Clipless Pedals

[JT1988]

I am thinking of upgrading to clipless pedals, I currently have a toe strap on my pedals. I have a 30 mile round trip on my commute to work, cycling in London for about 5 of those miles.

Can you all bombard me with advice as to what pedals to get and if it is worth doing.

Thanks.

 

[swee'pea99]

M520s. Yes.

But you'll need shoes to go with them. For some people that means £80 in the bike shop; for me, it means monitoring ebay for a crappy ad for shoes I know will work for me (in my case, Shimanos) and £15 or so.

But yes - consensus on this one is very strong: once you've tried, you'll never go back.

 

[luplowe]

Depends what bike you have , mtb peds arnt great for racers cause your foot is in wrong position, although i guess they would be ok for hybrids.

 

[JT1988]

The bike is a Marin Fairfax if this helps.

 

[swee'pea99]

Depends what bike you have , mtb peds arnt great for racers cause your foot is in wrong position, although i guess they would be ok for hybrids.

Eh? Do mtb peds put your feet in a different position? I'm not being cute, I'm genuinely curious. Not least because I'm using m520s on my fixie - and love them - but have recently been having calf problems, to which someone has responded querying my cleat position. But could it be that I'm using 'the wrong kind of pedal'? (I always thought mtb pedals were basically the same, just better sealed against crap.)

 

[I am Spartacus]

yup... errrr? indeed..
there is really only one place for the ball of your foot... it's over the meat of the pedal... irrespective of pedal type....
are you pedalling on yer tippy toes ?? and if so why??

 

[ChrisKH]

I think it's a personal thing. I tend to use different pedals on a road bike where I will cycle longer distances as I need a bit of float and will walk less, compared to say, my commuter where pedal positioning is less of an issue (as the distance is less) and there is greater frequency of use of the pedal release system and more walking. Of course some people will be happy using the same pedal and shoe for all types of cycling.

SPD's of some sort are a good starting point.

 

[gaz]

A lot people people will point you towards MTB SPD's and their is nothing wrong with them, but have a look at SPD-SL's.

You get a wider platform, better grip on pulling up, and genreally a stiffer shoe which means better performance.

But the cleats need to be replaced more and it costs more.

 

[marinyork]

M520s. No it's not worth doing unless you have a lot of money.

 

[NormanD]

Buy some Shimano M520's from chain reaction £20 posted and pop along to your local Lidl and buy a pair of these http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20090723.p.Cycling_Shoes.ar10 I'm not sure if you'll need to buy a cleat plate for the shoes (not having seen them) total under £40 sorted.

I've recently switched to clipless and I'm loving the way the bike feels under me now

hope it helps
Norm

 

[HLaB]

Buy some Shimano M520's from chain reaction £20 posted and pop along to your local Lidl and buy a pair of these http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20090723.p.Cycling_Shoes.ar10 I'm not sure if you'll need to buy a cleat plate for the shoes (not having seen them) total under £40 sorted.

I've recently switched to clipless and I'm loving the way the bike feels under me now

hope it helps
Norm

I never needed cleat plates with my Lidl pair a few years back I did nead cleats though.

 

[beachcaster]

Fitted some new clipless pedals after a lot of advice on here........new shoes ...new pedals......and decided to ride around the back garden on the grass.
Just As I was feeling confident after half an hour....for some reason the chain jumped off and locked around the one of the front rings.........and even though a friend said you can get out of clipless "really fast" I was sprawled on the ground before I could blink.

Lucky it was grass and I bounced....no damage to me or the bike

Hopefully sorted out the chain /spocket problem today.....but it has dented my confidence.....cant help thinking if that happened in front of a lorry.........

barry

 

[marinyork]

Actually make sure chain and stuff works properly. If it skips really badly or comes off when honking you could crash or graze yourself pretty badly.

 

[Downward]

Buy some Shimano M520's from chain reaction £20 posted and pop along to your local Lidl and buy a pair of these http://www.lidl.co.uk/uk/home.nsf/pages/c.o.20090723.p.Cycling_Shoes.ar10 I'm not sure if you'll need to buy a cleat plate for the shoes (not having seen them) total under £40 sorted.

I've recently switched to clipless and I'm loving the way the bike feels under me now

hope it helps
Norm

I did this too

 

[Cubist]

No, you won't need cleat plates, shimano cleats fit Lidl shoes OK