MTB vs road pedals and shoes

DaveB said:

I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB and
road bikes with clipless and new shoes. Can someone tell
me what the difference is between MTB and road pedals and
MTB and road shoes. I've seen comments about shoe
stiffness varying but can't see why a pedal varies.

Dave B.

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk like a
duck and look like a [censored] and just to ensure that everyone
notices you, they make a sound similar to a leggy blonde in
high heels.

The MTB pedals are usually double sided as well where as the
road ones are single sided presumably to save weight and to
make it more difficult to clip-in while in heavy traffic.

You can get flexible soled MTB shoes which are great for
everyday use ie around the office. You can also get stiff
MTB shoes like SIDI so I don't think thats a factor.

The pedals are different in that the road ones are SPD-R and
use larger cleats and presumably they are more expensive.

IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

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

Quoted message said:

DaveB said:

I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB and
road bikes with clipless and new shoes. Can someone tell
me what the difference is between MTB and road pedals
and MTB and road shoes. I've seen comments about shoe
stiffness varying but can't see why a pedal varies.

Dave B.

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk like a
duck and look like a [censored] and just to ensure that everyone
notices you, they make a sound similar to a leggy blonde
in high heels.

The MTB pedals are usually double sided as well where as
the road ones are single sided presumably to save weight
and to make it more difficult to clip-in while in heavy
traffic.

You can get flexible soled MTB shoes which are great for
everyday use ie around the office. You can also get stiff
MTB shoes like SIDI so I don't think thats a factor.

The pedals are different in that the road ones are SPD-R
and use larger cleats and presumably they are more
expensive.

IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

Wow ... now THERE's an unbiased response. Sheesh.

Lets talk about application. What kind of riding are you
planning to do? Personally, I'm not worried about walking
like a dork 'cuz I don't spend much, if any, time walking.
Besides, if you're into cycling of any kind, looking like a
dork comes with the territory and the shoes hardly change
that. I ride on the road. I don't need tread. I don't need
the extra weight that comes with it. I don't need pedals
that shed mud. I do enjoy two-sided entry and my Speedplay
pedals take care of that quite nicely. The soles of my shoes
are ramrod stiff and the feel of power transfer to the
pedals compared to the mtb shoes I've owned is awesome. And
most road pedals have a lower profile which gives better
clearance in hard cornering. Catching a pedal in a turn is a
sure way to go pavement surfing and donate skin to the
ashphalt god.

But if you ride just to get to the coffee shop where you
stuff your face with pastry with your pals and complain
why you can't lose weight or go fast, by all means, get
mtb shoes.

Bob C.

In article <[email hidden]>,

psycholist said:

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

Quoted message said:

DaveB said:

I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB and
road bikes with clipless and new shoes. Can someone
tell me what the difference is between MTB and road
pedals and MTB and road shoes. I've seen comments
about shoe stiffness varying but can't see why a pedal
varies.

Dave B.

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk like
a duck and look like a [censored] and just to ensure that
everyone notices you, they make a sound similar to a
leggy blonde in high heels.

The MTB pedals are usually double sided as well where as
the road ones are single sided presumably to save weight
and to make it more difficult to clip-in while in heavy
traffic.

You can get flexible soled MTB shoes which are great for
everyday use ie around the office. You can also get
stiff MTB shoes like SIDI so I don't think thats a
factor.

The pedals are different in that the road ones are SPD-R
and use larger cleats and presumably they are more
expensive.

IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

Wow ... now THERE's an unbiased response. Sheesh.

Lets talk about application. What kind of riding are you
planning to do? Personally, I'm not worried about walking
like a dork 'cuz I don't spend much, if any, time walking.
Besides, if you're into cycling of any kind, looking like
a dork comes with the territory and the shoes hardly
change that. I ride on the road. I don't need tread. I
don't need the extra weight that comes with it. I don't
need pedals that shed mud. I do enjoy two-sided entry and
my Speedplay pedals take care of that quite nicely. The
soles of my shoes are ramrod stiff and the feel of power
transfer to the pedals compared to the mtb shoes I've
owned is awesome. And most road pedals have a lower
profile which gives better clearance in hard cornering.
Catching a pedal in a turn is a sure way to go pavement
surfing and donate skin to the ashphalt god.

But if you ride just to get to the coffee shop where you
stuff your face with pastry with your pals and complain
why you can't lose weight or go fast, by all means, get
mtb shoes.

Bob C.

Wow ... now THERE's an unbiased response. Sheesh.

Two-sided pedals are a nice thing, I agree. But that comment
about cornering clearance is bogus. It is OK to stop
pedaling for a moment if you are leaned over that far.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

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

Quoted message said:

In article <[email hidden]>,

psycholist said:

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

Quoted message said:

DaveB wrote:
> I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB
> and road bikes

with

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> clipless and new shoes. Can someone tell me what the
> difference is between MTB and road pedals and MTB
> and road shoes. I've seen

comments

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> about shoe stiffness varying but can't see why a
> pedal varies.
>
> Dave B.
>

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk
like a duck and look like a

[censored]

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

and just to ensure that everyone notices you, they
make a sound

similar

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to a leggy blonde in high heels.

The MTB pedals are usually double sided as well where
as the road ones are single sided presumably to save
weight and to make it more

difficult

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

to clip-in while in heavy traffic.

You can get flexible soled MTB shoes which are great
for everyday use

ie

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

around the office. You can also get stiff MTB shoes
like SIDI so I

don't

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

think thats a factor.

The pedals are different in that the road ones are SPD-
R and use

larger

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

cleats and presumably they are more expensive.

IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

Wow ... now THERE's an unbiased response. Sheesh.

Lets talk about application. What kind of riding are you
planning to

do?

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Personally, I'm not worried about walking like a dork
'cuz I don't spend much, if any, time walking. Besides,
if you're into cycling of any

kind,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

looking like a dork comes with the territory and the
shoes hardly change that. I ride on the road. I don't
need tread. I don't need the extra weight that comes
with it. I don't need pedals that shed mud. I do

enjoy

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

two-sided entry and my Speedplay pedals take care of
that quite nicely.

The

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

soles of my shoes are ramrod stiff and the feel of power
transfer to the pedals compared to the mtb shoes I've
owned is awesome. And most road pedals have a lower
profile which gives better clearance in hard

cornering.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Catching a pedal in a turn is a sure way to go pavement
surfing and

donate

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

skin to the ashphalt god.

But if you ride just to get to the coffee shop where you
stuff your face with pastry with your pals and complain
why you can't lose weight or go fast, by all means, get
mtb shoes.

Bob C.

Wow ... now THERE's an unbiased response. Sheesh.

Two-sided pedals are a nice thing, I agree. But that
comment about cornering clearance is bogus. It is OK
to stop pedaling for a moment if you are leaned over
that far.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

Of course it is. I never said it wasn't. But you can lean
farther without worrying about it if you don't have a brick
at the bottom of your foot. You missed the point, anyway.
The first responder gave one very biased point of view. I
was just offering the other side of the argument so the
original poster could make an assessment based on the type
of riding he'd be doing. Not that I didn't editorialize a
bit. And for the first responder to imply, as he did, that
mtb pedals were some kind of wave of the future was
completely bogus.

Bob C.

Ted Bennett said:

In article <[email hidden]>,
"psycholist" <[email hidden]> wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

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

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

DaveB wrote:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

> I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB and
> road bikes with clipless and new shoes. Can someone
> tell me what the difference is between MTB and road
> pedals and MTB and road shoes. I've seen comments about
> shoe stiffness varying but can't see why a pedal
> varies.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk like
a duck and look like a [censored] and just to ensure that
everyone notices you, they make a sound similar to a
leggy blonde in high heels.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The MTB pedals are usually double sided as well where as
the road ones are single sided presumably to save weight
and to make it more difficult to clip-in while in heavy
traffic.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

You can get flexible soled MTB shoes which are great for
everyday use ie around the office. You can also get
stiff MTB shoes like SIDI so I don't think thats a
factor.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

The pedals are different in that the road ones are SPD-R
and use larger cleats and presumably they are more
expensive.

IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Lets talk about application. What kind of riding are you
planning to do? Personally, I'm not worried about walking
like a dork 'cuz I don't spend much, if any, time
walking. Besides, if you're into cycling of any kind,
looking like a dork comes with the territory and the
shoes hardly change that. I ride on the road. I don't
need tread. I don't need the extra weight that comes with
it. I don't need pedals that shed mud. I do enjoy two-
sided entry and my Speedplay pedals take care of that
quite nicely. The soles of my shoes are ramrod stiff and
the feel of power transfer to the pedals compared to the
mtb shoes I've owned is awesome. And most road pedals
have a lower profile which gives better clearance in hard
cornering. Catching a pedal in a turn is a sure way to go
pavement surfing and donate skin to the ashphalt god.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

But if you ride just to get to the coffee shop where you
stuff your face with pastry with your pals and complain
why you can't lose weight or go fast, by all means, get
mtb shoes.

Quoted message said:

Wow ... now THERE's an unbiased response. Sheesh.

"Bias" is not the word...

Quoted message said:

Two-sided pedals are a nice thing, I agree. But that
comment about cornering clearance is bogus. It is OK
to stop pedaling for a moment if you are leaned over
that far.

Besides, most bikes still have bottom bracket heights from
before the clipless days, so there's plenty of clearance
anyway. And I don't know anyone who's still pedaling at the
limit (45 deg lean). I've never had a pedal strike with a
clipless pedal, though I've had many with platform/quill
pedals. This is non-issue.

Unless you're convinced you need the larger platform of a
"road" pedal, there's no reason not to have MTB pedals.
They're far more convenient, and cheaper.

Matt O.

psycholist said:

"Ted Bennett" <[email hidden]> wrote in message
news:tedbennett-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Two-sided pedals are a nice thing, I agree. But that
comment about cornering clearance is bogus. It is OK
to stop pedaling for a moment if you are leaned over
that far.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

Of course it is. I never said it wasn't. But you can lean
farther without worrying about it if you don't have a
brick at the bottom of your foot. You missed the point,
anyway. The first responder gave one very biased point of
view. I was just offering the other side of the argument
so the original poster could make an assessment based on
the type of riding he'd be doing. Not that I didn't
editorialize a bit. And for the first responder to imply,
as he did, that mtb pedals were some kind of wave of the
future was completely bogus.

Bob C.

MTB pedals are not bricks being as they are not much bigger
than the mechanism itself so thats bogus. Besides the OP is
replacing the pedals on his MTB and road bike so it would
make sense to have the same on each and the MTB shoes are
the better choice IMO unless you're setting awesome world
speed records obviously.

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

Quoted message said:

psycholist said:

"Ted Bennett" <[email hidden]> wrote in
message news:tedbennett-
[email hidden]...

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Two-sided pedals are a nice thing, I agree. But that
comment about cornering clearance is bogus. It is OK
to stop pedaling for a moment if you are leaned over
that far.

--
Ted Bennett Portland OR

Of course it is. I never said it wasn't. But you can
lean farther

without

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

worrying about it if you don't have a brick at the
bottom of your foot.

You

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

missed the point, anyway. The first responder gave one
very biased

point of

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

view. I was just offering the other side of the argument
so the

original

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

poster could make an assessment based on the type of
riding he'd be

doing.

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

Not that I didn't editorialize a bit. And for the first
responder to

imply,

Quoted message said:

Quoted message said:

as he did, that mtb pedals were some kind of wave of the
future was completely bogus.

Bob C.

MTB pedals are not bricks being as they are not much
bigger than the mechanism itself so thats bogus. Besides
the OP is replacing the pedals on his MTB and road bike so
it would make sense to have the same on each and the MTB
shoes are the better choice IMO unless you're setting
awesome world speed records obviously.

Ah yes ... I missed that part (wanting the same pedals on an
mtb and road bike). You certainly can use mtb pedals on a
road bike. You certainly wouldn't want to use road pedals on
an mtb bike.

My apologies.

Bob C.

Vincent Wilcox said:

DaveB said:

I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB and
road bikes with clipless and new shoes.

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk like a
duck and look like a [censored] and just to ensure that everyone
notices you, they make a sound similar to a leggy blonde
in high heels. The MTB pedals are usually double sided as
well where as the road ones are single sided presumably to
save weight and to make it more difficult to clip-in while
in heavy traffic. You can get flexible soled MTB shoes
which are great for everyday use ie around the office. You
can also get stiff MTB shoes like SIDI so I don't think
thats a factor. The pedals are different in that the road
ones are SPD-R and use larger cleats and presumably they
are more expensive. IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

Perfect summing up.Now all the hardcore roadies will be
jumping on you for stating what is true! Alan.

--
To reply by e-mail, change the ' + ' to 'plus'.
dvatc.co.ukdvatc.co.ukOpen ↗ - Off-road cycling in the North
Midlands.

Vincent Wilcox <[email hidden]> wrote in message news:<[email hidden]>...

Quoted message said:

The MTB shoes are generally walkable due to a recessed
cleat and a proper tread. Road shoes make you walk like a
duck and look like a [censored] and just to ensure that everyone
notices you, they make a sound similar to a leggy blonde
in high heels.

Well, some types of road cleats make you walk like a duck,
the other two claims are, one an opinion [look like a [censored]],
and two not true, with the SPD-SL cleats that I use.

Quoted message said:

The MTB pedals are usually double sided as well where as
the road ones are single sided presumably to save weight
and to make it more difficult to clip-in while in heavy
traffic.

Properly designed one sided pedals are no more difficult to
clip-in to. The good ones are properly weighted and once
used to them are easy to enter in any traffic situation.

Quoted message said:

You can get flexible soled MTB shoes which are great for
everyday use ie around the office. You can also get stiff
MTB shoes like SIDI so I don't think thats a factor.

The pedals are different in that the road ones are SPD-R
and use larger cleats and presumably they are more
expensive.

Ok, SPD-R is just one type of road pedal, they are not all
SPD-R. Some use a larger cleat, like the Look style pedals.
They do market some SPD type pedals for road use, those
cleats are the smaller size. Prices vary and they may or may
not be more expensive than a MTB pedal.

That said, if you are only going to buy one type of pedal
and shoe, then I would suggest a pedal that you can use a
MTB shoe with. They will be more versatile than a road shoe.
to get an idea of what is available, take a look at the
selection at some of the online dealers or better yet, head
over to your LBS.

I recently answered another post covering this same topic,
see link. I want to mention that well I believe that my info
is accurate and my opinions sound, most of the regulars on
rec.bicyle.tech are much more knowledgable than me..com/groups?q=author:jstarr%40peoplepc.com&hl=en&lr=&ie=UTF-
8&c2coff=1&safe=off&selm=10c5841f.0404132036.39594cff%40pos-
ting.google.com&rnum=3

Life is Good! Jeff

Quoted message said:

IMHO the MTB ones are the way forward.

On Wed, 21 Apr 2004 11:23:51 -0400, "psycholist" <[email hidden]>

Quoted message said:

But if you ride just to get to the coffee shop where you
stuff your face with pastry with your pals and complain
why you can't lose weight or go fast, by all means, get
mtb shoes.

Other than the few that really race all the time, I see no
reason for a rider to use a non walking shoe.

I do more than ride to the coffee shop and I wear shoes
that I can walk in. I was fortunate in that I standardized
on the older
DA/Ultegra single sided SPD pedal, which can use a MTB,
recessed type cleat. I have road, MTB, sandals, and the
Shimano touring SH-091 shoes. In time I abandoned the
road shoe because the cleat and pontoons were always
getting bad. The MTB shoes are ok but I don't like the
cleated section loading up with garbage that gets in the
house. The MTB shoes are a bit heavier too. I now use the
touring shoe, which has a flat bottom almost all the
time. AND, my latest sub 17 lb bicycle has Shimano 959 x
2 sided pedals as does the tandem.

I ride 12-15,000 miles/yr and have done that since '92. I
ruined a set of Look cleats on a single double century in
Death Valley because I did need to walk about the
checkpoints, and get food, water, etc. I never could get the
hand of getting into and out of the SPD-R pedals. When the
climbing gets steep ~20%, I walk and save my legs for later.
I walk when I have mechanicals or cramps. Oh, I race too and
don't shave my legs, use a mirror, and my touring shoes. I'm
sure I look like a phred. I'm old too.

<http://www.caltriplecrown.com/02wintot.htm>
<caltriplecrown.comFame.htmOpen ↗

DaveB said:

I'm about to replace the toe-clip pedals on my MTB and road
bikes with clipless and new shoes. Can someone tell me what
the difference is between MTB and road pedals and MTB and
road shoes. I've seen comments about shoe stiffness varying
but can't see why a pedal varies.

This has been discussed to death. Search
groups.google.com for all the info you could possibly
want. I recommend MTB pedals.

My past messages about this:
groups.google.comgroupsOpen ↗
--
Rick Onanian