Best Pedal/Shoe for Commuter
 

OK, I've been commuting now for over two months and am ready to move beyond my running shoes and plastic pedals. I have to dismount 4-5 times each way so I want a pedal and shoe that is relatively easy to handle. Also, I think I want to avoid the big clips that make walking difficult because I have to walk a good distance in my office building before reaching my office. Any ideas???

Do you want to go clipless?

If you do these Lake shoes are nice. The cleats are recessed. So you can walk normally.

The shoes are setup to attach cleats for SPD pedals (also called clipless mountian pedals). There are may SPD pedals ranging in material and quality.

Many pedals.

Edit: Thanks, KT, fixed it.

Your first link doesn't link to a product.


I use Lake shoes too, though I got them long before the though of commuting. I have MX101 shoes from Lake and like GerogiaBoy said, the cleats are a bit recessed, so walking is easy. I only need to be careful on tile as the cleats can damage the tile.
http://www.lakecycling.com/ProductIn...roductid=MX101

I use Crank Bros Mallet C's with Nike Kato III lace-ups. I wear the shoes all day at my desk job, no problems. I've only had them a couple of months, don't know how the shoes age yet. Oh, and I love the pedals.

I use Frog pedals by Speedplay. Dead simple to get into and out of. Very knee friendly. And the shoe cleat is recessed so you can walk normally.

Frog Speedplay

Would the mallet cs work if you wanted to just use regular shoes sometimes? I am looking to switch from my campus pedals (spd on one side /platform on the other) because I like the eggbeater release better when I want to use clipless. I wear shimano shoes.

On my old (stolen) commuter I was running pedals that are the equivalent of the 'campus' (SPD/platform) and they worked great. If for some reason I wanted to ride without the shoes I could, and the shoes I have (low-end Shimano SPD) have the cleat recessed deeply enough to walk on without messing the cleat too badly.

I would say double-sided mountain bike SPD, and whatever SPD- capable shoe you want. I love the Shimano sandals, myself, but there are other suitable models and other brands. To give you an idea of how much I like this setup, my otherwise all-italian lugged steel road bike has, sacrilege!, these Shimano double-sided pedals on it. It's just too convenient to use for normal, everyday riding, at stop lights and such. You just step down on them. No need to even look. It's up to you, but they are very secure for pedaling even if the tension is backed off the whole way (which makes it dead easy to get in and out of and doesn't stress your ankles either).

Eggbeaters!!! ftw!

I use eggbeaters with Speciallized mountain bike shoes. It's the best "all around" pedal/shoe combo I've used that combines the ability to walk with a pretty stiff sole for efficient power transfer. I've used knockoff SPD's and hated them as they had a tendency to bind my foot into the pedal, which was annoying.

I use time atac for pedals, they have a large enough platform that you can go short distances with regular shoes. Best shoes for commuting, shimano sandals !! they dry in minutes :)

Unless you're really keen to try clipless, why not pick up some toe clips and straps first? They cost 5 or 10 bux max, are easy to use, add a lot of efficiency, and you can wear any shoe in them and adjust them larger for winter boots (maybe not a problem depending where you live and how cold weather keen you are)

I did this on my commuting bike and love it. I like the flexibility of wearing whatever shoe I want including the ones I want to wear while at work.

On my touring bike I have SPD pedals and mountain bike shoes. Any shoes with some tread on the bottom of them are nice so you can walk around in them. SPD pedals have a tension adjustment so you can start with them easy to get out of. Other shoe considerations for summer - mesh top so more breathable, or if you aren't particularly worried about crashing causing toe rash Shimano makes SPD sandals. I have the doublesided SPD ones which make it easy to get in and out but you can also get flat one side SPD the other side if you may want to ride sometimes in other shoes.

How do speedplays handle snow, ice, and dirt?

I think the key is have shoes that you can walk in. We commuters generally have to walk a bit (from street to office, from home to street, working around obstacles, etc.), so road shoes are not practical for many of us.

I use double sided spd pedals with MTB shoes. I got MTB pedals because they are designed for harsh conditions. I chose double sided because they are my first clipless pedals and I thought they would be easier to click into. When I replace them (which could be years from now), I will probably replace them with single-sided SPD's.

I initially used Shimano touring shoes, which were OK, but difficult to walk in when needed. When they wore out, I got MTB shoes. I can walk in them when needed, and I can even push my bike up a steep deep hill that's on one of my routes. In the winter, I have insulated MTB boots. Those keep my feet warm down to about 10F, and tolerable down to 0F.

Eggbeaters with cycling sandals or comfortable mtn bike shoes for me.

I vote for clips and your regular work shoes. I can imagine many reasons not to want to (or be able to) do this, but it works great for me.

Which boots are those? I switched from platforms to SPDs in April and haven't yet begun to look for SPD winter boots. (And to others, no, shoe covers don't count.)

The best shoes are SPD compatible ones that fit well. For pedals Shimano A520, single sided SPD with platform around to spread the pressure, are much easier to clip into than the Shimano double sided SPD pedals. The pedals are balanced so the cleat matches to the pedal first time.

SPDs and the Shimano sandals. I have the M324 pedals (SPD on one side platform on the other). I like these for commuting because in traffic if you miss the clip the first time you can still get going on the platform side. I especially thought this was beneficial when the commuter was a single speed.