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Junior, who is a decent mtb rider and aged 13 has recently got a road bike. Off road he is on Superstar Plastique flats.
On his Defy he was keen to get clipped in (he has ridden a bit in velodrome on road clipless on the hire bikes) so I got him some road shoes and basic Time xpresso's (''cos I use Time on mine). He's fine once going, but has a real fear stopping and starting; first ride the other week was a fall on a empty bit of road, where we went to practice and I got him to stop at a roundabout. Grazed knee, grazed sti/tape. He's not been back on since..
Thinking about getting him shimano double sided spd's (A530's) and Decalthlon MTB shoes till he gets his confidence up. I am going out with him for a spin after work and think I'll pop flats that came with the Defy on for now.
Thoughts ?
I feel it might be detrimental to persevere with the road clipless for now as might totally put him off, where the double sided with mtb cleats should be a lot easier, and with the option of not clipping in ?
My eldest is 11 and has been riding clipped in since he was 7 or so. He started on SPDs off road, and even though he was really confident on those he still found the transition to road clips intimidating (he's fine now). Riding on the track forced the issue I guess as he really wanted to be clipped in so just manned up and got on with it.
I think your plan of the touring pedals and mtb shoes is a good one. Although you could just get some M530s and he'd have an alternative off road too.
I did make him do a lot of pedal drills - in-out-in-out-in-out-etc - on both feet until he was really confident. They need to practice getting out when they don't need to - don't save it until they actually have to stop 😉
I've got to remember all this now as the youngest (6) is on the cusp of fitting our smallest SPD shoes!
I would suggest touring shoes and some spds.
I'm 47. Still on SPDs and touring shoes. On and off road 😳
Thanks, popped flats on tonight and he was much happier so have ordered the double sided SPDs and the Decathlon shoes.