Road Cycling - Shoes to use with toeclips and straps

Hello to all! I am new to the forums and I don't know if my question has been asked before.

I just got my Cannondale Caad 5 USA Edition road bike and I am installing TA Specialites road pedals with Christophe toe clips and straps.

Should I wear clipless pedal road cycling shoes or regular sneakers or what with these pedals and clips?

Thanks!!

Why are you using those pedals on a caad5 bike?

Why not install clipless pedals?

I'm new at this, 56 years young and rather apprehensive of that locked in feeling.

As I become familiar with the handling of the bike, I am planning to go clipless in the future but not just yet. Thus the question about shoes.

In that case, i would go with cycling shoes, however make sure your platform pedals dont ruin the shoes! I'm not at all familar with the TA Specialites road pedals.

If you plan on getting off the bike quite a bit, or riding to work, go with mtn bike shoes, they are more walkable, and you will have no problem using them with cage's.

Welcome to the forums, hope you stick around!

I use MKS pedals with Christophe clips.
I find that for low intensity riding, sneakers work fine. When you turn on the power, the bendy sole becomes noticeable, and a stiffer cycling shoes is better. Shimano leisure shoes work quite well.
Ive just returned from a 2 weel tour of fairly easy riding, with a max of 100km a day. I used a 1970s style cheap running shoe and suffered no problems at all.
Good toe-clip shoes need a clean profile, so avoid heavily knobbled soles and excessive plastic mouldings on the uppers. Most serious MTB shoes dont work well with clips and straps because of the agressively shaped sole.
Carnac and Sidi still make traditionally styled cycling shoes, and a few smaller makers still produce them.

I too use MKS GR9 pedals and Christophe (or campag ) clips.

i use a pair of Vittoria touring shoes, but I ground off the rubber "knobbles " on them to allow easier exit from the pedals.

My wife has just swapped to clipless and she finds them just as easy to use as her normal pedals and shorty toeclips.

I thought I was the only one-----I swapped the old Shimano 105 pedals and cages off my old road bike and put them on my new Klein----I just use leather New Balance basketball shoes.

I just can't ever see myself going clipless-----old habits die hard I guess.

In another thread (http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread.php?threadid=13805&perpage=15&pagenumber=3) I brought up the Diadora Voyager touring shoe, so I'll bring it up here too. The shoe is designed for use with clips and straps, so it doesn't have a knobby sole. Since it is a touring shoe, it is more flexible than a road shoe, and slightly stiffer than an MTB shoe. If you move to clipless, you can still use the Voyager, since it is built to take cleats as well. They run about $70US. Nashbar has them, among others.

Puma Suedes!

So fresh, and comfortable, too. You will be the hippest 56 y.o. you know. Seriously, though, you want the sole of whatever shoe you wear to be benign, flat even. Knobby soles are a drag with pedals & clips. I especially like the suedes becuase they are the opposite of bulky, and so slip in and out of clips with no hassle. The sole is pretty floppy, though, but you only notice that when you pour on the torque.

BK

I wear the stiff soled cross training shoe of the day. They're black Sketchers and at least 4 years old. Guess it's time for a new pair of shoes but these are soooo broken in.

I use clips and straps too. One day just gotta try some spd's.

Watch it! I'm old enough to remember wearing the coolest white bucks or B/W Saddle shoes to High School!

Maybe I'll look up those Puma suedes and give em a whirl cause at my age pouring on the torque just isn't what it used to be!!!!!!!!!!

Thanks!

Originally posted by alvinator
... rather apprehensive of that locked in feeling.



I'm pretty new to cycling (6 years) and so I have *only* ridden clipless pedals.

A friend who has been riding and racing waaaaay longer was reminiscing the other day about the "weekly crashes" caused by the old fashioned clips-n-straps. He pointed out that, if they were chinched down correctly, riders had to remember to slow when approaching an intersection, reach down, loosen the straps, THEN pull their feet out and back!!!!

Talk about that scary locked-in-feeling!

I'm a whimp and will take my clipless any day.

I use toe clips on my old road bikes for fun touring. That way, when we take breaks from riding, I can play frisbee or walk around with normal shoes.

Well, recently, I showed up for a short tour with some friends. I had on a new pair of snappy 'bicycling shoes' - tan suede with black trim. They were close fitting slip-ons. to cleat - just like a shoe made for toe cages. Neat.

My friends asked where I got them. I told them they were my new European bicycling shoes - very expensive, but worth it.

Shucks, I was just joshing them, but a couple of weeks later my friend's wife calls me asking where she could get some for her husband who had been raving about Mike's cool Euro bicycling shoes.

I fessed up. I got them at Walmart. $15.00.

Originally posted by poptart


A friend who has been riding and racing waaaaay longer was reminiscing the other day about the "weekly crashes" caused by the old fashioned clips-n-straps. He pointed out that, if they were chinched down correctly, riders had to remember to slow when approaching an intersection, reach down, loosen the straps, THEN pull their feet out and back!!!!
.
Theres nothing correct about that. If your using clips n straps you dont have to cinch them down tight. With loose straps, you still get a lot of the performance gains over plain platform pedals, Your feet come out without any problem, and you can even remove them DURING a fall. For people who dont want to change into special cycling shoes whenever they ride, they are perfect.

Easy there, Michael.

I think that Poptart is referring to the days when smooth-soled cycling shoes had a slotted cleat attached to them just behind the ball of your foot. Into this slot went the rear of the pedal cage, and the straps were then tightened.

This did indeed mean that when approaching a junction, you had to reach down, loosen the strap enough to be able to lift up the back of your foot so that the cleat was higher than the pedal cage before you could pull your foot out backwards.

Ah, happy days!

I remember getting my first pair of cycling shoes around 1978 when I was 13. They were Sidis & I was ecstatic. They were a magnificent complement to my first cycling jersey & I felt like a King! They came with the cleats as descibed.

Anyway, I'm drifting off into nostalgia now, so I'll stop here.....

I did see a guy racing in cleated shoes with clips and straps about 5 years ago. He had left his leather bunch of bananas helmet in favour of a plastic one, but that is about the most retro use of pedals I have seen.
For everyday commuting and weekend touring, clips and straps are still quite normal in the UK.

I use these, just don't pull off the cleat cover. I use them for my commute to work, and wear them as an everyday sneaker, too.

Important!: While you're riding, be sure to stuff the laces down inside the shoe, so they don't get caught in the chain/chainring!!!

Sidi Forest (http://www.performancebike.com/shop/Profile.html?SKU=14926)

Originally posted by poptart
A friend who has been riding and racing waaaaay longer was reminiscing the other day about the "weekly crashes" caused by the old fashioned clips-n-straps. He pointed out that, if they were chinched down correctly, riders had to remember to slow when approaching an intersection, reach down, loosen the straps, THEN pull their feet out and back!!!!


The bad old days... they also had cleats on the shoe bottoms that had a groove that slipped over the back edge of the pedal, which is why you had to loosen the straps. "Float" meant your cleats were wearing out. Clipless pedal attachments are, arguably, the best cycling innovation since the derailleur.

I believe that various clipless pedal designs predate the derailleur.

Folks,

Dont laugh too hard, but I occasionally wear a pair of Bata Bikers.

Clearance circa 1980.