Originally Posted by
illnacord
N00b with clipless here. But I'm with pollbix, better to revive what's already been covered than start yet another thread with the exact same question. The question remains in 2010, what pedal system?
- 2 or 3 hole
- Look, Time, Shimano, Crank Bros?
- Road or Mountain shoe for riding and stopping/walking to get a drink
I just got me a set of carbon soled shoes, 3 hole. They're made for road. Currently using cleat quill pedals, toeclips and double straps, which are fine, but a few of my riding buddies insist on clipless so thought I'd give it a go. Thing is, we don't just ride in our shoes, we also walk about. I'm looking at Look Keo, Crank brothers eggbeaters (need 3 hole to 2 hole adapter), Shimano Dura Ace.
Thoughts, suggestions?
I just created an entire thread to respond to your inquiry - "Choosing 2 hole (mountain) shoes vs 3 hole (road) shoes. Well - to respond to you and the several other people who have asked the same question recently.
http://www.bikeforums.net/showthread...3#post10936693
Basically, if you need to walk about unfortunately you bought the wrong shoes.
You have 2 options -
1. Return the road shoes and exchange them for mountain shoes. Most shops will allow you to return shoes in "as new" condition - if you haven't installed cleats on them or scuffed up the bottoms more than people trying them on in the store does.
2. Get cleat covers for whatever road pedals you get, and put them on when you get off the bike so you can walk around.
Putting mountain cleats on a road shoe negates most of the advantages of both - you don't get the walkability advantage of mountain shoes because you don't have the tread along the sides (and actually the smaller mountain cleat might make the shoe more difficult to walk with than a larger road cleat), and you don't gain any of the advantages from using a larger contact-area road cleat.
I would personally recommend the Time ROC Atac's - I got the carbon version on Amazon because I liked the black and they only cost $10 more, and they're fantastic. See the thread I mentioned above for more details.
For road shoes, I really like my Speedplays. Avoid the x-series, the Zero's and Light Actions have a design that doesn't (unlike the x-series) clog up with dirt at the slightest touch. More info in the thread I linked to - it's the only 2 sided, full size, not discontinued road cleat that I know of.