit - realman, you're not welcome here, but thanks for the tip about ribble.
+1 for using SPDs on both - just makes things easier and you can walk in the shoes. Haven't had anything thrown at me yet.
+1 headfirst same here I use same shoe I am comfortable in all day. Specialized mtb tahoe. Did 205km yesterday on road bike in pair spesh no problems whatsoever and I can still walk in them not like our duck feet roadie friends
Just bought a new road bike and have fitted some spds, on shop advice, even though it lost them a sale of a pair of new shoes and pedals !
Their reasoning was that there'd be enough to be getting used to without adding in new pedal system.
-1 for spd's on road bikes.
Time i-Clic here, the fibre-flex ones. Big improvement over the SPD's I used at first, easily the best upgrade I've made so far.
How much walking are you planning on doing?
Their reasoning was that there'd be enough to be getting used to without adding in new pedal system.
I don't buy that, it takes all of 5 minutes to get used to different systems.
don't know. not much walking!
on the basis that i do get new pedals, do we all agree that 105s are a good choice, then? as i could get shoes and pedals from ribble for <£100, which sounds tempting.
You can rule out the "harder/easier to walk in" argument out then.
I don't know why people drag that up, most I ever walk in mine is out to garage or to the bar and back. Admittedly it's more of a struggle carrying 3 pints, but the pro's far outweigh the cons
Dom't use spd's they just don't feel that secure compared to road pedals. So choose any road pedals. (Speedplay if you need lots of float for tricky knees).
i do have one slightly dodgy knee. is there not so much float available in road spds?
Check out the A600 pedal from Shimano. Ultegra quality single sided spd pedal. Had them for a little while. Lightish and easy to clip into.
Go for cheap Shimano pedals - they're great.
I mostly use R540s and can't see why I'd change them. I have also now bought some 105s which look better and are a bit stiffer I think.
Touring pedals are better than SPDs. I use A520 pedals in the winter so I can use my winter mtb boots and also use them for touring.
As someone who has relatively recently changed from mtb pedals and shoes (Candys and Spesh Elite) to proper road pedals and shoes (Shimano 105 and Spesh Elite) i will say that I won't go back: Road shoes are so much stiffer, and therefore feel so much better on the bike, and the pedals just feel alot more secure.
Walking is no problem whatsoever. I have heard that Shimano cleats are easier to walk in than Look cleats, but I have no experience of those.
The only downside is that they are single-sided, which I do occasionally find difficult to clip into when pulling away at a junction in a hurry, particularly if it's on a steep slope.
SPDs are fine on the road. I used them for years on my road bike. I now use Shimano 105 SPD-R. If you get the yellow cleats they have float. Look cleats have a reputation of being made of cheese and having poor wear even if you are just walking down to the bottom of your drive in them.
+1 spuds and carbon-soled MTB shoes
Tried roadie pedals but prefer spuds - float and practicality and shoe-swapability
ok, cheers for the more info. uponthedowns, do you get the floaty yellow ones as standard with the pedals or do you have to acquire them separately?
Mine came with the yellow ones as standard.
theflatboy - Member
i do have one slightly dodgy knee. is there not so much float available in road spds?
Go for Speedplay. Incredible amount of float.
I used to use the same system on all my bikes (mtb, road and cross). Great as you only need one pair of shoes (so why did I have three?). But I recently went for some road specific shoes and pedals ( Sidi and Speedplay). Upsides: The connection to the bike feels better. Loads of float. Downsides: Walking is a bit harder.
i may well do, matthew. which ones do you run on road?
+1 for Speedplays, they're pricey though. Zero's are the model to get (cro-mo version is fine) if you do go down that route.
105s are a good pedal
I swap to Time ATACs for the Winter so that I can use the same Winter boots but I never felt the need at other times as the large platform feels much better
I like KEO's, but Son1 rides SPD-R. They are easier to engage and the cleats are tougher. I rode with SPDs for years and still do on the tandem, because the the tread helps with grip when holding up a bike for two.
My first clipless pedal was a 757, which had a lovely mechanism, but the axle snapped (in answer to the Crank Brothers thread)
start with yr SPDs and change to roadie ones if
a) you start riding long distances
b) your feet start to hurt on SPDs
you might hate road riding anyway
Keep the spd's for MTB. Look keo classics here with s-works road shoes.
There is a massive difference in terms of power going to wheels using proper road pedals.
Get shaving, get Lycra, get road pedals and shoes.
I use to use SPD's then moved to Speedplays. Found them a great pedal with the float.
I use Keos, used to use SPD-SLs, and I'm very tempted to go back, cleat life on the Keos is shocking if nothing else.
SPDs just feel all sorts of wrong on the road, irrespective of how stiff your shoes are.
I had mtb pedals on my winter skinny bike all winter. They worked fine enough.
When they fell apart (crank brother candys of course) I put 105 pedals on ...there was a noticeable improvment.
As for walking in them...
Thats a mtbing thing ...roadies ride when out with bike..
I have Ultegra but the cleats are plastic, they tend to fail at the engagement points leaving you out on the road somewhere with a cleat you can neither walk in nor clip in with. I think I'll be switching to something SPD compatible so all my shoes, bikes and pedals will be on the same platform.
Whatever I do next, it won't have plastic cleats.
Me thinks you're doing something wrong, pro's cope fine with plastic cleats (or are you saying you've walked in them a lot and worn them down before they break?). Mind you Speedplay cleats have a lot of metal in them (although they aren't entirely metal).
Didn't walk in them much at all, and they ride fine, tho I am not the gentlest on kit. I had a pair where a sliver of plastic sheared off the key part of the cleat mid-ride and they wouldn't engage then, game over. Pros probably have new kit whenever they needed it, support vehicles and ride in bunches. I'm often out on my own.
From my POV there's no good reason to keep them and a good reason to get rid. (Want my pedals?)
I have Ultegra but the cleats are plastic
As they are on virtually all road pedals, except Speedplay, where the pedal is basically on the bottom of your shoe. And eye-wateringly expensive!
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