Crank Brothers Clipless pedals.
 

I hope I made the right decision in getting these. I am going off of a recommendation from a friend and also I am buying the shoe. Just floored me when I found out the price of the shoes when you have wide feet. Jeez they are expensive, but looking at it I am hoping that this will help. Regular pedals are okay but from talking to the guys I know who ride my problem is the shoe. My feet are always burning and I'm sore at my ball of my feet and all of that. They said I have such a powerstroke even at a high cadence that the clipless will definately help that. The mountain shoe is going to be a specialized pro in my size about a 13 or 14 wide. I'm going by there tommorow to try some on and see if they fit.

I guess I'm just second guessing myself.

Have I choosen well or am I just throwing my money away. http://media.rei.com/media/vv/b641d5...35fcddfad3.jpg

I bought and returned some Candies a couple of years ago. Why? No wrench flats. I want my pedals to have at minimum wrench flats, and preferably, both those and allen key hole. Over the decades I've been riding, I've just seen too many pedals get too tight in there, even when installed properly in the first place. I want those wrench flats as insurance, because that little Allen key hole isn't going to be very useful if things go wrong some time in the future. If a pedal maker cheaps out by not providing something as simple as a wrench flat, they don't get my business.

Other than that, I think they work reasonably well as an SPD-compatible type, although mine required playing around with shims to get the feel right, something that my Shimano SPD pedals don't need for my Shimano shoes (some Time touring shoes I had also required shims with the Candies).

I would not recomend the Mallets. The platform makes it harder to get out of in a hurry. I prefer Eggbeater SL's.

I much prefer the Sidi Mega shoes to the Specialized wides. And, they were cheaper last I looked. That's a very big pedal, but if it makes you comfortable, good on you!

I've had candies on my road bike for a bit under a year and I love em. I switched from shimano a520's. Easy in and out and a bit more float than the shimanos. For shoes I have specialized sonomas they've served me well and I can walk w/o sounding like nellie the horse.

Crank Bros. pedals are fine. The Mallets will hold your foot tight if you don't use the supplied shim. If you mount the plastic shim, your foot will float better. I switched from Shimano to Crank Bros. and haven't looked back. They feel better, float better and I don't have to screw around w/ tension screws. My personal preference is for the Candys over the Mallets, but that's only because I don't need cleat shims with the Candys so the cleats don't click when I walk. With the shims, they click a little.

Thanks for the responses

For those new to clipless pedals, I like to recommend Shimano SPD pedals, specifically the M520. This is coming from someone who owns 3-4 sets of Crank Brothers pedals! Here's why I think Shimano SPD pedals are the way to go:

1) Adjustable tension. You can start out with the release tension set very low; a panicked yank in any direction will cause the pedal to release. As you become more comfortable with the pedals, you can increase the tension. Tension on the Crank Brothers pedals is not adjustable.

2) Less heel rotation necessary to get the pedals to release. This is the reason that I ultimately switched from Crank Brothers to SPD. When riding off-road, I found I had to rotate my heel so far to get the Crank Brothers pedals to release that I'd fall over before I could unclip.

3) SPDs have a more positive engagement; you feel a definite "click" when the cleat clips to the pedal. Crank Brothers, in contrast, feel a bit mushy. Sometimes you won't be sure you're clipped in until you pull up on the pedal.

4) If you have trouble unclipping from the SPD pedals, you can switch to the SH56 "multi-release" cleats. These cleats will release if you move your heel in any direction, not just an outward twist. I use these cleats when riding off-road, because they make it super-easy to release from the pedals.

BTW, if anyone is looking for cheap pedals I seem to have a ton of them and would love to sell some off. PM me if interested. I have: two sets of Crank Brothers Eggbeater Cs, a set of well-used Crank Brothers Candy Cs, a nearly-new set of Shimano M520s, and a set of cheap "bear trap" pedals (Dimension? Wellgo?) with standard-length PowerGrip straps attached. All of the clipless pedals include cleats. I also have two extra sets of Shimano SH51 cleats.