Road Cycling - what type pedals and shoes

Have a new Specialized Allea A1 27 sport. Need suggestions on quality clipless pedals and shoes. I am an enthusiast not a racer. Thanks in advance.

Good luck. I had a time getting a hold on all of my choices. I went with SPD off road stuff (partly cos I was familure with some of it) and I too have no plans for the "Tour". I bought a pair of Sidi Forrests and Nashbar pedals (both from Nasbar for less than $65.00. I will let you know but so far the shoes feel great and the pedals work terrific,, in my head,, I am still waiting on them to show up in the mail! ARRGGG "Hurry Up!"

I can't comment much on the shoes.

I would recommend against SPDs. They are popular, but I had nothing but problems getting them adjusted just right. I didn't like their float, since as soon as the foot goes away from the 0 angle it encounters some tension. Finally, they have such a small platform. Some will say that platform is a non-issue, but I had the distinct impression that only a small part of my foot was connected to the pedal.

Then I had some knee problems show up, which I attribute at least in small part to the SPDs.

SPD-r's may be better with some of these issues.

One benefit of SPDs is that they work with a "recessed" cleat shoe that makes walking virtually like a regular shoe.

I myself found the solution with Speedplays, but many folks prefer Look or Time. All have a considerably larger platform. The Speedplays allow float to an extreme degree. My knee problems went away after buying them. They take a little getting used to, but not much.

Cheers,
Jamie

P.S. the Speedplay "Frogs" may also allow for a recessed cleat, but I am not sure.

FROGS are recessed so you can walk around. I use FROGS and LAKE shoes (thy are very much like sneakerts) for that very reason. Just don't plan to walk all day in them; they're not made for that.

I have SPD pedals (Shimano M535) on my commuter and wear Lake MX100 or Sidi Forest shoes. Works great and very comfortable. Walking with either pair of shoes is not a problem.

My road bike has Look pedals and I wear Shimano road shoes. Walking is a little awkward. The pedal and cleat are larger so more power is delivered to the pedals. :beer:

Update on Sidi forrest/Nashbar SPD:
MTB pedals and comfy walkers on my road bike are making me happy. At first, I made the mistake of not tightning down good on my cleats before I cliped in to see how it worked and then I could not twist out. The cleat would turn inside the shoe. I finnally got it out and screwed the cleats in (like I was supposed to do). After that little screw up, I love it. I did have to set the tension screws way loose on the pedals to clip out easy but they still dont release no matter how hard I pedal. The look is casual, the feel is comfy, and for my rides (12 to 25 milers, 3 to 5 times a week) this works. So far, I can say this setup is very acceptable. And hay,, less than $65.00!

Thanks for the replies. Anyone use the same pedal and shoes for both mountain and road bike? Would be more economical,but not sure if it is the right thing to do.

For the past year I have been using my Shimano MTB shoes and Time ATAC pedals on my road bike. The shoe is too flexible and the pedal contact area is too small to be honest. I am switching (finally) to road shoes and pedals...

I agree with jmlee, the spd pedals never worked for me. I switched to speedplay. The spd never gave me consistent feel when clipping in. One clip in could feel different then the next. The tension side to side was bad for me as well. With the speedplays - no knee problems.

I've been riding for a couple of years with SPD pedals on a road bike and only recently began having a problem with my left knee. It feels like a muscle attachment problem on the inside of the knee, not a problem with the knee cap itself.

The reason I've stayed with SPD is the shoes are large enough for my feet. I have not found road shoes that fit well enough.

Thanks to this forum, though, I'm wising up to my knee problem. Maybe it IS due to the SPD pedals. I will investigate further.

Thanks,

Condor