Road Bike Shoes Advice

[thekarens]

I think it's all about personal preference. I put SPD-SL pedals on my road bike and my partner put eggbeaters on her Madone. She uses road shoes instead of MTB shoes. She just likes the way the eggbeaters work. That you can get in on any side.

[indysteel]

I use Look Keo pedal paired with SIDI road shoes. While I do have to walk around in my shoes now and again, it's never been that big of a deal. Look now puts little rubber pads on their cleats that help with the sliding. Plus, they sell cleat offers that you can easily carry with you and put on your cleats when you need to walk around. Now, if I did a lot of touring and sightseeing by bike, I might feel differently, but for club rides and the like, a recessed cleat just hasn't proven to be a necessity for me.

[ny biker]

Not trying to confuse you more, but if you have knee problems you might want to consider Speedplay pedals. The cleats have a lot of float which means your knees are not as locked into one position while you pedal. I find that you do want to use the cleat covers if you're walking on anything unpaved to keep dirt out of the cleats.

I used SPD pedals on my road bike for several years and they were fine until I started having knee problems, which is when I switched to the Speedplays.

For shoes, Sidis are excellent but expensive and on the narrow side. I have new Bontrager shoes which I think I will like a lot once I get the cleat position adjusted correctly. They have good arch support and are not as narrow in the toe box. And they have carbon soles but only cost $180.

I haven't had trouble walking around in road shoes with cleats, as long as I wear the cleat covers. I can walk well enough on pavement without the covers but that does nick up the cleats quite a bit.

[luvmyguys]

There is a SPD pedal, the A600, which fits the typical two hole, recessed cleat MTB shoe, but it has the shoe-pedal contact that's more similar to that of a road cleat/pedal combination.

Just another option for you.

[Crankin]

I'm all for Speedplays. I've been using the X series pedals for years and I put Frogs on my road bike that is more for touring type rides.

[jyyanks]

It's very subjective. I'm fairly new to clipping in and got MTB shoes and a 2 sided MTB pedals (Shimano M530) which I love. I use them for my road bike as they are very easy to get in and out of. The shoes I have (Pearl Izumi X-Alp Drift II Mountain Bike Shoes ) look more like sneakers and are wide and clunky but they are very comfortable and I use them on my road bike and for spin class. I'm not a racer nor do I ride as often as I'd like, but the shoe/pedal combo I have work well for me.

[mcook]

I'm all for Speedplays. I've been using the X series pedals for years and I put Frogs on my road bike that is more for touring type rides.

My LBS owner really likes the Speedplay Frogs. Also suggested Specialized Moto Diva or Riata shoe. Are you familiar with those?