"mountain" and "road" pedals

"mountain" and "road" pedals

Group: rec.bicycles.tech Date: Sun, Oct 15, 2006, 11:42am (EDT+5) From:
(Jim*Higson) edited

I'm looking to buy some clipless pedals
for my mountain and road bikes. I don't
really want to buy two pairs of shoes or
have to keep swapping cleats over. I
also want pedals that work with
"walkable" shoes.

I'm thinking of just putting double-sided
"mountain" type SPD pedals on both
bikes. They appeal because they're
cheap and fit the requirements of only
needing one pair of shoes.

Will they cause any problems on the
road bike? I mostly do fairly fast riding
at weekends, and some light touring.

The only alternative I can find of road/mountain pedals that use the
same
cleats is the Crank Bros ones. The egg
beaters look very... interesting. Maybe I'll
try some one day.

On a related note, What makes the nude
egg beaters unsuited to road cycling?
Thanks for any insight,
--
Jim

I've used Shimano double-sided "SPuDs" on my MTB and my road tourer, and
they worked fine. I use walkable shoes for all my biking, and have two
sets of shoes to allow for the different "Q-factor" of each machine.

Recently I switched to the Crank Brother's EggBeaters because they offer
better mud clearing important when dealing with the Carolina clay. I use
the "Mallet" model for my MTB because it offers a large platform so I
don't have to worry about hitting the clip right off in tricky
situations.

On my tourer I use the "naked" EggBeaters for their simplicity (I'm a
firm believer in "Occam's Razor"). I haven't had any trouble with using
them on a road bike. However, I've only used them in a recreational
manner (moderately fast club rides, endurance rides and touring), not
under race conditions.

- -
Compliments of:
"Your Friendly Neighborhood Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
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My website:
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Group: rec.bicycles.tech Date: Sun, Oct 15, 2006, 6:39am (EDT-3) From:
(Johnny*Sunset*aka*Tom*Sherman)

You will be considered a "Fred" if you
use ATB pedals on a road bike.

I've got those.

This offense is a serious as wearing a
wool jersey, riding a steel framed
bicycle,

No wool, but I ride a steel framed Schwinn,

having conventional 36-spoke wheels,

Not only 36 spokes, but laced to box channel rims.

down-tube or bar-end shifters,

Bar-ends

less than 10 gears in back,

Only 7, UniGlide!

a triple crank in front,

And Biopace too boot!

tires wider than 23-mm,

How does 26 sound?

fenders, etc.

Darn! I'll have to get me some of those!

In other words, unless you are a slave to fashion and peer pressure,
go for it.
--
Tom Sherman - Here, not there.

Ahh, how I love living in a free country!

- -
Compliments of:
"Your 'Better Phred Than Dead' Wheelman"

If you want to E-mail me use:
ChrisZCorner "at" webtv "dot" net

My website:
http://geocities.com/czcorner

"Michael Press" wrote in message
...
In article
,
"* * Chas" wrote:

"Michael Press" wrote in message
...
In article
,
"* * Chas" wrote:

I still ride with toe clips because I haven't found any clipless
shoes
that comfortably fit my size 10 1/2 EEEE feet (size 44-45 ultra
wide)!

I had trouble fitting the width of my feet until I
started buying longer shoes; longer than the nominal
length of my feet. Suddenly the width problem
disappeared. I eventually was told that my feet are
10 1/2 from heel to arch, though they are nominal
9 1/2 E* overall. From arch to toes my feet are wider
and shorter than the `norm', though the sheer numbers
of people who have trouble fitting width suggest that
shoe manufacturers deliberately make shoes narrower
than they should. A shoe that fits too narrowly at the
metatarsal arch will wear out more quickly by bursting
the upper and tearing out of the welt.

--
Michael Press

I have the same kind of feet. Great for swimming but tough to find
shoes
that fit. When I was in my teens I wore size 12 1/2 or 13 E shoes
for
the same reason. As I got older and could afford better quality
shoes I
could get size 11 E that fit. My feet have gradually gotten shorter
and
wider while my high arch has remained the same.

I found that with cycling shoes that are too long, they eventually
stretch from the back and forth stresses of pedaling and I start to
get
heal blisters or they start to dig into the tops of my toes from
flexing
while walking. I tried on several pairs of Shimano clipless shoes
(45 &
46) that were to long they had both problems.

I still have 3 pairs of old fashioned cycling shoes left. When they
wear
out I'll have to bite the bullet.

I should have added that I bought Shimano brand mtb
shoes in a 45 (US 10 1/2). They are entirely
comfortable over many hours of riding. I talked to a
gent out on the road wearing the same model shoe. He
says he switched to the Shimano shoes and was jubilant,
as his previous shoes were all very uncomfortable.

--
Michael Press

This has been a very informative thread with lots of good feedback.

I've been thinking about the problems I use to have with toeclips and
straps. I realized today that most of the discomfort came from 3" wide
Campy and similar pedals. I even used to use cheap Leotard 460 alloy
pedals because they were wider.

The toe straps wrapped up around the sides of my feet and cut off some
circulation and/or produced some nerve compression. Changing from long
to medium length toe clips helped a little but forced me to raise my
seat height that resulted in other problems.

I've been using 4 1/2" wide Sakae LowFat pedals since the early 90's and
haven't had the painful pressure that I used to get with narrower
pedals.

I'm still curious about clipless and I'll keep trying to find some
comfortable shoes.

Thanks,

Chas.

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:45:50 GMT, Artoi wrote:

The associated question now is what are the pros and cons of using road
shoes with SPD cleats/pedals? One salesman told me that SPD system
sometimes can crack the sole and they had a number of customers coming
back with that problem. Is that also BS?

I briefly used SPD on a pair of road shoes. It works, but since the cleat
isn't recessed foot slippage when you don't engage correctly is much worse,
and walking around on them is horrible - worse that on plastic road cleats.

If you want to use SPD on the road and are worried about looking the part,
get some road-style SPD shoes i.e. ones that don't look like hiking
boots :-)

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Michael Warner wrote:
I briefly used SPD on a pair of road shoes. It works, but since
the cleat isn't recessed foot slippage when you don't engage
correctly is much worse, and walking around on them is horrible -
worse that on plastic road cleats.

Hm, the SPD "road" cleats (SH70 and SH71) come with plastic/rubber
pontons that prevent the latter to some extend (I assume, never used
them).

--
MfG/Best regards
helmut springer

On Tue, 17 Oct 2006 02:45:50 GMT, Artoi wrote:

The associated question now is what are the pros and cons of using road
shoes with SPD cleats/pedals? One salesman told me that SPD system
sometimes can crack the sole and they had a number of customers coming
back with that problem.
[break added]
Is that also BS?

Yes.



--
JT
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On 17 Oct 2006 07:32:07 GMT, Helmut Springer
wrote:

Michael Warner wrote:
I briefly used SPD on a pair of road shoes. It works, but since
the cleat isn't recessed foot slippage when you don't engage
correctly is much worse, and walking around on them is horrible -
worse that on plastic road cleats.

Hm, the SPD "road" cleats (SH70 and SH71) come with plastic/rubber
pontons that prevent the latter to some extend (I assume, never used
them).

The pontoons work.
--
JT
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Visit http://www.jt10000.com
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On 17 Oct 2006 07:32:07 GMT, Helmut Springer wrote:

Hm, the SPD "road" cleats (SH70 and SH71) come with plastic/rubber
pontons that prevent the latter to some extend (I assume, never used
them).

Oh, ok. I took the bare SPD cleats from my SPD shoes. Horrible.

--
Home page: http://members.westnet.com.au/mvw

Paul Hobson wrote:
I'm thinking about getting Candies or Quattros. Could you please
elaborate on your platform vs. non-platform preference?


I can only speak for the Candies. My biggest problem with them is too
much friction between the platform and the clip mechanism. The platform
doesn't spin freely enough against the clip bars (The entire assembly
spins fine on the spindle). When I ride unclipped, the clip mechanism
tends to get rotated by the shoe so that it's out of ideal alignment
with the platform making it harder to clip back in. This is exacerbated
by the Lake MXZ-300s I'm usually using with these pedals as they are my
hardest shoes with which to clip in consistently even on the naked EBs
and despite trimming the soles. This problem isn't a show stopper and I
still use them for winter because I want the stability of the platform
when going through snow unclipped. It might not be very frustrating if
you have no experience with the naked EBs but for those that do, the
*sometimes* fiddly clip-in is a little annoying. The Quattros and the
new Smarties may have reduced or no friction against the platfom making
this a non-issue.

Note that the Quattros seem to address another minor problem with the
Candies in that you can get the cleat hung up on the back edge of the
platform as you try to sweep your foot forward into the mechanism. I
think this is more of an issue if you're trained to use the naked
design and are making the same motions to clip in with the platforms.
The Quattros have notably thinned sections on the front and back sides
of the platform and the sides are tapered to form ramps that the shoe
can ride into position on. It looks to me like the Quattro design is
intended to alleviate this problem with the Candy platform.

One point in favor of the Candies is the good seals. After two winters
of use I opened them up for the first time and there was still fresh
grease in the bearings. This would not have been the case with winter
riding (heavy salt water exposure) on naked EBs without any service for
so long.

Artoi who? writes:

seconded. That sounds like a big ole smear of brown roadie
BS.Tighten them down nicely and most SPD will grip as well as any
mere mortal will ever need. Unless you have special needs knees,
don't **** away your money on special needs pedals. The basic
Shimanos, or even Wellgo 800s ($40), or the house branded Wellgos
like Nashbar are great. Cleats are ubiquitous and inexpensive as
well.

The associated question now is what are the pros and cons of using
road shoes with SPD cleats/pedals? One salesman told me that SPD
system sometimes can crack the sole and they had a number of
customers coming back with that problem. Is that also BS?

That is BS. Of course you can probably find some junk shoes that
won't support a cleat but with many miles of riding Shimano shoes I
have had no problem and never changed the cleats during the life of
the shoes. Shoes wear out! The Nylon mesh disintegrates with weather
and wear as does the toe from scuffing.

Jobst Brandt