Choosing new pedals.

[jj12]

I've ridden with speed play but thinking of switching to a shimano spd any suggestions on which is better? I'll most likely stick with speed play but if someone in the club has a comparison of both that would be informative. Thanks. Looking forward to getting out on the road soon.

[Anika]

stick with speedplay. spds are more for commuters. Plus spds use a 2 bolt, not a 3 bolt cleat mount thingy so you would be limited to mountain bike, commuter and really low end road shoes. Good road shoes won't accomodate spd cleats

[Lister Farrar]

Since Josh and Rob recommended them, I prefer spds. Much, much better for coffee shop floors.

But re performance, they are the preferred system for pro cyclocross in Europe (lots here use em too), and world cup mtb, so they clearly are secure enough for some powerful legs in bouncy terrain.

Plus the cleats are recessed, and metal, so they wear much, much better, and never break, like worn plastic cleats do, often with serious consequences.

And the cleats last easily twice as long, and cost half as much. $15 vs $30+

They also squeak less.

Road spd pedals are available too, i.e. one sided pedal for cornering clearance. Similar weight as ultegra road pedals.
road 260 grams http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content ... _road.html
spd 286 grams http://bike.shimano.com/publish/content ... _road.html

i think there's a stigma to the 'touring' label. Maybe Shimano call them that because they make so much money in plastic cleats. Like toner for printers.

And you can get bling kicks for them too. Carbon and dials galore.
The top specialized mtb shoe 310 grams http://www.specialized.com/ca/en/ftr/sh ... /sworks-xc
same brand top road shoe: 200 grams http://www.specialized.com/ca/en/ftr/sh ... works-road

Another nice feature is that one pair of shoes will do for road, cross, and mtb.

[katew]

I like a lot of what Lister has to say but must add this data point:

A lot of my foot troubles went away when I switched to the larger platform on SPD-SLs, which spread the pressure from my pedal over a larger surface. This might be remedied by a really rigid carbon shoe, but having invested in a stable full of SPD-SL, there is not a sou left for sexy new shoes.

Except for this pair I found at She-She Shoes last week (ooh, la la), but they won't work very well on anything but flats. 'Coz they aren't flats.

[Lister Farrar]

Kate, were you using the mtb spd pedal, or the road version? The road version has quite a platform around it, and I have little rocking or play, even with my well worn mtb/cross shoes.

road spd.jpg (9.9 KiB) Viewed 6706 times

And interestingly, the xtr mtb pedal now comes in a platform option.

If you have any spd road pedals you're not using, I know a whole bunch of youth riders who could use them for road season on their cross bikes.

[jj12]

Thanks lister, Kate and anika! I appreciate the information.

[barton bourassa]

Only on my speedy road bike will I ride in "road" shoes. I have the wide platform Shimano pedals. They are great! I have some Diadora carbon sole mtb shoes that are outstanding! Light and very stiff and fit like a glove! I had to spend almost twice the money for road shoes that were as stiff, fit as well and were as light. The Shimano pedals are a few grams heavier but far less expense than similar quality road pedals.

I also use my winter bike as my commuter and my family's second vehicle so road clips would not work at all!

My 5 cents worth!

[phox]

As someone who's been through other pedal systems and ended up with Speedplay Zeros (ROAD ONLY, but I commute on them), I feel like I need to say some things about what Lister's said here:

- Speedplay cleats are METAL. They're aluminum, which roughs up with use and coats itself in aluminum oxide, and so they're worlds better than plastic cleats for grip/walking on tile-like floors. The only complaint about walking on them is that they make you very "toe-up" which road cleats in general are guilty of.

- They also don't break like "worn plastic cleats" because they're not plastic. Generally I find with my limited walking and stopping at intersections that I wear down the aluminum cleat frame before the springs are too worn out to use.

IMNSHO they're about the best pedal ever for being able to assess both cleat and pedal wear. SPD cleats are easy to check, but I've mashed PD-M737s to death (2 pairs) over quite a few years and there's not much visible evidence if you don't have a good eye for being misaligned. Eggbeater cleats spend most of their lives looking like worn-out cleats, and the newer pedals seem to have worse and worse springs every year, so I won't touch them except maybe for minimal MTB riding.

I find the clip-in of Zeros is about the most straightforward of anything, short of the aforementioned sucky enormous plastic cleats that cause you to "coffee shop" on hard floors. You won't find SPDs anywhere near as intuitive to clip in. Enormo plastic cleats are better and I might run them if I were racing and needed to clip in fast (not sure when I'd need to do that when racing, though).

The big question here is what are you using them for, and can you change shoes once you get where you're going (if you're going somewhere)?

If you do go SPD, I'd recommend multi-release cleats, as the fixed release angle makes single-release a bit treacherous.