Shoes: Specialized Carbon Pro's (Women's)

[Starfish]

Hey everyone, this all does help, very much.

I am confused about cleat and pedal compatibility. I currently have SPD cleats and pedals, and I'm wondering if the cleats and pedals I have can be used with the Road Carbon Pro shoes?

The online specs say the shoes are compatible with SPD-SL setups, but I don't know what that means...don't know what the SL means.

Has anyone had mountain pedals and SPD cleats on mountain shoes, and just switched to the Road Carbon Pro shoes without buying new pedals and cleats?

Just curious. I'm thinking I will treat myself to some new, lighter pedals (probably the Look type Shimano pedals), but just wondering.

Thanks again. This really helps a lot.

[GLC1968]

If you are looking at the Carbon Pro for women, it looks like they don't take the SPD mountain cleats. The picture on specialized's website shows the bottom of the shoe for what I am guessing is the 2008 version, and there are no holes in the middle where the SPD cleats would go. I don't know if older versions are the same or not. Mine also don't have the holes for SPD (my old, non-carbon, specialized road shoes did have the SPD holes).

SPD-SL are the look-type shimano cleats. I forget what the designation is for the regular SPD cleats... It's so confusing! The look-type ones have three holes spaced in a triangle pattern kind of around the ball of the foot. The other mountain-type SPD's have two holes in a vertical pattern near the center of the shoe.

Lets see if this pic works - from Specialized:


The three holes you see are for the SPD-SL cleats.

[Starfish]

GLC, thank you. That answers that...new pedals are also in my future!

Dang!

[Starfish]

Just the final note to this thread. Yesterday, I ordered the Carbon Pro shoes and the Ultegra road pedals. Soon I will have a new pedal system to learn. Only fell over once when I got my first clipless system...hope to improve that for this go 'round!

Thanks for all your input!

[Starfish]

Another follow-up here. I have had these shoes a couple weeks now, and I am experiencing some knee problems in my squirrely knee. Now, I know there might be many factors going into this. But, for anyone who is considering these shoes, you might want to consider carefully how you might be affected by the varus wedge they have built into the outsole.

I felt from the outset on the bike that it might be rolling me to the outside of my foot in a way that is not right for me. Now we are working on shimming the outside of the foot via shoe insert and cleat shim to flatten it back out.

Interestingly, today I watched these videos (at bottom), and either #2 or #3 specifically addressed this development that Specialized has done. John Howard doesn't agree with it. At least for some people (I think me), the varus wedge is not a good starting place.

The shoes themselves, though...the fit of the shoe, the stiff sole, etc, is great. I am hoping we can get this dialed in so that you all aren't reading here that I am selling these shoes and pedals! For now, I am back in my old shoes/pedals until I get this taken care of.

http://forums.teamestrogen.com/showthread.php?t=21797

[itself]

Bringing this thread back to life as it may be time to change from my Sidi Dominators to something new. I am trying to debate on a road or mtb shoe, carbon sole. I like the versatility of the mtb shoe as I'll have one shoe for both the mtb bike and the road bike. But I'm concerned about compatibility with different pedal systems, like the Frogs and the Bebops.

Sounds like you gals are really happy with the Specialized Brand? I think one weakness of the Sidis is the narrower shoe, which causes more hot foot.

Lisa

[Eden]

I switched from Sidis to Specialized recently - love, love, love the new shoes. They have a much more square toe box. No more pinched toes. I also like that I can actually get a high end shoe, unlike Sidi that doesn't make several models in my rather small size. I understand that they will even be bringing out the uber high end S-works shoe in women's sizing this year - its on their web site, but not available yet.