Looking for advice regarding clip-in pedals...

[Mike_P]

They may well fit but the quality of the Lidl shoes was such that no amount of tightening would secure the cleats. I could twist my foot and the cleat would twist in the shoe. Getting Shimano shoes made me realise what all the fuss was about.

Mine from a decade ago are fine.

 

[PaulSB]

And if you do go down it's best to do so with your foot clipped to the pedal. An extended limb can end up a broken limb.

Interesting point which makes perfect sense to me.

 

[PaulSB]

Oddly enough, on the mercifully rare (two) occasions that I have crashed using SPDs my feet have become detached from the pedals. I don't know how. Maybe reflex. I dunno.

This is what is supposed to happen if everything is set up correctly. Every time I've crashed my cleats gave disengaged.

I'm not sure road cleats do the same. Only this week on our gravel ride a friend went down. Against our advice she's using road cleats on a gravel bike. We had to unclip her as the cleats didn't disengage and she couldn't do it.

 

[Drago]

How does the make of shoe avoid a clipless moment?

They have anti gravity properties.

 

[Jenkins]

I have SPDs on the road bikes but flat pedals on the flat bar bikes (and the MTB when I had one) and find no difficulty in swapping between the two, although it may take a bit of faffing to get the comfortable foot position when setting off on the flat pedals which I don't get with the SPDs.

There is the occasional moment when I find myself automatically 'unclipping' from flat pedals...

 

[Mike_P]

Article on normal v quick release spd cleats
https://www.bikeradar.com/advice/buyers-guides/shimano-sh51-vs-sh56-cleats

 

[katiewlx]

I think I'm going to change to them, simply as I feel a bit silly putting special shoes on to cycle to the shop. That said it's less than a mile and I more often walk than ride!

although theyre a tad more expensive, but maybe comparable to same brand trainers so there is that, dont forget the likes of Adidas make velosamba shoes for cycling, that look just like regular Samba trainers, except theyve got a 2 bolt SPD cleat space. so they look less like special cycling shoes and just like regular trainers.

 

[Mike_P]

There's also these by Specialized

https://www.specialized.com/2fo-roost-clip-mountain-bike-shoes/p/187391?color=300591-187391
Google lists them from £33 depending on size.

 

[Yellow Saddle]

Ie to (admittedly overpriced) black leather Dromartis looked quite smart as well-as being comfy

Those do look nice. I'm considering breaking the piggy bank.

 

[wiggydiggy]

although theyre a tad more expensive, but maybe comparable to same brand trainers so there is that, dont forget the likes of Adidas make velosamba shoes for cycling, that look just like regular Samba trainers, except theyve got a 2 bolt SPD cleat space. so they look less like special cycling shoes and just like regular trainers.

Aye I've seem shoes like that, I think I'll still go double sided but those shoes are worth looking at.

 

[presta]

How far are you riding in normal clothes. I did 63 miles in the Alps yesterday and I would have been in right state wearing my normal clothes.

When I first switched from fellwalking to cycling I just used all the clothing I already had, apart from wearing Lycra shorts. By the time I'd been cycle touring for ten years I was still using the same 'ordinary' clothes, except that I'd taken to using Ron Hill Bikesters instead of polycotton walking trousers. They took quite a lot of getting used to because they aren't windproof like walking trousers, but it saved sewing a gusset into the knees to prevent them riding up.

I was cycling day rides up to 150 miles, and tours up to 1400 miles with no clothing problems at all.

I am sure some folk can and will present rebuttals to all the above but just like wearing aero clothing, running gossamer thin tyres with ultra low rolling resistance, slamming the stem for a more aero position it's important to put these in context - a lot of this comes from racing.

50 years ago when I was a teenager we thought 'rat traps' were cool and fitted them to our Carltons and Claude Butlers, it didn't take long for all of us to ditch them - we all fell off at some point and the dam things always seemed to be in the wrong orientation after stopping !

This. Cyclists are full of what racers do and don't do because "if racing cyclists do it it must be the best", without any conception that what's best for racing isn't necessarily best for everyone else. Like going to Tesco in a Cortina with a spoiler on the boot because if Lewis Hamilton has a spoiler on his Ferrari that must be the right way to do it. (I got toe clips 50 odd years ago just to copy a mate, but I've kept them ever since because I like the security of having my feet restrained from slipping off the pedals. I don't tighten the straps though.)

If you're having to look at your feet your fundamental skills aren't there to begin with.

After 40 years of riding with toe clips I could get my foot in the clip first time every time without looking down, then in 2011 I fitted a new pair of MKS MT-Lite pedals, and all of a sudden I was fumbling around like someone who'd never used toe clips in his life. It was taking me 2-3-4 attempts or more, and in 8,000 miles of using them, nothing changed. I never got used to them.

The problem's simple: they have bearings with unbelievably low friction, so they just won't stop swinging around all over the place. I always used to run my pedals full of grease, which helps damp them, but you can't access the MKS ones to put any in.

Starting is easier on a climb as the "pushing" foot is held securely in place.

That's not the point, the issue arises when you get to the end of the first pedal stroke and still don't have enough momentum to carry you whilst you get your other foot sorted.

I certainly don't bother changing into oter cycling gear for that ride, just my normal clothes with cycling shoes and helmet.

Ordinary trousers are no good unless I want them greasy, and cycle clips are no good because the trousers are half way up my calves with my knees bent. I either need trousers with Velcro straps sewn on the bottoms, or gussets in the knee so that they'll bend without rising up, and preferably both.

clipless stops you scuffing up the anodising on the cranks

I fixed that by re-routing the toe straps.

An extended limb can end up a broken limb

A non-extended limb can end up a broken something else more serious.

 

[Webbo2]

When you say except for Lycra cycling shorts, presumably you wore them under your RonHills or just them on there own.

 

[PaulSB]

That's not the point, the issue arises when you get to the end of the first pedal stroke and still don't have enough momentum to carry you whilst you get your other foot sorted.

I ride SPDs and have no experience of road cleats. I can say there is no issue with SPDs. It's simply a question of leading off with the clipped in foot, for me the right, and bringing the other on to the pedal. If there's no time to clip in then all I do is push with the left until there's a little momentum and the chance to clip in. It gets a bit tricky at 10-12% but the need to start on that sort of incline is very rare.

I've clipped in on Hard Knott. No, not on the 30+% section. 🤣

 

[mickle]

I was an early adopter of LOOK pedals and later Shi**no Pedaling Dynamics when they came available. I graduated to TIME A-Tac pedals for the benefits if their superior float and mud shedding design. SPD float is spring loaded, so it still puts a load through the knee. Ive also used toe clips and straps (with and without cleats) Expedo, Crank Bros Egg Beaters, Ritchey and was responsible for importing the first magnetic cleat pedals unto the uk, primary for the use of cyclists with prosthetics.

Worth a look. They're brilliant:

https://www.getcycling.org.uk/products/magped-magnetic-pedals/

When I built my touring bike i couldn't decide what pedals to go for, so i bought two sets of Mikashima Ezy Superior quick change pedals from the factory in Japan. One is a TIME A-TAC clone. The other a regular alu cage pedal. I can swap them out in seconds without tools. I also have a set of Mikashima pedals with tradish toe clips and straps, which is what's on the bike at the moment. Because they look nice. Yup. I'm that sad.

All this to say that even after using clip in pedals, on road and off, for 35 years i cannot decide what's best. If i was still racing, then yeah. Id be clipped in. But for my kind of riding today? Any performance benefits are so marginal that they cannot be measured.

If your shoes are comfortable for the duration of the kind of rides you do and they dont slip off your pedals, you're 99% there.


Ps. Toe clips and straps were invented to hold riders feet securely to fast spinning pedals when riding fixed wheel high wheelers. And there remains a very strong argument for having your feet very securely attached when riding fixed wheel.

 

[Dogtrousers]

Starting on gradients of 10% or more is tricky whatever your pedals, clipless or not it makes no real difference. It's a knack