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My 12year old son said other night ,my feet keep slipping when wet,should i have pedals like yours dad? SPDs.
I started years ago with toe clips n straps,and moved to SPDs last couple of years.
I ve got me old pedals i could fit to his bike,so no cost involved.
His majority of riding is roads n tracks,only just learning singletrack n boulder n sheep dodgeing .
What do others think ?
He wants them, let him try them.
let him try (in a big grassy park first till he gets the hang of them)
Or get him some better flats and shoes
At 12 he'll get the hang of them in about five minutes. If you want to save cash I have an old pair of 505s you can have for the postage.
What pedals has he got, if they're just normal cheap/plastic ones I'd get him a pair of V8/12 or the like first - before venturing into the need for SPD'd shoes.
Your post does not specify whether the 'old' pedals are SPD or clips+straps.
SPD should be fine with the tension wound out, but do not inflict clips+straps on someone doing singletracks!
As someone above said, try better flatties, but beware the spikes or he will skin his shins or calves.
PaulD
Jnr (10) has V8 copies on his MTB and SPDs on his cross/road bike. Been riding a while with SPDs and he gets on fine. He has more problems with the V8s creating holes in his shin!
You can get Shimano 520s for £20. The bigger expense will be getting shoes, especially if his feet are still growing. We managed to pick up a cheapish pair of shoes from those travelling bike sales that turn up to a leisure centre near you.
Both of mine were happily using SPDs at age 11. You just need to find some nice safe area to practise in. My lad took about two lengths of the main street through the village to get the hang of them, and his sister about five minutes on a campsite.
Get some decent flatties as well, and teach him how to swap them. That way he can hoon with his mates as well as riding rad XC.
had the same problem with slipping feet.
didn't want SPD's as she spends most of her bike time around the park with mates.
Solved with better pedals and some decent shoes for real riding.
Could go for something like this.... [url= http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5937 ]flat one side, SPD mech the other[/url]
Could go for something like this.... flat one side, SPD mech the other
worst of both worlds IMO. As others have said, let him try in a big soft field with SPDs, he's going to want to try them at some point, better now while hes young enough to bounce back!
+1 for tomhoward's comment.
Singlesided is always 'jam-side-down' for whichever side you actually want.
They actually settle with the SPD uppermost when the bearings have worn in.
PaulD
It's not particularly difficult to spin the pedal around to the side you want. Regardless you'll probably find they'll have fewer problems with SPD than we've had, Jnr has yet to have a clipless moment in over a years use.
For easy in easy out see if you can get hold of some old candys or mallets