I’m planning on giving myself a challenge in 2019 and entering a 90-ishkm offroad race from Sälen to Mora. The terrain is not particularly gnarly and so I was planning of swapping out my current flat pedals to something a bit more connected.

I use Cheap Shimano M520 SPD pedals on my commuter and road bikes and, whilst they are fine for short distances, longer journeys with my current shoes are a little painful. I’m thinking that something with a bit more flat to them would give me more support and make the longer trips less annoying.

Apart from the generic Shimano choices (M8020/9020 and M530 I think) what else is there that wioll take a standard SPD, will last for training and race and is relatively cost effective?

You need to find out why you find them painful.  Could be your shoes, cleat position or float.

I use cheap SPD’s and recently finished a 13 hr. bike ride.  My feet didn’t hurt (everything else did mind you)

The XTR ones have a sort of platform, but they are not cheap.  What hurts ?  Try different shoes.

I think good quality (stiff-soled) shoes make more of a difference for longer distances, in my experience (regular 100k rides on Shimano XT pedals).

sounds like the platform of the shoe isn’t stiff enough.

Hiya willard, need a cycling buddy? I might be up for it as my wifes sisters husbnd does it every year. He travels up from GBG

Always glad to have someone cycle with me! Was talking about it at work with someone that has done it and is considering attempting the Swedish Classic (for those that do not know, it’s a monster – https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swedish_Classic_Circuit) and he reckoned that a gravel bike might work depending on the weather. I’m still likely to use my Stumpy though.

Shoes… I use Specialized BG touring shoes currently as they seem to fit my clown feet and are comfy enough to walk in off the bike when I walk the dogs. I do notice that my feet feel like they are going to come out of them sometimes, so they get laced up tighter than they may need to, but it is generally the sole of my foot that goes a bit numb with them first. Maybe I should visit XXL and try on some shoes at some point.

I use Shimano XT T780 MTB SPD Trekking Pedals, never given me any reason to change them out.

I use non platform spds and have no issue even on longer riders.  I echo the comments about the shoes being the issue

The platform SPDs don’t really give much more support to the shoe unless your shoe is flexible enough to be making contact with the platform, in which case your overly flexible shoe is probably what’s causing the issue in the first place…

i have no issues with 200-300km road rides using my stiff shoes, but my bendy Spesh Tahoe’s cause some problems on >100km on road, off-road I tend not to do more than 100km at a time.

there is something to be said for flats on long off-road or touring rides, decent shoes and decent flats can be just as if not  more comfy than SPDs, depends what you’re used to and the type of ride, I flip between the two and mostly only use SPDs off-road when I’m racing XC or on a long mixed surface kind of ride.

Stiffer shoes or stick with your flats would be my suggestion.

Agree it’s the shoe.  SPD shoes need to be completely stiff where the pedal meets it, then the sole gives you the platform.  Such shoes are what used to be standard but are now XC/racey type shoes.  I do almost all my riding in Specialized ones and have no issue.

+1 its the shoe.

I’ve done a 50k ride on M780 pedals with some cheap ’emergency’ shoes and could barely walk for an hour afterwards. I did 400k on the same pedals two weeks ago whilst wearing a pair of sidis and had no issues.

+1 again on shoes.  Platform SPDs are for when you are not clipped in – they mean you can get a few pedal strokes in before you clip back in.

Get a really good pair of shoes.  Spend the money and get them properly fitted with insoles/wedges whatever.

I do 80km/day a few times a week with normal SPD’s and Specialized Cadet shoes, which aren’t particularly stiff. After about 40k without a break I do get a bit of an ache in my forefoot as they’re half a size too big and my foot can move around.

The solution is a properly fitting pair of shoes with a stiff enough sole, but they wouldn’t be so good for stopping on my commute or walking around the office.