Recommend pedals for road bikes?

[Pete Biggs]

Nick wrote:
> Pete Biggs wrote:
>>
>> On the other hand, if you fancy diving in at the deep end, forget
>> SPD and invest in one of the road racing systems straight away, eg.
>> Look Keo with carbon-soled "road" shoes.
>>
> SPD cleats are recessed into the sole of the shoe.

That is usually the case, though some shoes without recesses, with two sets
of holes, can take SPD cleats as well as larger ones. (I would not recommed
this type of shoe to use with SPD).

> This means you can
> walk normally in your cycling shoes, I wear my cycling footware much
> of the time even when I'm not cycling.

> AIUI Look Keo cleats are bigger and make the shoes difficult to walk
> in, so are really only for cycling in.

Cleat covers help, but yes walking in rigid-soled shoes with sticking-out
cleats is rather an odd experience for more than a short distance. It's the
price you pay for a better experience on the bike.

~PB

 

[Paul Boyd]

Nick said the following on 02/04/2008 02:23:

> SPD cleats are recessed into the sole of the shoe. This means you can
> walk normally in your cycling shoes, I wear my cycling footware much of
> the time even when I'm not cycling.

Not necessarily strictly true - the Shimano shoes I wear for commuting
have the cleats protruding slightly, so that I end up walking on the
cleats (and sound like I'm wearing high heels, apparently, when I come
down the steps into the building!)

My MTB shoes though do have fully recessed cleats.

--
Paul Boyd
http://www.paul-boyd.co.uk/

 

[Mark T]

Nick writtificated

> AIUI Look Keo cleats are bigger and make the shoes difficult to walk in,
> so are really only for cycling in. If I have this wrong I'm sure someone
> will correct me.

This is true of LOOK Keos, Delta and Shimano's road cleats. Particularly
lethal on smooth flooring like wot you get in supermarkets and some cafe
stops.

 

[dkahn400]

On Apr 1, 8:45 am, POHB <[email protected]> wrote:
> On 31 Mar, 17:01, Rob Morley <[email protected]> wrote:
>
> > It's easy enough to make them self-righting by clipping a weight to the
> > back of the cage.
>
> Wot, deliberately add weight to my bike?  Isn't that akin to blasphemy?

You don't actually need to add a weight. The pedals are balanced so
they naturally fall the right way. Once you get used to them you don't
have to scrabble around. As the pedal is always at the same
orientation the clipping in action is always the same so it becomes an
automatic action with no need to look. If by chance you get the wrong
side, disengage and it comes round correctly on the next revolution.

If you get very used to riding them either with cleats or without it
is a little strange when you switch as the pedal is in the wrong
orientation compared with what you're used to. It's still a simple
action to switch it though.

--
Dave...

 

[Pete Biggs]

Mark T wrote:
> Nick writtificated
>
>> AIUI Look Keo cleats are bigger and make the shoes difficult to walk
>> in, so are really only for cycling in. If I have this wrong I'm sure
>> someone will correct me.
>
> This is true of LOOK Keos, Delta and Shimano's road cleats.
> Particularly lethal on smooth flooring like wot you get in
> supermarkets and some cafe stops.

That's what cleat covers are for.

~PB