which spd pedals, recommendations please!

Hello

I have had the very annoying experience of buying some 2nd hand clipless pedals which have turned out to be total crap!!! First off I couldn't clip in to them, then when I tried loosening the cleats so that I could one of the screws fell off and won't go back in! They are VP pedals by the way.

I now am resolved to buy a new pair of proper shimano spd ones (since I have already got the shoes and I don't want to chance getting ripped off 2nd hand again). What are your favourite pedals? I'm looking for something v easy to get in and out of, as I haven't used them before (maybe doublesided for this reason) and want to build my confidence. I'm riding a racer in London, and like I said they need to be regular spd. I don't really care if they are mountain bike style as long as they aren't too big, and I would prefer not top spend more than £30, which probably limits my options!

All suggestions gratefully received - just don't mention VP ....!

 

Dont get SPD. SPD is crap. For road riding, go look or shimano SPD-SL or whatever it is now. Moutain, go TIME or Crank bros. The SPD design is horrible, and preys upon those who just dont know better. I've never known anyone to swithc back to SPD after using any of the above systems

 

If you "must" have SPD on the road then use PD-A520.

 

I concur.
Road= Time RXS, or Pro-Mag 1995-2002 + LOOK style pedals
MTB = heard good things of Crank Bros, Time .

 

Time attack FTW

 

SPD-SL Ultegra & Dura Ace with a fixed cleat work for me. Good fit & reliable. I use the fixed cleat as the floating is too much, the fixed still has enough float for me.

 

What is wrong with SPD? Why is SPD SL superior?

 

Time and Look have much better engagment. All my pedals are 2 or more years old and I don't know anything about newer stuff.

 

One of my bikes has big fat SPD downhile pedals. They are OK except that occasionally I step on their edge instead of their platform. This creates an annoying problem when stomping across an intersection. I would never race or do challenging riding with these pedals.



On the other hand I can pedal these wide, fat and heavy SPD's to the beer store with any shoes. Small platform pedals such as eggbeaters are nearly useless for this.

 

I have no idea what you're talking about. 95% of the people I ride with run SPDs on their mountain bikes. Never really paid attention to what most roadies ride. I run SPDs there just so I don't have to get used to two pedal systems.

 

Times works so much better than SPD, if you want a mtn bk style cleat/shoe. I am not sure why, the mechanism seems very effective. However I currently use SPD. I just don’t like it.



The worst I have used off road was Richey with these multi colored rubber bumpers to replace the springs. With these I could not tell if I was engaged. This is obviously a disaster.



Don't ask me for an educated opinion about road bikes, SPD and Look are all I have used enough to judge and Look is better by far.

 

You're most likely just going to get recommendations from what people currently use and are happy with.

I use the ultegra pedals (SPD-SL), and I've been very happy with. They have sufficient float, and I've never unintentionally unclipped.

 

Never tried the Time pedals. Whats your problem with SPDs and which maker / model are you using? Most of the mountain bike racers (around here anyway) use Shimano SPD or SPD knockoff pedals.

I run mountain bike pedals and shoes on my road bike too because I'm primarally a mountain bike racer and use the road bike to round out my fitness. I figure it's a lot better if my road bike is set up exactly the same as my dirt bike, seat height, pedal system, crank length etc. even if it's not ideal for the road bike.

I can tell you that I used Xpedo pedals which are a Shimano SPD like system personlly I'd recommend against Xpedos. My experience was that they are super light but not very durable. So I changed to the high end Shimano pedals. Huge weight penalty over the Xpedos but much more durable. The Xpedos were moved to my road bike where they will take less of a beating.

 

SPD Shimano or knockoffs from Nashbar/Performance) are pretty much the standard for the average mountain biker. Tried and true and pretty indestructable. Crank brothers egg beaters (with the 4 sided entry) is an interesting concept though I have yet to try them. Looks on all my road bikes, guess I'm old school. Good mid price point SPD pedal would be the Shimano M525.

 

I see charly has not re-visited the topic.

If you look at the current Shimano bible, there is only one SPD pedal currently made for road use, the PD-A520. I posted a pix in post #2.

I have these, PD-M520 and PD-M540. The new PD-A520 is far better than the MTB pedal for SPD type shoes (SH-M038) or even with sneakers, when we must. They are purpose designed and look realy good on a Road or Tri bike. There is a topic in the Aus Forum on PD-A520 pedals. http://www.cyclingforums.com/t261232-.html

 

I just switched from Look pedals to spd. I personally find the single-sided entry and disposable cleats a big annoyance. I'm currently riding on richey spd pedals. I haven't gotten used to clipping in but am liking the system more already because of the dual entry and ability to walk. I put a high price on function paired with confort. It's like a graph. Where the two cross paths, I buy the product. The spd system looks to be that way for me. Of course, the jury is still out considering the short amount of time I've ridden spd. It's all about personal preference, obviously. Good luck! -FasterthanU

 

Try something besides SPD and you see what is wrong with it. The most current models are just getting to where TIME was with the Alum, which has been improved upon.

Problems? Mud retention? The two SPDs (and they were shimano, not a knock off) I tried didnt perform well when the mud got cakey. Unreliable releases? The cleat retention tension wasnt great, not very consistent.

Just my experience. SPD seems to be the OEM spec, due to the low price point, so you see lots of newer riders with em. Half of the group I ride with is on SPDs. The other half USED to be.

As for the adavtange of SPD-SL... for more powr transfer and comfort on the road. I rode SPD style pedals on my road bike and to start on my tri bike. The difference is night and day. You can pick up a 105 level SPD-SL for $50 or so on ebay. No complaints yet.