Road Cycling - SPD or Look

I'm looking to go clipless, and I can't decide which way to go.

Which do you prefer SPD or Look pedals? One better than the other? Is the float feature on Looks important?

thanks,

-Tak

Depends on your size and riding style. some people like to be able to walk after getting off the bike...go with spds. Looks are good if you're a big guy and want a big platform. I have both systems, and the spds can give you a hot spot in the foot on long rides. another option would be speedplays, their platform is smaller than the looks but they are really lightweight. I think almost all pedal systems have float.

Look.

I have used the Looks for 10 years and they are great, but if you are looking into pedals consider the Speedplays, just about everyone I work with uses them and they are all faster than me.

look. just bought pp337's on sale for ~$60. broke the spindle on my old look's (after 20,000 miles)

never a hotfoot with look.

Egg Beaters!

Never a hot foot if you buy quality shoes!

I was bothered by hotfoot in SPD's, but my looks have never been a problem, even with inexpensive shoes.

I've not used any other pedal but Look so I can't offer a comparison. I can say that I'm quite please with the 396s I have although I've heard of some riders complaining of 'pedal creak' with that model.

I have Looks and SPD pedals! I can tell you that the walk around thing with SPD only applies if you use mt bike shoes or touring shoes with a platform sole. The looks are easier to get into and out of than spd to me, keep in mind that spd has two different cleats. The silver spd cleat is much easier to un clip than the black one. Looks make a cleat that has float and one that doesn't as well as pedals that have dialable float.
I perfer the looks on my road bike and the spd on my knock around/commuter/touring bike.

The float feature on pedals is extremely important for minimizing knee pain. The cleat for the pedal is where the float comes into the picture. The red cleats for LOOk/LOOk type "clones" have "float" allowing your foot to move a little from side to side while clipped into the pedal. The black cleat is "fixed" & doesn't allow for any movement. The black cleat MUST be positioned precisely or the probablility for knee troubles develop. Even SPD's have float, but as already stated, the
chance for a "hot spot" on the foot is there on long rides because of the small platform. As for walking off the bike, there are rubber cleat covers that fit on LOOK & SPEEDPLAY now offers covers for their cleats as well. These solve that problem. I use LOOK & have the cleat covers. They work very well & will help extend the life of the cleats.

Thanks for all the great feedback! I'm leaning towards Looks.

I noticed that Shimano now makes SPD-SL pedals. They appear to be similar to Looks. Any experience with SLs?

-Tak

If you have any concern at all about knee problems, consider speedplay. I have the x2 and love them.

I have been using spd pedals for over a year now. I wouldn't recommend them. to hard getting in and out. mainly in. The guy I ride with had em' to and had the same problem. He changed to Looks. I'm thinking of getting some speedplay pedals.

How odd, I'm used to hearing everyone talk about how great SPD's are after using Look, yet we all seem to love Look here. I'm using Look right now, but will probably switch to Speedplay since I'm not particularly pleased with the "float" look offers. No issues other than that, been working great for 3000 miles. Some complain about cleat squeaks as well, but I haven't heard it yet.

Looks are the best for performance riding. Big platform and easy to get in and out of. I also like 'the snap' they make when clicking in. But, I use SPDs with touring shoes on my commuter bike. Great for walking in, smaller platform.

Knee Problems: Speedplay
Don't have to put your foot down a lot or cheap shoes: Look
Want walking around ability: SPDs or Eggbeaters and MTB shoes. <If you do a lot of hammering or Time Trial type stuff between stop lights then get very stiff MTB shoes like SIDI Dominators>

The way I look at it is if you are going to by a quality pedal in a LOOK then you are probaby considering a $100+ shoe such as the SIDI Genius.

Consideration of where you ride should be taken into account. If you have lots of stop lights or you ride long distances where you may stop for lunch or other times where you need to walk <comforatbly> then the SIDI Domniator and SPD/egg-beaters is the solution for you.

The Egg beaters are very light and the cleats actually offer more support and are more recesed in the shoe than the SPDs.

I've cycled 185 miles in one day with the egg-beaters and Gaerne King MTB shoes.. Ave speed by myself. 20mph. No hot foots here! I did stop once for lunch (well I stopped some other times for water and snacks)... And during the lunch stop it was nice to be able to walk around the small town of Vero Beach and look at the shops while I digested the meal...

No worry about walking around and tearing up my cleats or slip-sliding away on the wood boardwalk... No worry that I left a cleat cover behind...

And the Gaerne shoes are stiff and power transfer is great when I got back on the road and kicked it up to 23mph to keep my average speed up!

prestonjb,

Which EggBeaters do you own? The one with platform or without? Do they provide float?

thanks!

-Tak

The chrome Moly ones. They were on sale recently for $50 and my SPD pedals were looking sad so I thought I'd give them a try... Love em.

I think the candy is the style with the platforms. Don't need this for the road. Probably good for slippery muddy mountain biking on techincal stuff where a slightly larger target is desired...

They say 6 degrees of float but it seems like more.

I'm starting to like the idea of EggBeaters. I noticed that Crank Bros. has cleats for Road Shoes. I'm still not sure if I should go MTB or road shoes. Do you lose much performance with the MTB shoes on the road? I'm looking at Specialized Pro road or MTB shoes.

thanks,

-Tak

[QUOTE=Tak962]I'm starting to like the idea of EggBeaters. I noticed that Crank Bros. has cleats for Road Shoes. I'm still not sure if I should go MTB or road shoes. Do you lose much performance with the MTB shoes on the road? I'm looking at Specialized Pro road or MTB shoes.

thanks,

-Tak

Well, most MTB shoes are a bit heavier then road shoes. That might have a tiny loss in performance like a 1 second loss on an hour time trial. But unless you are in competition the superior walking characteristics of the MTB shoe would seem to give it the nod over a road shoe.

I ride road shoes with Look Pedals most of the time just because I have look pedals. But on vacations, where I might want to leave the bike and walk a bit, I used MTB shoes and SPD pedals and the system works fine. I have done centuries in that get up.