Converting normal shoes/trainers to clipless

Don't fit SPD pedals...

If as you say its a bike for a short commute then is it really nessecary to have these?

Save a lot of hassle, and requirement to ware the same shoes and just fit standard pedals.

Tatti said:

Here's the deal, ive built up a fixed gear bike (70's road frame with droops) for commuting in and out of uni next year, i am going to fit SPD pedals to it and now i need to sort my footwear.

I currently have a pair of shimano mountain bike shoes with a recessed cleat for use with my mountain bike, but to be honest they arent that great for walking around off the bike.

I will be spending 20mins each way on the bike and the rest of the day on foot walking around etc so the emphasis is on comfort and to a certain extent style. Also i don't want to have to carry around an extra pair of shoes all the time. From what i have viewed online and tryed on in shops there arent that many shoes that have a good weighting on off bike usage.

So the plan is to modify the sole on a pair of adidas trainers i have lying around by making a few careful cuts and swapping over the parts from an old pair of mountin bike shoes so that i have a comfy pair of trainers with a recessed cleat.

From what i can see it is possible as the sole looks to be wide/thick enough and rigidity of the sole/race performance isnt important to me as my commute is relatively short vs the rest of the day spent in the shoes.

Thought i'd post this here so that if anyone can see any flaws to the plan, has general comments or have tryed anything similarly radical they could share their knowledge.

Thanks

Proving that the Scots being cheap isn't a fallacy 🙂

It wont work.

Carry a spare set of shoes/sandals.

Cheers

Geoff

carrerahill said:

Don't fit SPD pedals...

If as you say its a bike for a short commute then is it really nessecary to have these?

Save a lot of hassle, and requirement to ware the same shoes and just fit standard pedals.

30-40 mins a day on my bike i would not class as short, and so i am not prepared to downgrade from the clipless experience. I am guessing maybe you have never used clipless shoes.. Anyway i reckon its an interesting experiment and if it works could be pretty cool, i will proably make the first incisions this weekend and post up the results.

We could excuse you if this suggestion came from Ireland or Belguim, but Scotland!! 🙄

What have you been drinking up there?? :eek:

Lack of stiff sole is your issue here.

capwater said:

Lack of stiff sole is your issue here.

And that's not all. Think about how the upper is attached to the sole. I wouldn't bet on a shoe that wasn't designed for bike use lasting very long under the kind of stress that bicycling causes.

I suppose it is worth a try, but my guess is that either the cleat will be ripped out of the sole or the sole will be ripped off the shoe. Have you considered performancebike.comprofile.cfmOpen ↗ performancebike.comprofile.cfmOpen ↗ performancebike.comprofile.cfmOpen ↗ performancebike.comprofile.cfmOpen ↗, or performancebike.comprofile.cfmOpen ↗

BTW, I do use clipless pedals, but do not consider them to be necessary for a 30-40 minute jaunt. A lot of folks in my area commute 15 to 20 miles each way to work, and I have only seen one person use clipless pedals on their commuter bike. On the 35 to 100 mile weekend rides on their road bikes they use clipless pedals, but for commuting to work the vast majority ride hybrids or mountain bikes without clipless pedals.

I can't possibly see how it could work! Why don't you try strapless toe clips, then you can use whichever shoes you like. I have them on both my bikes. (so has the BF who uses them on short course triathlons).

Try using the search feature on this forum to investigate Power Grips as an alternative to cleats. 🙂