Road pedals

[nonsmoker3]

Jenn - we should get together for a ride sometime. Have you done/heard of Wheels of Fire? It is a charity ride in March here in Harris county. Challenging but a great cause. Proceeds go to the Fire Departments in Harris County and the support this ride gets from the various fire depts is amazing.

Ehirsch83 - Fort Benning is pretty cycling friendly. We have a river walk that runs from downtown onto Benning and it is a great ride. A lot of folks ride on Benning. Columbus, however, is not a great cycling city. Heavy traffic, no bike lanes, redneck country boys in big trucks, etc. But out here where I live we have some great country roads and have quite a few good routes. If you do end up here definately let me know.

[Aggie_Ama]

I ride Looks with Sidi Genius 5 shoes. I love the platform and power transfer of the Looks. HOWEVER, I find them a bit tricky to engage and cleat is slick. A lot of women on here use mountain shoes and the Frogs. That would probably be a more comfortable option.

[wannaduacentury]

[QUOTE=nonsmoker3;277680]Jenn - we should get together for a ride sometime. Have you done/heard of Wheels of Fire? It is a charity ride in March here in Harris county. Challenging but a great cause. Proceeds go to the Fire Departments in Harris County and the support this ride gets from the various fire depts is amazing.

Yep, I've heard of it and some of my friends have done it every yr. I personally haven't done the ride due to scheduling or work etc. I'll find out tomorrow I bet when it is since it barely a month away(bike club mtg). We're practically down the road from each other- I work in LaG. Jenn

[nonsmoker3]

LaG? Wow, that is close. Did the Tour De Lakes last year. Beautiful area.
Thinking about it this year, along with the triathlon. Small world.

[ChickWithBrains]

Look and Speedplay are not your only options.

Many people say the "eggbeater" style of pedals are the easiest to learn for people who are new to these sort of clip-in pedals. There's no up and down to worry about (like there is with some clipless pedals, and certainly in pedals with a toe cage). There's also only a small amount of "float," the action that lets the pedaler point their toes in and out a little while pedaling. Lots of float (like some speedplays) gives the rider a very wobbly feeling on the pedals until they get used to it -- not the kindest introduction to this kind of riding.

Most shoes will accept most kinds of contraptions for various pedals, but shoes intended for mountain biking may be the easiest to get used to because the nubs hit the ground more than the plate for the pedal does. Makes walking easier and more stable. In any case, for systems with larger plates (speedplay), there are covers you can snap over the plate on the shoe when you get off the bike and walk around.

I'd suggest a setup similar to my first system: Specialized mountain bike shoes and Crank Brothers eggbeaters (I got some pretty little blue ones). I have since graduated to some pink speedplays and more aerodynamic, lighter shoes -- but I think my first setup was awesome for a newbie to clipless.

[northstar]

I'd like to second the recommendation of CrankBrothers pedals. I have Smarty's on my road bike and really love them. Then again, I've never ridden anything else.