bratan

I was wondering if anyone have answer/suggestion to any/all of the below questions?
1. I want to get a bike that has "Alloy/nylon road w/clips and straps" pedals. Can I use regular shoes in those? Can those straps cause me to fall if I need to get out for the bike fast?
2. Can I ride in regular shoes on clipless pedals? I realize it might not be efficient, but is it possible?
3. Are there any decent $50 road shoes that can be used on longer rides?
4. What about shoes can be used both on a road bike and for regular walking (with recessed cleats). Do they exist, and who makes them? I've heard they make them for MTB, but not sure about road bikes.

and last one

Can you recommend an entry level clipless pedals? This is not for racing.

Turboem1

- The pedals that have nylon straps that you put your feet in and tighten down can be used with regular shoes. If you are in tight and need to get out fast you may not be able to and fall over. Usually it just ends up in a slow motion fall causing no real damage.

Depends on the pedal. Some will not be able to due to their shape or size while others you will be able to but it may be uncomfortable. Companies do make pedals that are clipless on one side and platform on the other if you want to be able to use both.

Shoes are very person specific. Go down to you Local Bike Shop and try some shoes on. Some can be had for cheap but generally comfort will go up with price.

Yes they exist. They are the mountain bike cleats/shoes/pedals. The most common is Shimano SPD. The shoes have the cleats recessed so you can walk in the shoes unlike Shimano SPD-SL which are the road shoes with slick plastic/carbon bottoms where the cleats will hit the floor and make noise. Just because they are mountain bike doesnt mean you can not use them on a road bike. A lot of people do. The are easier to walk in and usually easier to get in and out of although they dont hold as tight as SPD-SL or Look style pedals.

No sorry you reached your max for the day.



























































Most common entry level pedals are the
- Crank Brothers Egg Beaters
- Crank Brothers Candy
- Crank Brothers Smarty
- Crank Brothers Mallet (all 4 are similar designs)
- Shimano M540 ATB Pedal
- Shimano Shimano M520L
- Shimano PDM324 Multi-Purpose

DMF 

The cheap Performance Forté (got a set for $25) pedals work just fine. I presume Nashbar has some too.

Be aware that not all shoes take all types of cleats, so choose your pedal first. SPD type is a good place to start.

bratan

Awesome! Thanks for the info guys!

Shemp

Does a good shoe with a stiff sole overcome hotspot issues with the small platform of SPD's? I've seen this mentioned just a couple times, so I wasn't sure how much to believe it. I have an old pair of Specialized Rockhoppers, with relatively flexible soles for a cycling shoe, that I use for mountain biking and touring, so I'm used to SPD's and like the ability to walk around a bit. I was thinking of using Ritchey Pro Micro Road SPD's ang getting new shoes for my new road bike so all my bicycles and shoes could work together.

Mariner Fan

The Shimano SPD-SL pedal is large enough to ride without special shoes and cleats. The 105 level pedal is a pretty good deal at 50 bucks. PD-R540

Carbonfiberboy 

1. Probably can use regular shoes. Yes, they probably can cause you to fall if you really tighten them up, though I never did. If you want to use toe clips, tighten and adjust the strap on your mounting foot, usually the left. On the swing-over foot, usually the right, just tighten the strap a bit after mounting, but don't tuck it into the buckle. For city riding, leave both straps loose enough that you can pull your foot out. In the country, you can tighten them up a bit. Clipless pedals are actually safer because it's easier to get your foot out, but you do have to learn how. Most people have a "Shimano moment" or two when they first get clipless pedals and can't remember how to get their foot out.

2. It is possible to ride on clipless pedals with ordinary shoes. A friend of mine once forgot his bike shoes and dropped the whole group wearing tennies on Speedplay pedals. But he's very good. Not recommended.

3. Every once in a while you might find some last year's shoes on sale for about that price. Bike shoes are scandalously expensive. Performance Bicycle has some on sale for that price right now. It sounds to me like you might be more comfortable in MTB shoes than road shoes.

4. Yes. MTB shoes. There are some that are not too bad to walk in. You don't need road shoes to ride a road bike. About half the hard core roadies I ride with use MTB shoes. Many MTB shoes are identical to the same manufacturer's road shoes, except they have lugs on the sole.

5. Forte SPD type pedals which are sold by Performance Bicycle are perfectly good pedals. Double sided MTB pedals are easier to deal with.

Don't buy any shoes you haven't tried on, however. Bike shoe sizing and shape varies with the manufacturer. Fit is important.

I recommended Performance products only because they are easy to find on the web, have brick and mortar stores, and are a good source of cheap goods. Many other stores and manufacturers sell equivalent products.

-VELOCITY-

Shimano R098:


Speedplay X5's:


That's how I roll.

electromethod

I ended up picking up the nashbar pedals which are on sale again for 20 bucks... spd-sl. I bought the adistar shoes because numerous people said they were one of the wider shoes. Haven't had an issue yet with either and it truly is wonderful when you go clipless.

Half these questions could have been answered by utilizing the search function. I know because I went through it in December and looked up these same answers .