Cleats for long distance

[yello]

I ride both spd's and look-style road cleats. My audax bike has spd's, my racer has the looks. Reason being, on the audax bike I'm (usually) doing bigger distances so am more likely to stop to rest and have a wonder around - that's easier to do in spd's.

But I was speaking to someone on Sunday about LEL. They suggested I use road cleats for that because your feet will be more comfortable (spd's more prone to 'hot spotting') and that better transfer of power will be beneficial for the legs over the longer distance.

What are your thoughts/experiences?

 

[Greenbank]

It's the contact area. Granted Look's spread the load out over more of the foot but, before you go changing, you *can* use SPDs for long distance if you have very stiff soled shoes.

80km+ in Spesh BG Sport shoes with SPDs = hotfoot
80km+ in Adidas Minrett shoes with SPDs = hotfoot

621km in Spesh BG Pro MTB shoes with SPDs = not a problem

The difference is that the Pro MTB shoes have carbon soles that help spread the load out across the foot and remove the chance of hot-foot.

Same bike, same insoles but wearing the Spesh BG Sport shoes (plastic sole) and I'll get hotfoot approaching 100km.

I also have a really old pair of Shimano MTB shoes with cloth uppers that were pain free on a 200km Audax. If you've done a 400km or 600km ride and had no problems with hot-foot then I'd stick with the shoes you used for them.

I'll be using SPDs and my BG Pro MTB shoes for LEL.

 

[Bokonon]

Until last year I had SPDs on all my bikes until one of the pedals on my fast road failed (it was an old road style SPD compatible, not a genuine Shimano product.) I replaced the pedals on that bike with Look Keos. I have 2 pairs of shoes, touring and road, which had both been used with SPD until I got the Looks at which point I put the Look cleats on the road shoes. For long distances with SPD I had always used the road shoes before the change and never experienced hot spots. Now forced to use the touring shoes for SPD use, I get hot spots over long distances. Therefore, I think the stiffness of the sole has more to do with preventing hot spots rather than the choice of pedal.

 

[piedwagtail91]

i've used spds for ride up to 300 miles on gears and just over 200 on fixed and never had any problems with sore feet.
i did have looks on a pair of shoes for the road bike but we live on a terrace and after losing my footing for the second time going down the steps ditched the looks.
i found them pretty dire even walking to and from the cafe.
i only used them for rides up to 80 miles so can't comment on how they feel over distance, they did feel slightly different to spds but not enough to make me rush back to them.
my shoes are all diadora which have a pretty stiff sole, which may be a factor.

 

[HLaB]

The longest I've done on the cleats is just over 100 in a day and it unlikely I would of cycled the next but I've had no problems with my SPD's. I use touring pedals that might make a difference.

 

[yello]

My road shoes (with the look cleat) are stiff soled. Just looking at the price of the Spesh Pro shoes, it's cheaper for me to buy another set of look pedals than fork out for another pair of shoes. I think I might experiment first by doing some long rides on the looks, I usually only do 100 - 150s max so I don't know how they fair over that.

 

[Greenbank]

Touring pedals made no difference for me. I had hotfoot after 80km with both single-sided touring A520 pedals and double-sided M520 or M540 pedals. I eventually ditched the A520s because they weren't any different on the hot-foot front and the double-sided pedals are so much easier to clip in to.

Fixed/Gears makes no difference. 3 longest fixed rides have been 310km (The Dean), 400km (Severn Across) and 621km (a DIY600). 3 longest geared rides have been 307km (Elenith), 272km (DNF'd DIY400 to Cornwall), 237km (DNF'd Border Raid 600). All with no trouble with carbon soled shoes.

 

[Greenbank]

My road shoes (with the look cleat) are stiff soled. Just looking at the price of the Spesh Pro shoes, it's cheaper for me to buy another set of look pedals than fork out for another pair of shoes. I think I might experiment first by doing some long rides on the looks, I usually only do 100 - 150s max so I don't know how they fair over that.

I'm sure the Spesh Pro shoes aren't the only really stiff soled shoes out there, but they are the only ones that I know and trust.

I'm certain they'll be others that are just as good at preventing hot-foot and don't cost 150 quid. Hopefully someone else will be along soon to suggest some others.

 

[Blonde]

I swiched from SPDs to Looks for this reason.

I had to change my shoes in order to change my type of cleat/pedal and I realsied that some of the dicomfort with SPDs was down to the soft acrylic soled mtb/touring SPD shoes I'd been using, (which had got even softer with age) and not just down to the cleats themselves. If you have carbon fibre soles with SPDs I doubt there wil be such a big difference because you will be using a much stiffer surface to begin with.

Custom insloes (and a Lemond wedge under one cleat - on my shorter leg) have made the biggest difference for me.

 

[Sallar55]

Buy mtb shoes with carbon soles, I like the Spiuk shoes. You get winter and summer insoles if you are lucky. Or it may be a promotional add on with the latest products ?

 

[ianrauk]

Buy mtb shoes with carbon soles, I like the Spiuk shoes. You get winter and summer insoles if you are lucky. Or it may be a promotional add on with the latest products ?

Yep, I have Spike shoes with the 2 different insoles.
What I like about mine is that to make them uber fit and comfy, every now and then I pop them into a warm oven for half hour then pop them on to mould to my feet. Genius.

 

[vickster]

Buy mtb shoes with carbon soles, I like the Spiuk shoes. You get winter and summer insoles if you are lucky. Or it may be a promotional add on with the latest products ?

He may have bought some (or even a few pairs) 14 years on

 

[cyberknight]

cleat set up is very important, my spd shoes dont have carbon soles but are mid level offerings and i never have an issue with hot spots.

 

[Ming the Merciless]

cleat set up is very important, my spd shoes dont have carbon soles but are mid level offerings and i never have an issue with hot spots.

How far do you ride on them?

 

[Arjimlad]

I switched from basic Shimano SPD pedals to these.

I found that the greater contact area with my shoe means I can do 100 miles without hotspots developing.

https://www.edinburghbicycle.com/shimano-ed500-light-action-spd-pedals