Pedal question...

[betagirl]

I have Looks on my road bike and love them. Never used SPD so I can't comment there.

[Faust]

OK I am truely a newbie I just started riding about a week ago. I have no idea what those are. I am assuming I have egg-beaters because when my foot comes off the pedal they just spin around. I would like to get something to help me pedal in a circle but I'm afraid to lock in until I've been riding for a little longer. Any thoughts? BTW I love this forum because all the post's are very encouraging and that really helps.

[KnottedYet]

Faust: Try this link to wikipedia. It has a picture of a pedal with SPD on one side, and regular flat pedal on the other. I clicked a few of the links from this page, and they're pretty good, too. (I like pictures!)

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_pedal

I just switched my bike from flat pedals (the kind my bike came with) to Speedplay Frogs. http://www.speedplay.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=home.frog

The Frog pedals attach to a metal cleat on the bottom of my biking shoes. They are supposed to be very easy for a beginner to learn and gentle on the knees because they have a lot of "float" (your foot can wiggle a good bit before it unhooks the cleat, so it doesn't strain your knee by forcing the knee to wiggle instead of the foot).

If you don't want to get into pedals with cleats yet, you could put toe clips/toe cages on your current flat pedals. I would take the strap off and just play with the clip part. I had toe cages on my flat pedals and it seems like they helped me learn the Frogs.

[Brina]

I agree - go Look on your road bike. I have been using spds for a long time in spin class and on my hybrid (campus pedals) but got Look Keos on my road bike and I love them - except I am having trouble clipping in - out, no problem, but in is taking me some adjustment time.