Walkable cleats

"Mike Jacoubowsky" wrote in message
...

The TdF doesn't include Alpe d'Huez this year, but I'll probably ride up
it with my son on the "rest" day.

Do/will you carry on to the top at Col de Sarenne? While the main climb was
good for the "been there" feeling, the bit out the back was much nicer
riding (well, apart from the water chutes :-) ).

On Apr 30, 5:48*am, RonSonic wrote:
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.

You'll get used to it in about a minute.

I find obsession with pedal retention to be pretty hilarious--I'm
pretty much with Chalo, though I like the SPuDs on my fixed gear just
fine. I very often ride fifty mile days on MKS pedals in Blundstone
boots with no clips. It's really absolutely no big deal. MTB'ers have
been doing it for years with platform pedals.

FWIW, I switch out the pedals on my fixed gear for flats quite often--
and it's no-big-deal. The assertion that pedal connection is more
important with fixed gear is total bull****. People rode fixed gears
with flat pedals and spats for years.

On Thu, 30 Apr 2009 07:51:57 -0700 (PDT), landotter wrote:

On Apr 30, 5:48*am, RonSonic wrote:
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.

You'll get used to it in about a minute.

Nothing big. I've commuted a few times like that without incident. Just feel
more comfy with the clips.

Oh, and have to remember to not try to hop anything.

I find obsession with pedal retention to be pretty hilarious--I'm
pretty much with Chalo, though I like the SPuDs on my fixed gear just
fine. I very often ride fifty mile days on MKS pedals in Blundstone
boots with no clips. It's really absolutely no big deal. MTB'ers have
been doing it for years with platform pedals.

FWIW, I switch out the pedals on my fixed gear for flats quite often--
and it's no-big-deal. The assertion that pedal connection is more
important with fixed gear is total bull****. People rode fixed gears
with flat pedals and spats for years.

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

How about your New Balance shoes w/ Power Grips http://www.powergrips.com/.

Other than that, I'd just go with a comfortable walkable MTB type shoe
- probably on the walkable/comfortable end of the spectrum as opposed
to racing type and some basic SPD pedals (I'm an outlier - don't like
egg beaters!). I'd also buy some SPD sandals which can also just be
worn as sandals. The Sette ones I bought from Pricepoint for very
cheap are actually very comfortable sandals - I've used them more
often as sandals than riding with them.

Greg Evans wrote:

Chalo wrote:

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.

Hey, Serge Huercio rides fixed, and it looks like he uses pedals of
the same kind I suggested:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bhjYQFDNXps

I think he swiped his little sister's shoes, though.

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.

I can understand that. But allow me to observe that in some very
important ways, clipless cycling shoes are the opposite of puffy New
Balance shoes. Perhaps you should figure out how to ride in shoes you
like to wear.

Chalo

Chalo wrote:

I can understand that. But allow me to observe that in some very
important ways, clipless cycling shoes are the opposite of puffy
New Balance shoes. Perhaps you should figure out how to ride in
shoes you like to wear.

Point taken. I actually gave serious consideration to putting my
old Shimano 600 pedals with clips/straps back on, but I have
serious doubts about my ability to flip into them after all these
years. Especially on the fixed gear.

Anyway, thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Nashbar SPD pedals
and (hopefully) relatively walkable Cannondale shoes have been
ordered.

I'll report back in a few weeks and let you know how it went.

Greg
--
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thought without study is dangerous."

(Confucius)
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On Apr 29, 8:47*pm, Ryan Cousineau wrote:
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 /
"In other newsgroups, they killfile trolls."
"In rec.bicycles.racing, we coach them."

Here's another vote for the Egg Beater. I've used them for cross and
MTB for years and have just recently switched to using them on my road
bike after using Speedplay for years. If I were still racing
criteriums, I would keep the Speedplays for the more dependable entry,
but otherwise the Egg Beater is great.

Bret

On Apr 30, 12:38*pm, RonSonic wrote:

snip

Oh, and have to remember to not try to hop anything.

snip

You can hop just find without clips. Check out some BMX videos, or
trials riders, etc. I can hop a lot higher and better on my BMX bike
wearing normal sneakers and platform pedals than I can clipped in to
anything (including a BMX bike, I tried that for a while when I was
racing). I do find pedals with serious pins help. Rather than the
flat rubber pedal Chalo suggested, I'd go more toward something like
this http://www.danscomp.com/465108.php?cat=PARTS

If you give any serious consideration to flats let me know and I'll
take the 2 minutes to go check what's on my BMX. They've been in
service for probably 10 years, including stalls on concrete, and the
pins are still holding up and grab my sneakers quite nicely. Awesome
pedals. I think they were fairly cheap, but if they were $70 they
were worth it.

On Apr 30, 3:10*pm, Greg Evans wrote:

Anyway, thanks to everyone for your suggestions. Nashbar SPD pedals
and (hopefully) relatively walkable Cannondale shoes have been
ordered.

I'll report back in a few weeks and let you know how it went.

Greg

Which Cannondale shoes? I've got a pair of Carves and a pair of Roams.
The Roams are lace-up and can almost pass as street shoes. The Carves
have "chromed" uppers and velcro straps and cannot. Both are quite
walkable.

On Apr 30, 6:30*pm, DanKMTB wrote:
On Apr 30, 12:38*pm, RonSonic wrote:

snip

Oh, and have to remember to not try to hop anything.

snip

You can hop just find without clips. *Check out some BMX videos, or
trials riders, etc. *I can hop a lot higher and better on my BMX bike
wearing normal sneakers and platform pedals than I can clipped in to
anything (including a BMX bike, I tried that for a while when I was
racing). *I do find pedals with serious pins help. *Rather than the
flat rubber pedal Chalo suggested, I'd go more toward something like
thishttp://www.danscomp.com/465108.php?cat=PARTS

That's one of the best deals going on pedals. I'm actually thinking
about putting some like that on the city bike instead of my MKS Tours.
They'll let you ride in anything sort of bare fee. You could probably
do stoppies in Crocs. ;-)