Clipless pedals and shoes - recommendations?

wafflycat said:

Quoted message said:

Point of order Mr Chairman - I have Look shoes & boots where the cleat
is recessed into the sole so I walk normally. I am smug about this. I do
also have the shoes where the cleat is not recessed into the sole and in
these it is possible to bear a passing resemblance to a duck when
walking ;-)

What are the shoes that accept recessed Look cleats? I use Time Atac for
touring so I can walk in them. My road bike has Looks but I can't
imagine a shoe accepting a recessed red cleat.
All the best
Dan Gregory

"Peewiglet" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Also, it would be helpful if I could get the pedals which have a clip
on one side but can be used with ordinary shoes on the other, as I
have only one bike and will continue to use it at weekends with
trainers and maybe sandals.

No you won't. That's what I thought, but when your foot slides back off the
pedal for the umpteenth time, you'll reach for the cleats.
You can get cleated sandals.

--
Morton

Tim Woodall said:

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 21:43:42 +0100,

Chris Slade said:

Tim Woodall wrote:

<snip>

Quoted message said:

The advantage of Look is that the cleat is much bigger. While in
general this doesn't matter, if you are wearing very light shoes
and/or
pedalling hard for long periods this will help to spread the weight
better on the ball of your foot.

I presume that by 'long periods' you are talking about rides lasting
several hours? I went out for a two hour ride this morning (just
missing the rain!) and didn't notice any discomfort at all in my
feet. My shoes are ancient SH-M055, and I wouldn't say that they
were exceptionally stiff. They are exceptionally smelly though :-)
Could do with being thrown in the washing machine again...

More like rides taking 10 hours. Almost anything will be ok for rides
lasting 2-3 hours. And even for rides of 10 hours or more you probably
won't notice any difference unless you are really pushing hard.

Good grief, I notice the difference after 10 seconds!

~PB

Steph Peters said:

Peewiglet of said:

Also, it would be helpful if I could get the pedals which have a clip
on one side but can be used with ordinary shoes on the other, as I
have only one bike and will continue to use it at weekends with
trainers and maybe sandals.

Quoted message said:

Minority opinion coming up. Don't get this sort of pedal, you will
spend your entire time on the bike flipping the pedals over to the
other side.

Agreed (for SPD type).

Quoted message said:

There is a better way to use shoes with clips and normal
shoes on the same bike. Get the sort of pedals that have clips on
both sides with a cage around. These work with both sorts of shoes
on both sides of the pedals.

Alternatively, (if opting for SPDs), invest in casual pair(s) of SPD
shoes/sandals to wear for the weekend rides, or even put plain flat pedals
on for those rides, or pedals with toe clips. It takes less than five
minutes to change pedals.

~PB

Peewiglet said:

Hi again,

I'm going to give clipless pedals a try, with proper shoes. Can anyone
please make any recommendations?

Pedals: Shimano M520, Shoes: Shimano MO21 (or any similar shoes that
fit you).

-- Relatively inexpensive and easy-to-use so are good for beginners.
Then perhaps consider more serious products when you've gained more
experience and knowledge. The initial items won't be wasted as they're
ideal on a second bike for going down the shops/pub, etc.

~PB

Steph Peters said:

Peewiglet of said:

Also, it would be helpful if I could get the pedals which have a clip
on one side but can be used with ordinary shoes on the other, as I
have only one bike and will continue to use it at weekends with
trainers and maybe sandals.

Minority opinion coming up. Don't get this sort of pedal, you will spend
your entire time on the bike flipping the pedals over to the other side.

I have them. "Entire time" is an exaggeration, of course. The amount of
time spent clipping in is tiny compared to pedalling time, and the
design means that it doesn't actually matter if you get the "wrong" side
first time. Flipping the pedals over is easy, too.

--
Keith Willoughby http://flat222.org/keith/
"They create a wasteland and they call it peace."

Simon Brooke said:

In that case you probably do want the original SPD system,

Yes

Quoted message said:

or one of its
low cost clones

Noooooo!

--
Tony

"I did make a mistake once - I thought I'd made a mistake but I hadn't"
Anon

Tony Raven said:

Simon Brooke said:

In that case you probably do want the original SPD system,

Yes

Quoted message said:

or one of its low cost clones

Noooooo!

No need anyway when you get decent Shimano spuds for twenty two quid* or
less**.

* Chain Reaction, CycleXpress, Settle Cycles

** St John Street Cycles via eBay.

~PB

"Dan Gregory" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

wafflycat said:

Quoted message said:

Point of order Mr Chairman - I have Look shoes & boots where the cleat
is recessed into the sole so I walk normally. I am smug about this. I do
also have the shoes where the cleat is not recessed into the sole and in
these it is possible to bear a passing resemblance to a duck when walking
;-)

What are the shoes that accept recessed Look cleats? I use Time Atac for
touring so I can walk in them. My road bike has Looks but I can't imagine
a shoe accepting a recessed red cleat.
All the best
Dan Gregory

Err... Look ones funnily enough ;-) Find of the year at Mildenhall Rally a
couple of years or so ago. Trainer type boot, leather, with recessed cleat
for Look pedals £5 a pair including cleat... That nice Mrs Whelan, wife of
that nice Mr Whelan of this newsgroup had a pair of trainer-shoe type of
same thing which she sold to me. Last year I went back to Mildenhall Rally &
bought another two pairs, still at £5 a pair for leather footwear including
the cleats. Considering I'm still wearing the first pair I purchased thtree
years ago - the cleats are still fine - I reckon I've got my cycling
footwear requirements sewn up for a few years to come :-) AIUI, they are a
discontinued line now, which is a shame. If they were still available I
reckon I wouldn't be quite so fastidious about maintaining the ones I use on
an almost daily basis.

Cheers, helen s

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Brian G

(') said:

Peewiglet said:

Also, it would be helpful if I could get the pedals which have a clip
on one side but can be used with ordinary shoes on the other, as I
have only one bike and will continue to use it at weekends with
trainers and maybe sandals.

The pedal you're referring to is the M 324 made by Shimano. It has the
SPD system step-in lock on one side and a plain "Rat-trap" type pedal
surface on the other. Current cost online is round about 40 quid a
pair.

The Wellgo clone (WPD982) is half the price and nearly as good.

The Aldi double sided ones are cheaper again and are good enough
for you to find out whether you like them or not. Some Aldis still seem
to have a few pairs of them kicking around.

I've used m324 type pedals a bit a found that when needing to
clip in in a hurry I'd invariably hit the wrong (flat) side. Would it be
worth condidering something like the Shimano m424 which has a good
enough cage around it to be usable as a flat pedal but which can still
be clipped into from either side?
--
Tim.

[email hidden]

Simon Brooke said:

SPD-R and SPD-SL really have nothing to recommend them. They are simply
Shimano's attempt to produce a pedal which is a close as possible to a
Look pedal without actually infringing Look patents. The SPD-R, in
particular, uses a bolt pattern incompatible with anything else so you
either have to use Shimano shoes (which don't fit me) or use a heavy
adaptor plate, which is madness.

I second this, more or less.

When I first decided to go clipless, I went for SPD-R pedals,
perceiving them (from my limited perspective) to be a step up from SPD
and cheaper than SPD-SL. Had I done a bit more research, I might have
chosen differently.

The problem came when I decided I wanted to also fit clipless pedals on
the hybrid I was using for commuting at the time. I wanted dual-sided
pedals so that I didn't always have to wear cycling shoes, and I wanted
shoes that could be worn comfortably off the bike. Neither option is
available for SPD-R, so I had to switch over to SPD to get what I
wanted.

That said, in use, I prefer the SPD-R pedals because of the larger
platform and the float, so if I were only interested in road
racing/training type riding then there would be no problem with them.
Except perhaps the fact that they now seem to be obsolete and being
phased out in favour of SPD-SL.

Also, I haven't yet tried Look pedals, so I have no point of comparison
between them and SPD-SRs.

Quoted message said:

In that case you probably do want the original SPD system, or one of its
low cost clones (e.g. Wellgo WPD982, Shimano M324).

Shimano M324 is what I fitted to the commuting bike and I think they're
great - and contrary to what others have said, I have never had a
problem yet with trying to find the right side of the pedal when I
needed to. YMMV.

d.

Tim said:

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Brian G

(') said:

Peewiglet wrote:

>Also, it would be helpful if I could get the pedals which have a clip
>on one side but can be used with ordinary shoes on the other, as I
>have only one bike and will continue to use it at weekends with
>trainers and maybe sandals.

The pedal you're referring to is the M 324 made by Shimano. It has the
SPD system step-in lock on one side and a plain "Rat-trap" type pedal
surface on the other. Current cost online is round about 40 quid a
pair.

The Wellgo clone (WPD982) is half the price and nearly as good.

The Aldi double sided ones are cheaper again and are good enough
for you to find out whether you like them or not. Some Aldis still seem
to have a few pairs of them kicking around.

I've used m324 type pedals a bit a found that when needing to
clip in in a hurry I'd invariably hit the wrong (flat) side. Would it be
worth condidering something like the Shimano m424 which has a good
enough cage around it to be usable as a flat pedal but which can still
be clipped into from either side?

Interesting how experiences vary. I have Wellgo WPD982s on one bike and
Shimano M324s on another. I find the latter much easier to use. They
are weighted so that they hang nearly vertically with the cleat to the
rear. A forward step in gives you the cleated side and a backward step
on gives you the plain side. Always works. The Wellgo, otherwise very
good, requires much more conscious flipping to get the right side.

The 424s, which I have on the recumbent, are usable with ordinary shoes
in an emergency but I wouldn't like to go far like that. You can feel
the cleat sticking up unless wearing very boingy shoes!

No direct experience of the Aldis but their stuff is certainly good value.

One gotcha for SPD users: not all Shimao SPD shoe cleats are
interchangeable. The ones that came with my M324s won't fit the Wellgo
pedals although they work the other way round. There is a base standard
trhat fits everything and a "multi release" version that doesn't. I
could probably dig out the part numbers if it became important to anyone.

regards

Peter

--

www.amey.org.uk

Tim said:

Simon Brooke said:

in message <[email hidden]>, Brian G

(') said:

Peewiglet wrote:

>Also, it would be helpful if I could get the pedals which have a clip
>on one side but can be used with ordinary shoes on the other, as I
>have only one bike and will continue to use it at weekends with
>trainers and maybe sandals.

The pedal you're referring to is the M 324 made by Shimano. It has the
SPD system step-in lock on one side and a plain "Rat-trap" type pedal
surface on the other. Current cost online is round about 40 quid a
pair.

The Wellgo clone (WPD982) is half the price and nearly as good.

The Aldi double sided ones are cheaper again and are good enough
for you to find out whether you like them or not. Some Aldis still seem
to have a few pairs of them kicking around.

I've used m324 type pedals a bit a found that when needing to
clip in in a hurry I'd invariably hit the wrong (flat) side. Would it be
worth condidering something like the Shimano m424 which has a good
enough cage around it to be usable as a flat pedal but which can still
be clipped into from either side?

Interesting how experiences vary. I have Wellgo WPD982s on one bike and
Shimano M324s on another. I find the latter much easier to use. They
are weighted so that they hang nearly vertically with the cleat to the
rear. A forward step in gives you the cleated side and a backward step
on gives you the plain side. Always works. The Wellgo, otherwise very
good, requires much more conscious flipping to get the right side.

The 424s, which I have on the recumbent, are usable with ordinary shoes
in an emergency but I wouldn't like to go far like that. You can feel
the cleat sticking up unless wearing very boingy shoes!

No direct experience of the Aldis but their stuff is certainly good value.

One gotcha for SPD users: not all Shimao SPD shoe cleats are
interchangeable. The ones that came with my M324s won't fit the Wellgo
pedals although they work the other way round. There is a base standard
trhat fits everything and a "multi release" version that doesn't. I
could probably dig out the part numbers if it became important to anyone.

regards

Peter

--

www.amey.org.uk

Tony Raven said:

Simon Brooke said:

In that case you probably do want the original SPD system,

Yes

Quoted message said:

or one of its
low cost clones

Noooooo!

We have Wellgo pedals on three of our bikes - I have not had any
problems whatsoever in five years of use.
I'm just about to replace the 3-year old Shimano pedals on the trice tho'.

John B

Tony Raven said:

Simon Brooke said:

In that case you probably do want the original SPD system,

Yes

Quoted message said:

or one of its
low cost clones

Noooooo!

We have Wellgo pedals on three of our bikes - I have not had any
problems whatsoever in five years of use.
I'm just about to replace the 3-year old Shimano pedals on the trice tho'.

John B

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 23:12:24 +0100,

Dan Gregory said:

wafflycat said:

Quoted message said:

Point of order Mr Chairman - I have Look shoes & boots where the cleat
is recessed into the sole so I walk normally. I am smug about this. I do
also have the shoes where the cleat is not recessed into the sole and in
these it is possible to bear a passing resemblance to a duck when
walking ;-)

What are the shoes that accept recessed Look cleats? I use Time Atac for
touring so I can walk in them. My road bike has Looks but I can't
imagine a shoe accepting a recessed red cleat.
All the best

Lake CX115 claims to do this - I've just bought a pair for £35 from
bikeplus.co.uk. I'll let you know whether they really work when I get
them.

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 23:12:24 +0100,

Dan Gregory said:

wafflycat said:

Quoted message said:

Point of order Mr Chairman - I have Look shoes & boots where the cleat
is recessed into the sole so I walk normally. I am smug about this. I do
also have the shoes where the cleat is not recessed into the sole and in
these it is possible to bear a passing resemblance to a duck when
walking ;-)

What are the shoes that accept recessed Look cleats? I use Time Atac for
touring so I can walk in them. My road bike has Looks but I can't
imagine a shoe accepting a recessed red cleat.
All the best

Lake CX115 claims to do this - I've just bought a pair for £35 from
bikeplus.co.uk. I'll let you know whether they really work when I get
them.

Tim.

--
God said, "div D = rho, div B = 0, curl E = - @B/@t, curl H = J + @D/@t,"
and there was light.

http://tjw.hn.org/ http://www.locofungus.btinternet.co.uk/

Many thanks to everyone for all the help with this.

Thanks in particular for pointing out that the one sided clip pedals
aren't a good idea - I'll avoid them.

I think I'll probably try some type of SPDs, but I'm not sure which
one yet. It's very complicated! 🙂

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Many thanks to everyone for all the help with this.

Thanks in particular for pointing out that the one sided clip pedals
aren't a good idea - I'll avoid them.

I think I'll probably try some type of SPDs, but I'm not sure which
one yet. It's very complicated! 🙂

Best wishes,
--
,,
(**)PeeWiglet~~
/ \ / \ pee AT [guessthisbit].co.uk

Peter Amey of said:

The 424s, which I have on the recumbent, are usable with ordinary shoes
in an emergency but I wouldn't like to go far like that. You can feel
the cleat sticking up unless wearing very boingy shoes!

My mileage differs - I'm OK with the 424s up to about 5 miles there and 5
miles back. I agree I can feel the cleat a bit, but it takes half an hour
to bother me.
--
Get your facts first; then you can distort them as you please. Mark Twain
Steph Peters delete invalid from [email hidden]
Tatting, lace & stitching page <http://www.sandbenders.demon.co.uk/index.htm>