WalksOn2Wheels

Wow, trying to keep this short:

Have used open clips with MKS touring pedals for close to 8 months.

Currently use speedplay pedals on my crabon fibre bike. (pedals my be for sale )

Wife bought a bike that was attached to a set of shimano m520 pedals.

Bought some Specialized Tahoe shoes to try out the pedals for my commute.

Did not enjoy the sound the SPD cleats made on concrete, and the used pedals may have had some problems. Never got comfortable with the right side as it felt too locked in and fatigued my lower leg trying to keep my foot "straight".

Bought some eggbeaters. They feel a lot better, but for some reason, I am so far terrible at clipping into them. I was fine with the SPD, but not so hot after a few parking lot runs today, but I did get better. Should get better with time. Cleats occasionally make the odd noise on concrete, but are much better.


Now the real meat: WOW. The shoes I was using with my clipped pedals were mainly chosen for the flat soles, but were pretty much as stiff as you converse chuck taylors. If I had properly stiff soles and real deal clips with straps, I doubt the difference would be as significant. But over my 7 mile commute, I've been consistently a mph or so faster each time. Hills and headwinds don't hurt me nearly as much.

While there is much debate over whether or not one truly "lifts up" using clipless pedals, I definitely notice the ability to pedal more efficiently through the stroke, especially past the bottom of the stroke. I noticed this was a real weakness of mine when riding, but had to really concentrate to keep from getting lazy in the clipped pedals. With the clipless pedals, it just feels a lot more natural to carry out the full stroke. Maybe it has to do with knowing I can pull "backwards" after the downstroke without my foot coming off of the pedal. Or maybe it's all in my head.

cyclefreaksix

I'm using eggbeaters now as well, after a year of using some m520 clones (Forte' Carve). The cleats are smaller and not as noisy as the spd cleats, but I have a tough time clipping my first foot in...I'll give it a little more time, but will probably go back to an spd style pedals.

skijor

I've used M540's for several years now. They use the same SPD cleat and I don't have any problems with them scraping the floor...even walking on gym floors where cleats are typically a no-no. I have them mounted to Shimano shoes very much like these. Give 'em another try with a shoe that recesses the cleat sufficiently.

WalksOn2Wheels

So your suggestion is to write off about 150 bucks of, at this point, non-returnable pedals and shoes and just try another set of shoes? Seriously?

Anyhow, as I mentioned, they were noisy on concrete specifically. Regular floors, including tile and gym type floors, were indeed fine. I happen to spend a lot of time on concrete.

skijor

Of course not. Buy more bikes that don't come with pedals and use them on those

...or cut your losses and sell them on the bay or CL or BF

WalksOn2Wheels

Huh? What's your deal, exactly? Did you not read in my initial post that I enjoy the shoes and so far really like the float on the eggbeaters? Why are you telling me that I need to go with the SPD system?

skijor

What was it that you were hoping to get out of this thread? Sounded like you already convinced yourself that the CB pedal/Spec shoe combo works for you.

If the eggbeaters work fine for you then that's cool. Looks like their cleats are basically as low-profile as the SPD SH-51's that I use so walking in those Specialized shoes should work as good.
Happy trails

WalksOn2Wheels

Ok, finally got a real commuting day in on these pedals. Monday was a mess and I had to unexpectedly take the motorcycle to school.

So far, the eggbeaters are great. The float is a lot more clean and they feel much more locked in vertically speaking. And the speeds are still great and the bottoms of my feet are a lot less fatigued now that I'm not wearing thin soles on platform pedals. As far as clipping in and out, it got a lot more natural over the 14 miles today. And no more of the fatigued lower leg on the right side anymore. Definitely something awry with those free M520 pedals I started with.

And as an extra bonus, the crankbrothers cleats make pretty much zero noise on concrete. Perhaps other SPD cleats are lower profile, but the standard ones I bought were just thick enough to be annoying, but not visibly that much thicker when I held them side to side. For anyone looking for a really walkable shoe, the Specialized Tahoes are pretty nice. I put in some custom insoles, so I can't say much for the stock footbed, but out of the box, they bend at the toe, making walking a lot easier. You do tend to feel the cleat area through the insole a little bit and the stiffened sole makes you feel like you're standing a little taller than necessary, but if you're not thinking about it, it's just a shoe.

I'm starting to wonder what the previous owner did to these M520 pedals. I could actually feel some play in the pedal-cleat interface whenever I would lift my foot on either side. Is this normal for SPD pedals or what? I haven't experienced any of this with the eggbeaters.

MTBerJim

When I bought my StumpJumper years back, it came with Shimano 515 SPD pedals, after the first ride with them they came off the bike and where replaced by the Nashbar $9.95 SPD's I learned on. They where the worst junk, In the end I got a set of Shimano 540 SPD pedals. At the time the guys I was riding with laughed and told me the low-end Shimano SPD's where a death trap.

Fast forward to this Monday, I put the same Nashbar SPD's on the commuter and knocked a minute and a half off my round trip time to and from work.

BTW, I've got a set of Shimano 515 SPD's only used once, I'll give them to you cheap.