what type of clipless pedals

donkey7798 said:

I have just purchased a new bike, Giant OCR3. I had an old Miyata 512 which I just sold to get a new ride. I am now in the market for new pedals. I had a pair of look compatible wellgo's which I liked except they were a little hard to get out of. I would like some opinions on an entry level pedal. I use the bike to commute to work.

thanks

SPD seems to be the pedal of choice from the absolute beginner to Expert racer. Add to that the SPD cleat does not chnage from the cheapest to there best.

I personally use Speedplay's and I love them, but they do have issues with easily being clogged up with a small amount of dirt or a tiny pebble and are NOT fun to walk on the cleat.

pedals will always be one of those topics where everyone has a different opinion on what makes a good one.

i've tried a few (spd, campag, speedplay, look) and have to say that my current ones are my favourite. they are the basic look keo, and are easy to get into, feel really comfortable and stable, and are easy to get into/out of (plus a reasonable price). not ideal for walking in, but not many pedals are!

Eggbeaters can be found cheap at Performance and elsewhere. They work great with mountain shoes, which I would recommend for commuting.

my recreational level riding fiancee is very happy with Look Keo (second or third level but it doesn't really matter). she had regular Looks before. the entry level Looks have lower clamp tension (like skiis) and are therefore easier to unclip.

for ease of use, large platform, it's hard to be the Looks. relatively cheap, reasonable weight, nothing weird about them, and they're ubiquitous so you can buy cleats anywhere and mount them on any shoe.

hope this helps
cdr

Do a search and you will find discussions on different pedals, their advantages, disadvantages, etc. ad nauseam.

I ride Campagnolo Pro-Fits and love them. But I am a Campagnolo kind of guy.

I'll put in a plug for one of our team's sponsors. I switched to CrankBro's pedals last year and I really love them. The cleats are all the same throughout their pedal lines (mt and road) The way the cleating system attatches to your shoe is such that you can use mt bike or road shoes without changing the stack height - this means I can use my warmer, roomier mt bike shoes with my road bike in the winter without changing the height of my saddle at all and still be comfortable. I can go from my road bike with Quattros to my city bike with Candies without changing anything around and using whichever shoes I want. The pedals themselves are very easy to clip in and out of, but completely secure at the same time. You really can't pull straight out of these pedals, but a flick of your ankle and you're out. (My husband and a 3rd party pair of SPD pedals - not Shimano- that released twice when he put a lot of upward force on them, both times he went down, and after the second time those pedals were junked!). The pedals and cleats are very light and easy to walk on. In all I love them and I'll be putting them on all of my bikes.

Eggbeater cleats are too soft for commuter work. I rode on SPD mountain pedals for years and thought a lightweight change would be good. I wore out a set of cleats before a set of cheng shin tyres! I now have the spare cleats in and studs in my shoes but after two months these are already looking tired.

Eggbeaters are very beautiful, I might sit them on my desk!

i'm saving up for my road bike. i can't afford clipless.

duct tape works just fine.

Assuming you are not buying new shoes, then you are best purchasing pedals that are 3 hole compatible and as you are just commuting then it doesn't really matter which one you get, the differences in performance isn't that important for commuting. Some bottom end Look pedals will do the trick as would others.

mikesbytes said:

Assuming you are not buying new shoes, then you are best purchasing pedals that are 3 hole compatible and as you are just commuting then it doesn't really matter which one you get, the differences in performance isn't that important for commuting. Some bottom end Look pedals will do the trick as would others.

thanks to all who replied with their 2 cents, it is very helpful. I will be getting new shoes along with the pedals and will go with something that i can walk on since they are not for racing. thanks again

For commuting, SPD mountain type pedals are the go. THey're recessed into the sole so you can walk more easily, which comes in handy if you have the inevitable flat on a section of road where it might not be wise to stay and fix it. I saw a guy walking across the Sydney harbour Bridge the other day on a wet morning with his road bike shoes in his hands, in his socks! 😄 It also means you can walk on floors/stairs/office lobbies which might be damaged by protruding cleats.

I have a couple of spare sets of SPD M520s in good nick that may interest you. I want to keep one set for the road bike I'm plannig to get the next few weeks, but the other is available.

They have adustjable tension and I generally run mine on the minimum setting. They are yet to unintentionally disengage.

donkey7798 said:

I have just purchased a new bike, Giant OCR3. I had an old Miyata 512 which I just sold to get a new ride. I am now in the market for new pedals. I had a pair of look compatible wellgo's which I liked except they were a little hard to get out of. I would like some opinions on an entry level pedal. I use the bike to commute to work.

thanks

LOOK. LOOK. LOOK. They really are frictionless and will keep your ankle from hurting.
They sell for cheap on ebay. I bought a pair of a5.1 with cleats from UK dealer for $55. Pretty good deal for new.