What type of pedal to use?

[William H. O'Ha]

I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I was
on a ride today and one of the fellows made some sense. He
said that I should convert to look pedals; as I am
overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is the look the
way to go? Or is there a better pedal?

thanks

bill

--
William H. O'Hara KB1IUB use QRZ.com for address lookup

 

[Cipher]

Originally posted by William H. O'Ha
I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I was
on a ride today and one of the fellows made some sense. He
said that I should convert to look pedals; as I am
overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is the look the
way to go? Or is there a better pedal?

thanks

bill

--
William H. O'Hara KB1IUB use QRZ.com for address lookup

I don't really think your choice for a pedal system would be the over riding factor for the above issues would it? (Sounds more like a form issue to me).

 

[William H. O'Ha]

Cipher <[email protected]> wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> William H. O'Ha wrote:
> > I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I
> > was on a ride today and one of the fellows made some
> > sense. He said that I should convert to look pedals;
> > as I am overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is
> > the look the way to go? Or is there a better pedal?
> > thanks bill
> I don't really think your choice for a pedal system would
> be the over riding factor for the above issues would it?
> (Sounds more like a form issue to me).

Do you mean in my technique? Kind of hard for me to work out
yet. Supposedly if I pull up more that it would help
alleviate it somewhat from what I was told. I would like to
hear some more input on it.

tnx bill

--
William H. O'Hara KB1IUB use QRZ.com for address lookup

 

[Paul Southworth]

In article <[email protected]>,
William H. O'Hara, III <[email protected]> wrote:
>I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I was
>on a ride today and one of the fellows made some sense. He
>said that I should convert to look pedals; as I am
>overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is the look the
>way to go? Or is there a better pedal?

That sounds like a cleat position problem which should be
fixable with SPD.

But I think Look is a good pedal choice for road riders and
it has a large cleat area you would probably appreciate. In
my opinion it is easier to enter than SPD, and similar to
SPD there is a wide product line and most shops will have
cleats for them. Used Look pedals are often a great deal.
Look for ones that have spring tension adjustment - some are
not tunable. SPDs are mostly better for walking or for
having one pedal type on many types of bikes.

--Paul

 

[Peter Cole]

"William H. O'Hara, III" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I was
> on a ride today and one of the fellows made some sense. He
> said that I should convert to look pedals; as I am
> overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is the look the
> way to go? Or is there a better pedal?

I have size 15 feet. I use SPD exclusively, on & off road. I
think Look pedals are really lousy unless you're a pure
racer (you can't walk in them), even then, they have no real
pluses to offset that big minus.

Dropping your heel isn't necessarily a bad thing. Check out
the pedal dynamics section of analyticalcycling.com for at
least one set of opinions.

 

[Jay Beattie]

"Peter Cole" <[email protected]> wrote in
message news:7Uh5c.13051$J05.121542@attbi_s01...
> "William H. O'Hara, III" <[email protected]> wrote in
> message
> news:[email protected]...
> > I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I
> > was on a ride today and one of the fellows made some
> > sense. He said that I should convert to look pedals; as
> > I am overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is the
> > look the way to go? Or is there a better pedal?
>
> I have size 15 feet. I use SPD exclusively, on & off road.
> I
think Look pedals
> are really lousy unless you're a pure racer (you
> can't walk in
them), even
> then, they have no real pluses to offset that big minus.
>
> Dropping your heel isn't necessarily a bad thing.
> Check out the
pedal dynamics
> section of analyticalcycling.com for at least one set of
opinions.

How does cleat type have anything to do with dropping your
heel? Isn't that more an issue of saddle height, cleat
position and pedaling style?

Anyway, I wear size 13 shoes (48) and use both Look and SPD.
I find that SPD cleats are fussier to position and that I
need a shoe with a good stiff sole to spread the load, but I
pedal the same with either the SPD or the Look. I have some
new Look pedals that are tough to get out of, especially if
you have them set to 6 degrees of float -- so I ratchet down
the float. They feel more firm than the SPDs, but I also use
them with different shoes on a racing bike as opposed to a
commuter. They squeak a lot more than my SPDs (cleat pedal
interface), but I still prefer the way they feel. I use
Carnac shoes, which I will not do again. They are
comfortable, well-made shoes, but I hate all the hardware
issues (extra plates, long bolts for Look cleats, etc.). --
Jay Beattie.

 

[Peter Cole]

"Jay Beattie" <[email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
>
> "Peter Cole" <[email protected]> wrote
> in message news:7Uh5c.13051$J05.121542@attbi_s01...
> > "William H. O'Hara, III" <[email protected]> wrote in
> > message news:[email protected]
> > 68.3.44...
> > > I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I
> > > was on a ride today and one of the fellows made some
> > > sense. He said that I should convert to look pedals;
> > > as I am overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is
> > > the look the way to go? Or is there a better pedal?
> >

> > Dropping your heel isn't necessarily a bad thing. Check
> > out the
> pedal dynamics
> > section of analyticalcycling.com for at least one set of
> opinions.
>
> How does cleat type have anything to do with dropping your
> heel? Isn't that more an issue of saddle height, cleat
> position and pedaling style?

It doesn't, sorry if I wasn't clear. The OP seemed to thing
so.

 

[Alex Rodriguez]

In article
<[email protected]>,
[email protected] says...
>
>
>I have a size 13 foot. Should I be using SDP pedals? I was
>on a ride today and one of the fellows made some sense. He
>said that I should convert to look pedals; as I am
>overextending my leg by dropping the heel. Is the look the
>way to go? Or is there a better pedal?

Both look and SPD are good pedals. If you plan on walking
in your cycling shoes, your best bet is to get SPD's.
Looks cleats are awkward to to walk in and wear out
quickly when you do.
----------
Alex

 

[William H. O'Ha]

[email protected] (Paul Southworth) wrote in
news:[email protected]:

> That sounds like a cleat position problem which should be
> fixable with SPD.
>
> But I think Look is a good pedal choice for road riders
> and it has a large cleat area you would probably
> appreciate. In my opinion it is easier to enter than SPD,
> and similar to SPD there is a wide product line and most
> shops will have cleats for them. Used Look pedals are
> often a great deal. Look for ones that have spring
> tension adjustment - some are not tunable. SPDs are
> mostly better for walking or for having one pedal type on
> many types of bikes.

I don't intend to walk on the darn thing. Shoes should never
be used for such things. I have been bicycling around with
some moderate knee pain in the rear of my right knee. I have
adjusted the height of the saddle down slightly. This has
transfered the pain somewhat to the front of my knee.

I have been told that look would be better for distributing
the weight of my foot over the SPD. The SPD has been
absolutely horrible for my left foot to coordinate entry. I
do not have much difficulty with my right foot.

Prior to my new bike I was riding a schwinn le tour III with
MTB pedals. I was regularly doing 20 mile rides on the
weekend and various distances during the week. I have just
started with new bike and I have done from 25 to 28 miles
each day during the past two weekends.

Bill

--
William H. O'Hara KB1IUB use QRZ.com for address lookup

 

[Peter Cole]

"William H. O'Hara, III" <[email protected]> wrote
>
> I don't intend to walk on the darn thing. Shoes should
> never be used for such things.

That attitude make you a perfect candidate for Looks, but
I'm not sure they'll, by themselves, fix your problem.

> I have been bicycling around with some moderate knee pain
> in the rear of my right knee. I have adjusted the height
> of the saddle down slightly. This has transfered the pain
> somewhat to the front of my knee.

My experience has been that the most common source of knee
pain with clipless is not getting the toe in/out angle
right. Cleats with a lot of float eliminate this problem,
but many cyclists don't like the sensation of riding in
cleats like that. Many cleats, including SPD, can be rotated
to point the toes in/out when being installed. If I don't
point my toes in a lot, I get sore knees.

> I have been told that look would be better for
> distributing the weight of my foot over the SPD. The SPD
> has been absolutely horrible for my left foot to
> coordinate entry. I do not have much difficulty with my
> right foot.

SPD pedals are very popular in mountain biking where
frequent clipping in/out is the norm. They're not difficult
by design. Sometimes there's an interference with sole
material and trimming clears it up.

 

[William H. O'Ha]

> My experience has been that the most common source of knee
> pain with clipless is not getting the toe in/out angle
> right. Cleats with a lot of float eliminate this problem,
> but many cyclists don't like the sensation of riding in
> cleats like that. Many cleats, including SPD, can be
> rotated to point the toes in/out when being installed. If
> I don't point my toes in a lot, I get sore knees.

I don't do the mileage that I would like. However, I did
about 14 miles with the toe-in readjusted and the cleat
further down the shoe. I switched to the LOOK system
with PP247 pedeals and the red cleats. So far I'm not
doing too bad.

We'll see down the road.

Bill