road shoes and pedals

[Graham1]

I am currently using spd pedals and shoes on my road bike would changing to look road pedals and proper road shoes be advantageous?

 

[oxbob]

Yes/no is the answer, look cleats/pedals (delta type) will spread the pressure/load across a wider area of your foot so will be more comfy on longer rides, the drawback is off the bike at cafe/pub stop you will waddle in like a duck at a chicken only invite party!

 

[kyuss]

I use Time ATAC and MTB shoes on the fixed gear because it's my shopping/commuting/pub bike and a fair bit of walking is involved. I use Look Deltas on the good geared bike because I prefer the larger platform which makes a difference over longer distances, but if I'm out on that it's generally for training or a nice jaunt into the country, so rarely get off and walk. They're fine for the odd cafe stop but I wouldn't want to walk more than 100 yards in them.

I recently boughty some really stiff carbon soled MTB shoes and it makes a huge difference to the feeling of MTB cleats, to the point that I now wouldn't mind doing more mileage on them where before I wouldn't have even considered it. That might be an option if you walk a lot. You shouldn't feel like you have to swap to road shoes and cleats to fit in.

 

[zimzum42]

Go for it. LOOK is a great system, and as long as walking is going to be kept to a minimum, it's the way forward

 

[Graham1]

I use Time ATAC and MTB shoes on the fixed gear because it's my shopping/commuting/pub bike and a fair bit of walking is involved. I use Look Deltas on the good geared bike because I prefer the larger platform which makes a difference over longer distances, but if I'm out on that it's generally for training or a nice jaunt into the country, so rarely get off and walk. They're fine for the odd cafe stop but I wouldn't want to walk more than 100 yards in them.

I recently boughty some really stiff carbon soled MTB shoes and it makes a huge difference to the feeling of MTB cleats, to the point that I now wouldn't mind doing more mileage on them where before I wouldn't have even considered it. That might be an option if you walk a lot. You shouldn't feel like you have to swap to road shoes and cleats to fit in.[/quote

Just wondered if there was any advantage, never been one to do things to fit in more likely to do the opposite. I like my spd pedals and shoes so will probably keep them.
Thanks for the info

 

[02GF74]

I have looks - fort 2 reasons - purchased when clipless MTB pedalks were just appearing and also becuase the only shoes I could find to fit were Look comaptible - i.e. no recess in sole.

I prefer mtb systems as it is easier to clip in - 2 sides to aim at - ok, so Looks are weighted so the clippy on part is easy to access.

I find the Look pedal/shoe sole combination to be slippery so quite oftem my foot slides across the pedal trying to clip in - I guess namely due to smooth hard sole of the shoe compared to grippy rubber on my mtb boots.

If I were to do it all over again, I would go for Shimano road spd probably.

 

[HLaB]

I have spds on my winter and commuting bikes and spd-sl on the summer bike. For clipping in and out I prefer the spd's but for longer distance, I think the spd-sl are more comfortable. I think the gen is that spd-sl have a wider contact area (cleat) between the shoe and the pedal that allows better energy transmission and spreads the load so you're more comfortable.

 

[dellzeqq]

spd-r (or spd-sl) are brilliant for long distances, but I'm not convinced that fancy shoes are actually that big a deal. I always get the snazziest Sidis I can find, but cheapie Shimano MTB shoes, laced properly, do almost as well.

 

[bonj2]

Just wondered if there was any advantage, never been one to do things to fit in more likely to do the opposite. I like my spd pedals and shoes so will probably keep them.
Thanks for the info

I switched to road shoes because for commuting (when i used to have M520s) i could often feel a little bit of pressure on a small area on the ball of the foot, though this was using my trusty old spesh bg sonoma shoes which are un-rigid soles, as i prefer for mtbing. You may avoid this just as well by doing as kyuss says and get stiff-soled mtb shoes.

I use speedplay zeros on both my road bikes and M647 DXs on the mtb. switched to speedplay as I found single sided road pedals a bit of an arse to clip into, with speedplays you get the best of both worlds, large platform but double sided. only thing is the cleats are the fancy bit rather than the pedal, but i use cleat protectors, just have to put them on and take them off before and after riding.

As regards speed/power transfer advantage, I'm unconvinced of the advantages personally, it's mainly comfort. I think stiff soled shoes probably yield a slight bit of peformance difference but not much.