Afternoon - this is my first post here so take it easy on me please! I'm hoping that if found the right part of this forum for my question so here goes. I've been commuting to and from work (through London on roads) for about a year now. My journey is 11km in each direction and I've been thinking about changing to clipless-pedals for sometime my motivation being partly a desire to explore something new and partly to get to work faster. What I'm after from the pedals is a compramise, I'll mainly use them clipless but I'd also like to be able to just jump on the bike with trainers and get to and from the local shops without messing around. So what are my options?
I've come to few conclusions but am not sure if I'm making a big mistake. I've seen some Shimano pedals that are clipless on oneside and have a normal platform on the other side. However I've heard these can be fiddly and I think I'll be using the clipless most of the time so don't want to give up half the pedal. Instead I'm thinking of going for one of the SPD pedals that have quite a large platform round the cleat (something like the crank brothers malet) my rational being that this platform should be big enough to push with normal shoes if necessary. I'm also prefering SPD over other more road bike orientated fittings as the shoes seem easier to walk with and every now and then I might want to nip round Sainsbury's on the way home from work!
Any suggestions would greatly accepted, thanks.
ps. Should have added my bike is a Ridgeback Genesis Day 0 (think cheap road bike frame and wheels with flat handle bars)
I went with PD-M324 Shimano pedals. The platform extends 4 inches from the crank the is great for riding with sneakers. And I find that the clipless side works just find. This was my first clipless pedal. I got a pair of Nike shoes at my bike shop. I found I got used to only one side being clipless pretty qiuckly.
I started with the tension pretty loose until I got used to clipping in and out. Since then I've increased the tension a couple of times. I also found that when riding clipless, what you need to do is, clip in with one foot and set the rotation of the other pedal so that after the first push of the clipped foot, the other pedal is in the right position to clip in the other foot. I got used to it pretty quickly and now it is pretty automatic. I do it now without looking, I get clipped in pretty quickly now.
I'll probably Upgrade to a pedal that is clipless on both sides by next spring, since I rarely use the pedistal side any more. But I'll wait for the off season when the prices are at their lowest.
Also if you go with SPD, Check out shimano.com and check into the cleats. Some are single directional release (sm-sh51 & 52). and some are multi directional release (55 & 56's) . Just check out shimano's web site for which cleats work for which model pedal's. I use sm-sh56.
I just took the plunge into clipless, and I am using Crank Brothers Candy pedals (ok with normal shoes for short trips). Easy in and out. I sometimes get clipped in before I realize it. 😉
For shoes, I am limited because of wide feet, but I like my Lake MX-101 shoes as well. Very walkable, and stiff enough for cycling. Not as much tread as many mountain shoes, but I won't be riding in the mud anyway. 🙂
I also saw somewhere a platform that can be used on any pedal with SPD type cleat attachment... They could be thrown onto any pedal pretty quickly. The down side is that you would need to have a spare set of cleats to use them with. I am fine without them.
