Angelfishsolo
A Velocipedian
- Location
- Cwmbach, South Wales
As the title says if I am going to invest in new shoes and pedals for the road bike what are the pros and cons of taking the SL route over standard SPD's?
IMO there's a slight efficiency gain with Spd-sl's and a fair bit of walkability loss.
Basically, stiff shoes = SPD. More flexible shoes = SPD-SL.
Now nothing stops you using a more flexible shoes with MTB but I believe it can be a bit uncomfortable and less efficient.
This is confusing! Due to SPD being designed for mountain biking and more flexibility and road shoes being made to go fast in a straightish line and SPD-SL are made for Road use!!! Also the stiffest of road shoes do not have compatibility with SPD, I wonder why?!?!?!?
You're right. However that is my personal preference after trying both.
Some spd-sl shoes will accept spd cleats as well as spd-sl cleats.
I use MTB shoes/SPD pedals on a road bike. That gives the walk-ability desired and the stiffness of the carbon sole of my shoes allows me to apply more power to the pedals and avoid some discomfort such as hotspots.
Flogging around at the back of the pack on the CC Hereford/Hay on Wye ride finally persuaded me to buy some SPDs - so stop raising the bar AFS!
I tried SPD-SL on my roadie, one to try and get around my ongoing "hotfoot" and two, because it looks better
Anyway, I stuck with them for a while, there was no reduction in hotfoot discomfort, no increase in power that I noticed but lots of awkward moments with me struggling to engage the cleats crossing busy roundabouts.
After one such incident where I got uncomfortably close to being flattened, I admitted defeat and went back to SPD.
Saying that, I must be a special case an everyone else seems fine with them, but they certainly weren't for me.
Oh, and of course, the difficulty walking in the things! a terminal breakdown miles from home would've been most unpleasant, compared to just a major inconvenience in SPD's.