sorry for the length of this post - ... medal to anyone who gets to the end of it!
It's not that I can't solve this myself, but at the moment I haven't decided upon a solution that's ideal. I can see a number of solutions that are less than ideal, but it's just a matter of deciding which is the most ideal, so therefore I'd be glad to hear of recomemndations. I'll probably end up arguing with some recommendations, but then again that doesn't mean I won't listen to them and take on board the advice anyway. If someone could design me an all-encompassing strategy that I haven't thought of before, that would be great, no matter how hare-braned it is.
So the situation: I have got two bikes. Two pairs of shoes. And four (soon to be 5) sets of pedals.
The pedals I have got are: DMR V12s, Shimano PD-M424s, Shimano PD-M540s, and eggbeaters.
Bikes I have got are: road bike, which I want to end up with clipless pedals on. Only criteria, not unnecessarily heavy/bulky (thus ruling out the PD-M424s).
MTB: like clipless (have done for a while, hence the redundancy of the V12s), but DON'T like them getting clogged up with mud (thus ruling out the PD-M424s). I haven't tried them yet, but I am probably going to want to end up with the Time Atacs on the MTB, as they look the best for what I want out of an MTB pedal.
Shoes: some specialized BG sonoma (MTB shoes), about a year old, really like them apart from the fact they're not particularly winter-friendly, and one of the metal plates which the cleat bolts screw into is buggered.
Also got some northwave celsius GTXs, again MTB cleat compatible, they are fantastic. Got them mainly for road riding, haven't had wet or cold feet yet, and like the rigid sole. So good I've used them for winter MTB rides aswell, and I appreciate them for that aswell, even if the rigid sole isn't quite as good for MTBing as a semi-rigid.
The dilemma: What pedals to have on what bike, basically, and thus what cleats to have on what shoes....
I have sacked the PD-M424s as they disgraced themselves on the absolute quagmire of cack that is mam tor, and they are no better for the road bike than the M520s but are heavier.
So I got the egg-beaters (for the MTB) because I liked the look of the mud shedding design (with the vague intention to get another set for the roadie), but trying them out in the hall they don't feel quite as easy to clip in to as I'd like, and there's a bit too much float for my liking for MTBing. So i've ordered some time atacs for the MTB and have high hopes for them, as they look like just what I want out of a MTB pedal.*
With me so far?
I thought of sending the egg -beaters back, as they are still unused, but I thought i could use them on the road bike. But then what shoes would I use...
I could feasibly keep the crank bros cleats on the northwaves for the roadie, and the time cleats on the spesh's for the mtb, that would be ok till next winter when I'd want something good with cold and wet for the MTB, but still got the dilemma of the fooked cleat bolt plates in the spesh's, and the northwaves a bit hot and bulky in the summer.
The other option I thought of was to get some new road pedals and road shoes, that'd be great for the road bike, and would free up the northwaves for use on the MTB, quite a lot of small problems with that as opposed to any major big ones: would probably need some specific winter road shoes come next winter (but that's months off), still wouldn't have any non-rigid summer MTB shoes (unless i got some new cleat bolt plates of spesh?), the slight problem of the fact I don't agree with road shoes/pedals, but the other one is the expense - can afford it, but am just quite proud of having had a whole two months without spending much at all on bike gear, and was trying to keep it up....
Aarrrgh! what to do...
* I should have learned by my foray into using spesh armadillo tyres that when something annoys me, not to get the product that's the absolute best at solving that problem, but to get one that's quite good at it but with other qualities aswell.
It's not that I can't solve this myself, but at the moment I haven't decided upon a solution that's ideal. I can see a number of solutions that are less than ideal, but it's just a matter of deciding which is the most ideal, so therefore I'd be glad to hear of recomemndations. I'll probably end up arguing with some recommendations, but then again that doesn't mean I won't listen to them and take on board the advice anyway. If someone could design me an all-encompassing strategy that I haven't thought of before, that would be great, no matter how hare-braned it is.
So the situation: I have got two bikes. Two pairs of shoes. And four (soon to be 5) sets of pedals.
The pedals I have got are: DMR V12s, Shimano PD-M424s, Shimano PD-M540s, and eggbeaters.
Bikes I have got are: road bike, which I want to end up with clipless pedals on. Only criteria, not unnecessarily heavy/bulky (thus ruling out the PD-M424s).
MTB: like clipless (have done for a while, hence the redundancy of the V12s), but DON'T like them getting clogged up with mud (thus ruling out the PD-M424s). I haven't tried them yet, but I am probably going to want to end up with the Time Atacs on the MTB, as they look the best for what I want out of an MTB pedal.
Shoes: some specialized BG sonoma (MTB shoes), about a year old, really like them apart from the fact they're not particularly winter-friendly, and one of the metal plates which the cleat bolts screw into is buggered.
Also got some northwave celsius GTXs, again MTB cleat compatible, they are fantastic. Got them mainly for road riding, haven't had wet or cold feet yet, and like the rigid sole. So good I've used them for winter MTB rides aswell, and I appreciate them for that aswell, even if the rigid sole isn't quite as good for MTBing as a semi-rigid.
The dilemma: What pedals to have on what bike, basically, and thus what cleats to have on what shoes....
I have sacked the PD-M424s as they disgraced themselves on the absolute quagmire of cack that is mam tor, and they are no better for the road bike than the M520s but are heavier.
So I got the egg-beaters (for the MTB) because I liked the look of the mud shedding design (with the vague intention to get another set for the roadie), but trying them out in the hall they don't feel quite as easy to clip in to as I'd like, and there's a bit too much float for my liking for MTBing. So i've ordered some time atacs for the MTB and have high hopes for them, as they look like just what I want out of a MTB pedal.*
With me so far?
I thought of sending the egg -beaters back, as they are still unused, but I thought i could use them on the road bike. But then what shoes would I use...
I could feasibly keep the crank bros cleats on the northwaves for the roadie, and the time cleats on the spesh's for the mtb, that would be ok till next winter when I'd want something good with cold and wet for the MTB, but still got the dilemma of the fooked cleat bolt plates in the spesh's, and the northwaves a bit hot and bulky in the summer.
The other option I thought of was to get some new road pedals and road shoes, that'd be great for the road bike, and would free up the northwaves for use on the MTB, quite a lot of small problems with that as opposed to any major big ones: would probably need some specific winter road shoes come next winter (but that's months off), still wouldn't have any non-rigid summer MTB shoes (unless i got some new cleat bolt plates of spesh?), the slight problem of the fact I don't agree with road shoes/pedals, but the other one is the expense - can afford it, but am just quite proud of having had a whole two months without spending much at all on bike gear, and was trying to keep it up....
Aarrrgh! what to do...
* I should have learned by my foray into using spesh armadillo tyres that when something annoys me, not to get the product that's the absolute best at solving that problem, but to get one that's quite good at it but with other qualities aswell.
