using mtb shoes and pedals on a road bike

OK, time has come to get a road bike… question is, pedals – is the difference in using road shoes and pedals as oppose to my mtb shoes (racy spesh ones) and pedals (shimano m540) really noticeable.. stiffness, power transfer etc? i’ve had road bikes before, and just used mtb pedals and shoes

ta, chris

for commuting i use mtbs, just for the double sided ease of getting in and out in traffic

Commuting is fine in MTB shoes, as rocketdog says.

For most road riding, you’d be fine with mtb shoes and double sided pedals. It’s only if you want more comfort (road pedals are wider, so support the foot better) and/ore more efficiency, is it worth considering dedicated road pedals and shoes.

I commute with MTB shoes and double sided pedals – convenient and easier to walk in – but all my other road riding is done with road shoes and pedals.

I just use my mtb shoes and spds.

I use mtb pedals and shoes aswell no problems, only spds the LBS had in where singlesided touring jobbies, a bugger to get into but a nice side effect has been that my trackstands have come on brilliantly since I got them 🙂

SPDs and mtb shoes.

toxicsoks – Member
SPDs and mtb shoes.

Same here (+MTB socks, MTB helmet, MTB shorts, MTB jersey – s’just what I wear innit)

You will be laughed at by small children, dogs will bark at you and there may well be a plague of frogs

If you are going to be riding the road bike in any serious fashion get the proper shoes and pedals. The engagement is so much more solid that it makes smooth pedalling easier with less of the slop you get in mtb pedal systems.

None of you obviously do proper road miles 😆

Agree with mtbfix and Mister P, proper road shoes and pedals are a revelation! I can understand MTB shoes/pedals for commuting, if you’re stopping regularly, but proper road shoes are far better. It makes no difference if you’ve got stiff MTB shoes either.

When I got my road bike I got free pedals. Just asked for Shimano touring singlesided jobbies as I had the shoes

About 2 months later I had bought road pedals (Look Keo) and shoes.
A lot more comfortable for long distances, and easier to get in to: they’re weighted (by design or accident, I’m not sure) so they just sit at a position thats easy to flip around and step into, excpet when at busy traffic light junctions, where you look like a idiot not being able to get foot in 😳 But that’s not an issue with double-sided SPDs, I use these on the commuter.

hmm, i may give it a whirl with the mtb shoes – it will be for putting miles in and some triathlon/multisport racing. Mister P – i assume you think there is a big difference?!

proper road shoes and pedals are a revelation!

No they’re not!

there’s very little difference apart from looking like even more of a cock when you waddle around between tables of blue rinse grannies with your lycra clad arse sticking out at the cafe stop.

really up the spring tension on my mtb pedals then?!!!

I can see how road shoes might be more efficient if you’re mashing away at the pedals and putting lots of power in, like in a sprint in a race. But if you’re just spinning along keeping the pedals turning, like 99% of the time, are they really massively more efficient?

I can see if you have comfort issues with MTB shoes, they are worth trying, but that isn’t a problem I have. I ride a fair bit, although not ‘proper road miles’ (about 5-6000km a year at the moment), and I’ve never had any hot spots or problems with normal SPDs, even on 100 mile+ rides. Never really done a really long ride though, I guess I might think differently if I had?

I guess also have a quite efficient pedal stroke from 7 years of primarily riding fixed wheels on flat pedals on unicycles. To be honest I don’t find SPDs massively more efficient than flats, although they are jolly nice when you’re spinning like mad down a big hill.

Joe

For commuting double sided SPDs and MTB shoes is the way forward.

For proper road riding, proper road shoes and pedals are the way forward. I was very dubious until I tried it, then INSTANTLY sold on them once I actually tried them.

SPDs always have some slop in them and its easy for your foot to roll on the pedal. Road shoes/pedals still have float, but the sense of solidity and the feel of *really* being connected to the back wheel is really inspiring. Even by MTB race shoe standards, the shoes feel stiffer too.

I don’t know what “proper” road miles amounts to in Mister P’s view. I use single-sided pedals, mtb shoes and cleats and fairly regularly put in 75-100 fast-ish miles without any problems.

I dare say road shoes would be better on the bike, but they clearly aren’t any fun at all off it and I can’t really be faffed with having two sets of shoes, pedals and cleats. My life is complicated enough as it is. 🙂

If I did “proper road riding” I think I’d be on the “other forum”.

What DezB says.I commute and do a few road miles in a ‘non serious’ stylee – ie. I in no way imagine myself to be Lance as I wheeze my way along (wearing baggies and a peak on my helmet – and , yes, I have got a lot of stick from the roadies……………and no, I don’t care 8) )

It’d be cool if someone did do a study on this – get a load of very fit road and mtb riders (equal numbers of people used to road and mtb pedal systems), get them to ride a turbo trainer with a power meter, with each rider trying both mtb and road pedals, and see if there were actually any efficiency advantages.

Joe

there’s very little difference apart from looking like even more of a cock when you waddle around between tables of blue rinse grannies with your lycra clad arse sticking out at the cafe stop.

Crikey, someone has issues.

Certainly higher up into the “xc race” type mtb shoes, aren’t the road equivalent just the same shoe without the tread on the bottom? Not sure how that makes them more ‘efficient’.

Pedal platforms, I could possibly see a correlation to being more efficient.

Suppose in theory a carbon soled mtb shoe (ie doesn’t flex) will support the foot as well as the road version. All they are doing is transmitting force from leg/foot into turning the crank around. If there’s flex then I suppose a wider platform (aka road cleat) should make it better.

Currently doing a 30-50 miler every Sunday on the road bike with spds. Just out of interest I’m gonna try out some road shoes (if I can find some comfortable ones).

On a stupid long ride eg 12hr TT it’s nice to be able to swap shoes/bikes/legs.

Road for road use when there’s no walking to be involved, in the summer. The ‘fixed in’ feeling is good but my carbon soled Shimano race shoes make my feet ache. Or rather pressing hard in them does.

SPDs (MTB) for winter – for me because I’ve only got winter MTB boots.

I used M959s and SIDIs happily for ages, when I started doing about 500 miles a week, I started to develop hot spots on the balls of my feet. Road shoes & pedals solved that. If I do any serious milage now I use spd-sl, I still use mtb spds for commuting everyday.

cheers for the input folks – will give the current shoes and pedals a whirl and see how i get on.

The only advantage of road shoes/cleats is that you don’t get cramps in the feet.
SPD are very small and have a small rock and roll. Hence you are trying to ‘grab’ the pedal and clutching your foot. That could be very uncomfy after a while. This is more obvious on road ride where you don’t stand up as quite often as in a mtb ride.

GW in “completely wrong” shocker!

A first?

GW in “completely wrong” shocker!

A first?

Indeed, I know I don’t look a cock, I look and act much more like an injured baby deer foal clothed in a fluorescent condom walking round the cafe stop to get my 15th frappawappaklappaslappanappadappachino.

I don’t necessarily think the benefits are in performance, I have S-Works road and mountain shoes, there’s probably only a small amount of difference between power transfer, but the road ones are just so much more comfy, the bigger contact patch is far more stable. If you’re walking about then fine, don’t buy road shoes, but who walks in road shoes, get on your bike FFS.

And the public think you look like a cock anyway, irrespective of your shoe choice!

They’re all out today aren’t they!?

I don’t necessarily think the benefits are in performance, I have S-Works road and mountain shoes, there’s probably only a small amount of difference between power transfer, but the road ones are just so much more comfy,

Hmm. That’s what I’m interested in. If it is just comfort, then I’m not fussed, as I’m comfy enough. But if it made pedalling easier, then the fancy shoes might be worth having a play with.

So far we have here is people saying that in terms of efficiency they are either not very different, or completely night and day different. It’d be nice if someone would actually test this (and could save some of us from having to buy two pairs of expensive shoes / pedals).

Joe

None of you obviously do proper road miles

Does 60 miles and over 3,000 feet of climbing after work yesterday count as “proper” miles?

What about tomorrow night’s chaingang? Will that be “proper” miles?

Or the hilly 80 miler I hasve planned for Sunday. Is that “proper” mileage?

Of course, these shall be done using road shoes and road pedals, but as the shoes have stretched through winter use, they’re a bit sloppy, so maybe I’m losing the benefit….

Time to invest in some Sidis, I think….