Help with pedal choices? Need your info

I am getting into commuting, and starting to train for road racing, and I would like some help with pedal choices. My local bike shop told me to go with old school shimano spd pedals, I've been looking at the crank brothers eggbeaters, and I am used to speedplay frog pedals. I loved the frogs, but i don't think I can spend that much right now. I just need a good all around pedal to ride, commute, train a bit, and be durable for quite a while. any advice or help would be great!!

 

I love eggbeaters - I run standard eggbeaters on my single speed mountain bike and Candy SLs on my fixed gear and touring bike. The little platform on the Candy SL (or C) adds a little bit more support for those longer road rides. I'm sure the shaved leg crowd would look down on anyone not using actual "road" pedals and "road" shoes, but mountain bike pedals and shoes allow you to actually walk once you get off your bike rather slip, slide, and click your way around.

That said, the cheapest Shimano SPD is half the cost of the cheapest Crank Bros pedals and are decent pedals.

 

Just to start a fight, I'll again state my claim that so-called "clipless" pedals (the most poorly named product in history) are a complete fraud perpetrated by the industry to sell ridiculously priced pedals and goofy shoes.

"Clipless" pedals offer no increase in power or efficiency over old-fashioned toe clips or PowerGrips. None.

I threw my SPD pedals away years ago, and sold the stupid shoes at a garage sale. Never again.

 

It's probably true that toe-clips are just as efficient, however, they are much harder to get into and out of. Maybe not as much of a concern for recreational road riding but for any type of riding where you will have to stop often or put your foot down in an emergency (riding in the city or mountain biking) it becomes very important indeed.

As far as industry perpetuated frauds go - the whole bicycle industry is an example of marketing gone astray. Everyone is convinced now that they need disc brakes and suspension off road and carbon fiber on the road. While these things are nice, they aren't necessary and sometimes are detrimental. Road bikes have become nothing but expensive toys so that they can emulate the racers. For instance, the use of short pull brakes eliminates the possibility of using a wide tire (like 32c) for commuting or touring. And if you are going to use a 700x23 tire then steel would be a much better choice for frame material. But I guess most road riders in the USA take their bikes via car to nice smooth country roads to ride them.

 

PD-M424 Shimano, plus a pair of sandals or shoes, been using them for 3 years now and love them. As for the more expensive ones I just never looked, happy with what I have. The advantage of these pedals also is that if you are popping down to the shops with regular shoes, no problems.

 

I think you are wrong. When I had old fashion toe clips the top of my foot would get very sore. I can get much more power out of clipless pedals. The toe clips still required goofy shoes too or the bottom of your foot would also get very sore.

Maby you just do not have enought power to take advantage of good pedals.

 

Ok, I will answer you question instead of debating the pro/con issue. I have LOOK style pedals and cheap shoes from Nashbar. The look's are easy to get into, and out off. With kool covers for the cleats, I can walk fairly well, but only from my drive to the porch.

 

I am still confused as to how to clip into and out of the pedals. I'm not sure how they all work and I guess thats what scares me about buying something i have no idea about. Are there any places to look at the clip styles and actually how they clip in and not just the pedal. Like I said, i've used speedplay frog ti and they're really cool, but the look/time/spd and the others scare me a bit cause i don't know how they work. i've looked at the candy sl from crank brothers and think that they'd be really good, but i don't know how the entry/exit system works on them. If anybody could enlighten me on the actual pedals and what they recommend for starting to commute more, that would be awesome. I would like some info on the crank brothers stuff too. I'm interested in those, cause when i take off the road shoes i want to be able to go somewhere on a 15 minute trip with regular shoes also.

 

I'm a roadie and have always used either look style shimano pedals or mountain biking spd pedals. I prefer the spds. Just practice with your dominant foot, i.e., right handed=right footed. It's just like a ski boot and binding: toe first. Just practice and you'll figure it out.

 

Yeah, I'm sure that's it. Thanks for the laugh.

 

So I'm all done I just went with the shimano m525 mountain double sided pedal and the shimano pretty basic mountain shoes. (they look like a pair of vans skate shoes) And they are great for commuting. I will get another pair of shoes/pedals for race applications if I go that route, but for now these have plenty of float, release extremely easy, and are great all around. thanks for all your help