Clipless pedals and shoes

paul said:

So six weeks from now I hope to have my new toy. It has
been sugested that clipless is the way to go, and being of
the dark side clippless is almost certainly required. I
want to use my new toy for all sorts of travel, which will
include wandering around on route and I dont want to have
to carry an aditional pair of shoes. Recessed cleats seem
to be the answer, but which sort? SPuD u like, look,
speedplay? And a more important factor is my incredibly
fat feet, Shimano just won't fit.

Can you suggest shoes for fat feet tat will take a variety
of cleats, and also which cleats I should shortlist.

If you're looking at recessed cleats then pretty much every
system going (at least that I've ever come across) will fit
any shoe that's SPuD compatible, it's effectively a standard
fitting. I can't do Shimano shoes either, finding them too
narrow. Personally I use Specialized Rockhopper shoes.
They've revamped them a couple of times since I got mine,
but various folk here over time who've said they can't use
Shimano seem to have got on okay with the various models.
Cannondales are a wider shoe too. I actually do use Shimano
sandals: not having any upper to speak of the narrowness is
effectively a non-issue, and they're brilliant in nice
weather when most folks' feet are sweating buckets in socks
and shoes. Great as a second pair of cycling footwear.

As to the pedals themselves... I use and like Time ATACs.
They're a cleaner design than SPuDs, have no tension
adjusters to faff about with and work better when your
cleats are worn IME. Also easier to clean and have proper
lateral float as well as rotational (which you can set at
either 15 or 20 degrees for the release point, which I
don't think SPuDs will let you do). Because you can clip in
anywhere along the sprung bars rather than at a single
point I think they're easier to engage as well. My
tandeming pals used to use SPuDs and now use ATACs and find
them better. Wouldn't mind a bash at Eggbeaters, but I have
three sets of ATACs ('bent, 8 Freight and MTB) and don't
want to replace all 3, but new sets of shoes or bugger
about swapping cleats if I use a different bike. Also
rather the case that the ATACs aren't exactly broken, so I
don't feel any need to fix them.

(Roos is looking at a similar weight for her New Toy as
well, though she already has the pedals for it: some very
smart black ATAC Aliums.)

Pete.
--
Peter Clinch University of Dundee Tel 44 1382 660111 ext.
33637 Medical Physics, Ninewells Hospital Fax 44 1382 640177
Dundee DD1 9SY Scotland UK net [email hidden]
dundee.ac.uk~pjclinchOpen ↗

Quoted post said:

Originally posted by Paul

Can you suggest shoes for fat feet tat will take a variety
of cleats, and also which cleats I should shortlist.

TiA
--
.paul

If "fat" feet = wide feet have a look at Sidi "Mega" range (Genius for Road or Dominator for MTB).

I'm EEEE and wear Nike Ventoux Wide
http://store.trekbikes.com/shopping/product_detail.jsp?product_id=3661&category_id=620
Half the price of the Sidi Shoes.

All take SPD and Look cleats (I think)

I use Rockhoppers too, wideish and comfy but they are quite
high on the ankle so take a little breaking in.

Peter Clinch said:

(Roos is looking at a similar weight for her New Toy as
well, though she already has the pedals for it: some very
smart black ATAC Aliums.)

Took me a while to work out what this was about as Paul
didn't mention any weight, but you mean "wait" of course.
And yes, it is *too* long 🙁

Roos

In article <[email hidden]>,
[email hidden] says...

Quoted message said:

Peter Clinch said:

(Roos is looking at a similar weight for her New Toy as
well, though she already has the pedals for it: some very
smart black ATAC Aliums.)

Took me a while to work out what this was about as Paul
didn't mention any weight, but you mean "wait" of course.
And yes, it is *too* long 🙁

Roos

I had to think what he was on about as well 🙂

Will you be going over to the Netherlands to collect, or
will the ship to you? Not important, just being nosey 🙂
--
.paul

If at first you don't succeed... Skydiving is probably not
the sport for you.

paul said:

Will you be going over to the Netherlands to collect, or
will the ship to you? Not important, just being nosey 🙂

They're shipping. I emailed Nazca to discuss options (other
ideas were get them to deal with Ben at Kinetics, or I could
buy through the shop in Amsterdam and collect) and they
replied that they were happy to ship it and had done so
before, so I am buying directly from them. I suppose they
are still small enough to deal directly with customers, some
of the bigger brands only want to sell to dealers. And they
will get me the Radical panniers as well. (they do want me
to transfer the money before they send the bike off which is
not unreasonable...)

I did have a look at collecting, but it would take a fair
amount of time and money - the ferry Newcastle-IJmuiden has
a 'Minicruise' option which would work (boat on Friday
evening, bus to Amsterdam, cycle back, boat back Sat
evening) but most of the cheaper cabins were booked full
months in advance, and I rather use my weekend actually
riding the bike 🙂

So far they have been very helpful, though they only seem
to read & reply email once a day in the morning - which is
probably a Good Thing meaning they spend their time
building bikes 🙂

The only scary thing is that the bike I'm buying will have a
slightly different geometry than what I have used on the
test rides (it is a tour version of the Fiero which is new
this year, and the front suspension means the frame is a
couple of cm higher and slightly different angled) But the
changes should all be in the right direction, so I expect it
will work.

Roos

Quoted message said:

Can you suggest shoes for fat feet tat will take a variety
of cleats, and also which cleats I should shortlist.

There's a test piece on clipless pedals in the current
Cycling Plus, which might help you.

d.