Walkable cleats

I use Speedplay X & Zeroes myself and love them, but when I go to
France
to watch the TdF, I bring standard mountain-bike type shoes with SPD
cleats. It's not quite as nice as the Speedplay X or Zeroes, but you
can
stand around in them for hours without discomfort, and hike around the
hills with your bike and not have to worry about cleat covers (I lost
one someplace on Alpe d'Huez a few years ago; it's yours if you find
it!).
===========
"Jay Beattie" wrote
I hate it when I lose my shoe covers on the Alpe d'Huez while watching
the TdF! BTW, see my web-site retrospective "Fifty Years of not
Riding the Stelvio." It includes pictures of me sitting on my sofa,
mowing the lawn and riding my bike on various roads in and near
Portland. I am going to see if Jobst will do the narration. Maybe Ken
Burns will pick it up. -- Jay Beattie
===========

Jay: Do you know just how cheaply you can do a tour in France?
Especially with air fare as low as it is now. It's been a very long time
since you could get $1000 peak season fares from the West Coast. And if
you stay in Etap hotels, you're looking a a whopping $48/night or so.
Food is pretty cheap if you avoid the tourist places. Renting a car is
the one thing that will cost quite a bit more than here, running about
$50/day.

This year we (my son & I) leave on the 17th and spend almost a week in
Albertville (French Alps) before moving south to see the Ventoux stage,
then train up to Paris.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

In article
,
wrote:

On 29 Apr., 17:41, Greg Evans wrote:
Here's the situation:
I need to get shoes/cleats that I can walk comfortably in for my
upcoming NYC trip. I've ridden exclusively on Speedplay 'X' pedals
since making the switch from clips/straps ~10 years ago.

I'd like something with similar 'feel' and hopefully 2 sided, too.
Speedplay Frogs seem the obvious choice, but I'm looking for advice
and/or suggestions.

Thanks,
Greg
--
I also want my bicycle shoes to be walkable, and have found a solution
that satisfies me:. Crank Brothers Egg Beater pedals in combination
with mountain bike shoes (from Specialized) The cleats don't touch
the floor when you walk. I also have a pair of road race shoes and
and some special cleats from Crank Brothers with rubber pads. You can
walk a little on those as well. Personally I find the simplicity of
the Egg Beater pedal downright beatifull. .

Ivar

Heh. For everyone else, there's SPDs, and I say that as a Crank Brothers
user (racing bike, CX bike, every bike).

SPDs are cheap and practical. Crank Brothers pedals shed mud far better.
Most people don't have to shed mud much, but I race cyclocross.

But Ivar's right, the Egg Beater is the prettiest pedal system. If you
go that route, do not get either the Smarty or the Egg Beater MXR. Both
share the same terrible non-rebuildable bushings. The Candy C or
whichever entry-level Egg Beater is not the MXR are available for hardly
any more money, and are much better pedals.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Greg Evans wrote:

Here's the situation:
I need to get shoes/cleats that I can walk comfortably in for my
upcoming NYC trip. I've ridden exclusively on Speedplay 'X' pedals
since making the switch from clips/straps ~10 years ago.

I'd like something with similar 'feel' and hopefully 2 sided, too.
Speedplay Frogs seem the obvious choice, but I'm looking for advice
and/or suggestions.

Try _shoes_ and _pedals_, no modifiers necessary.

Examples:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0015U084W
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CDMKE8

Even in NYC, these will look legitimate while feeling comfortable.

Chalo

On Apr 29, 6:56*pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky"
wrote:
I use Speedplay X & Zeroes myself and love them, but when I go to
France
to watch the TdF, I bring standard mountain-bike type shoes with SPD
cleats. It's not quite as nice as the Speedplay X or Zeroes, but you
can
stand around in them for hours without discomfort, and hike around the
hills with your bike and not have to worry about cleat covers (I lost
one someplace on Alpe d'Huez a few years ago; it's yours if you find
it!).

===========
"Jay Beattie" wrote
I hate it when I lose my shoe covers on the Alpe d'Huez while watching
the TdF! *BTW, see my web-site retrospective "Fifty Years of not
Riding the Stelvio." *It includes pictures of me sitting on my sofa,
mowing the lawn and riding my bike on various roads in and near
Portland. I am going to see if Jobst will do the narration. Maybe Ken
Burns will pick it up. -- Jay Beattie
===========

Jay: Do you know just how cheaply you can do a tour in France?
Especially with air fare as low as it is now. It's been a very long time
since you could get $1000 peak season fares from the West Coast. And if
you stay in Etap hotels, you're looking a a whopping $48/night or so.
Food is pretty cheap if you avoid the tourist places. Renting a car is
the one thing that will cost quite a bit more than here, running about
$50/day.

This year we (my son & I) leave on the 17th and spend almost a week in
Albertville (French Alps) before moving south to see the Ventoux stage,
then train up to Paris.

I had planned on going last year, but you've already heard me gripe
about the dollar tanking, etc. If I had only waited a year to take my
sabbatical (and a new administration), I'd be booking hotels! -- Jay
Beattie.

On Apr 29, 9:56*pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky"
wrote:
I use Speedplay X & Zeroes myself and love them, but when I go to
France
to watch the TdF, I bring standard mountain-bike type shoes with SPD
cleats. It's not quite as nice as the Speedplay X or Zeroes, but you
can
stand around in them for hours without discomfort, and hike around the
hills with your bike and not have to worry about cleat covers (I lost
one someplace on Alpe d'Huez a few years ago; it's yours if you find
it!).

===========
"Jay Beattie" wrote
I hate it when I lose my shoe covers on the Alpe d'Huez while watching
the TdF! *BTW, see my web-site retrospective "Fifty Years of not
Riding the Stelvio." *It includes pictures of me sitting on my sofa,
mowing the lawn and riding my bike on various roads in and near
Portland. I am going to see if Jobst will do the narration. Maybe Ken
Burns will pick it up. -- Jay Beattie
===========

Jay: Do you know just how cheaply you can do a tour in France?
Especially with air fare as low as it is now. It's been a very long time
since you could get $1000 peak season fares from the West Coast. And if
you stay in Etap hotels, you're looking a a whopping $48/night or so.
Food is pretty cheap if you avoid the tourist places. Renting a car is
the one thing that will cost quite a bit more than here, running about
$50/day.

This year we (my son & I) leave on the 17th and spend almost a week in
Albertville (French Alps) before moving south to see the Ventoux stage,
then train up to Paris.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

gonna look for that cleat cover ?

wrote in message
...
On Apr 29, 9:56 pm, "Mike Jacoubowsky"
wrote:
I use Speedplay X & Zeroes myself and love them, but when I go to
France
to watch the TdF, I bring standard mountain-bike type shoes with SPD
cleats. It's not quite as nice as the Speedplay X or Zeroes, but you
can
stand around in them for hours without discomfort, and hike around
the
hills with your bike and not have to worry about cleat covers (I
lost
one someplace on Alpe d'Huez a few years ago; it's yours if you find
it!).

===========
"Jay Beattie" wrote
I hate it when I lose my shoe covers on the Alpe d'Huez while watching
the TdF! BTW, see my web-site retrospective "Fifty Years of not
Riding the Stelvio." It includes pictures of me sitting on my sofa,
mowing the lawn and riding my bike on various roads in and near
Portland. I am going to see if Jobst will do the narration. Maybe Ken
Burns will pick it up. -- Jay Beattie
===========

Jay: Do you know just how cheaply you can do a tour in France?
Especially with air fare as low as it is now. It's been a very long
time
since you could get $1000 peak season fares from the West Coast. And
if
you stay in Etap hotels, you're looking a a whopping $48/night or so.
Food is pretty cheap if you avoid the tourist places. Renting a car is
the one thing that will cost quite a bit more than here, running about
$50/day.

This year we (my son & I) leave on the 17th and spend almost a week in
Albertville (French Alps) before moving south to see the Ventoux
stage,
then train up to Paris.

--Mike Jacoubowsky
Chain Reaction Bicycleswww.ChainReaction.com
Redwood City & Los Altos, CA USA

gonna look for that cleat cover ?

The TdF doesn't include Alpe d'Huez this year, but I'll probably ride up
it with my son on the "rest" day. However, I don't plan to be doing a
half-mile hike through a field to avoid blocked-off roads (which was the
reason I lost the cleat cover a few years ago, I think the year that the
older Schleck brother won the stage).

--Mike-- Chain Reaction Bicycles
www.ChainReactionBicycles.com

Chalo wrote:

Greg Evans wrote:

Here's the situation:
I need to get shoes/cleats that I can walk comfortably in for my
upcoming NYC trip. I've ridden exclusively on Speedplay 'X' pedals
since making the switch from clips/straps ~10 years ago.

I'd like something with similar 'feel' and hopefully 2 sided, too.
Speedplay Frogs seem the obvious choice, but I'm looking for advice
and/or suggestions.

Try _shoes_ and _pedals_, no modifiers necessary.

Examples:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0015U084W
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CDMKE8

Even in NYC, these will look legitimate while feeling comfortable.

Thanks, Chalo, but no. Since I'll be riding a fixed gear the pedals
are out, as I want my feet attached to the pedals. As for the shoes,
definitely not my style. Off the bike I'm a New Balance running shoe
kind of guy. Not really comfortable (literally or figuratively) in
anything else.

Different strokes, blah, blah, blah,
Greg

In article
,
Chalo wrote:

Greg Evans wrote:

Here's the situation:
I need to get shoes/cleats that I can walk comfortably in for my
upcoming NYC trip. I've ridden exclusively on Speedplay 'X' pedals
since making the switch from clips/straps ~10 years ago.

I'd like something with similar 'feel' and hopefully 2 sided, too.
Speedplay Frogs seem the obvious choice, but I'm looking for advice
and/or suggestions.

Try _shoes_ and _pedals_, no modifiers necessary.

There's merit to this, depending on the ride-walk balance, and your
proclivities.

Examples:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0015U084W
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CDMKE8

Even in NYC, these will look legitimate while feeling comfortable.

I know you're a fan of real shoes and plain pedals, but there's real
merit to clipless (and, for that matter, special shoes) for most riders
and much riding.

In my experience, having a bike along on an outing means that you rarely
walk much. The normal thing to do, right about the time when it looks
like something is going to be a fair walk away, is to go back to your
bike and ride it there.

There are exceptions, of course, but that's how I have tended to do my
in-funny-shoes errands.

--
Ryan Cousineau http://www.wiredcola.com/
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Earlier, I wrote:

Off the bike I'm a New Balance running shoe kind of guy. Not really
comfortable (literally or figuratively) in anything else.

Just to substantiate my New Balance claim, here's a link from
the dim and dank recesses of my blog (ew, that sounds disgusting):

http://www.gsevans.com/blog/2005/08/how-to-maximize-your-footwear-investment.html

Greg
--
================================================== =======
"A man who views the world at 50
the same as he did at 20
has wasted 30 years of his life."

(Muhammad Ali)
---------------------------------------------------------
My Photos-
http://www.gsevans.com/photography/

My Blog-
http://www.gsevans.com/blog/

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:07:17 GMT, Ryan Cousineau wrote:

In article
,
Chalo wrote:

Greg Evans wrote:

Here's the situation:
I need to get shoes/cleats that I can walk comfortably in for my
upcoming NYC trip. I've ridden exclusively on Speedplay 'X' pedals
since making the switch from clips/straps ~10 years ago.

I'd like something with similar 'feel' and hopefully 2 sided, too.
Speedplay Frogs seem the obvious choice, but I'm looking for advice
and/or suggestions.

Try _shoes_ and _pedals_, no modifiers necessary.

There's merit to this, depending on the ride-walk balance, and your
proclivities.

Examples:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/product/B0015U084W
http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B001CDMKE8

Even in NYC, these will look legitimate while feeling comfortable.

I know you're a fan of real shoes and plain pedals, but there's real
merit to clipless (and, for that matter, special shoes) for most riders
and much riding.

In my experience, having a bike along on an outing means that you rarely
walk much. The normal thing to do, right about the time when it looks
like something is going to be a fair walk away, is to go back to your
bike and ride it there.

There are exceptions, of course, but that's how I have tended to do my
in-funny-shoes errands.

I'm going to put clips and straps on a bike for the first time in forever, since
the early 90s anyway. Too convenient for those days where normal shoes make
sense. And having been clipped or unclipped since the 80s it feels a little
weird to not have something connecting my feet to the pedals.