pedal advice please - SPD-SL and cages
 

I'm picking up a Long Haul Trucker to use for commuting and I need to decide what pedals to put on it. I already have a Cannondale CAAD9 5 w/ SPD-SL pedals, and I am quite happy with them and my shoes. It does annoy me a tiny bit that they're hard to walk in, but I walk a total of maybe 15 ft over my whole commute so it's not a big deal. (Please don't make this thread
into a discussion comparing the different cleat styles!)

My commute is 20 miles each way, so riding in on the SPD-SLs with regular shoes isn't really an option. I'm wondering if there are pedals that are SPD-SL on one side and toe-clips or cages on the other side. I've seen that Shimano makes a two sided pedal with SPDs, but I don't see one with SPD-SLs.

Never seen two-sided pedal with SPD-SLs and can't imagine there would be much of a market for them. As far as having toe clips on one side and clipless on the other, when riding clipless you'd have the toe clips hanging down several inches and possibly creating problems for you so that wouldn't seem to be a good option.

I'm a little confused by you post. In the first paragraph you say SPD-SLs aren't a big deal for your commute but in the second paragraph you are looking for an alternative to SPD-SLs for your commute. If the SPD-SLs work, whey are you wanting to change?

I have seen posts where people mounted a cleat to a piece of material that could clip into the pedal and make it a platform but that would probably only be a good solution for really short rides.

Good point about the clips hanging down, I hadn't thought about that. I mostly want this bike to be more of a utility bike than my current ride, so I was thinking it would be nice to put toe-clips on it so I could ride it without having to put on my bike shoes. (I could wear waterproof boots on rainy days, or warmer shoes on cold days, etc.) Then I thought it would be nice if I still had the option of wearing the SPD-SLs if I wanted, so I started looking to see if anyone made such a pedal. When I found that Shimano made something similar for SPDs I figured it might exist for SPD-SLs. But, I think you're right that the toe-clips hanging down would potentially cause problems, so I suppose maybe I should just scrap that idea and put toe-clip pedals on it.

I've been using clipless for maybe two months now. I can't really give you much advice, except to say that I've got two pairs of bike shoes. One is a "mountain" shoe, with a very stiff sole, snug fit, and a lot of power, but great difficulty to walk in. The other is a "Keen commuter" sandal, which isn't quite as powerful because it's looser, but you can walk around in them and forget you're wearing bike shoes. I got them to be able to bike to the beach and go swimming - the one I'm thinking of has a pretty rocky lake bottom and I don't like going barefoot.

Maybe the SPD pedals you have and a different pair of shoes is the way to go?

He's running SPD-SLs not SPDs. SPD-SLs use three bolt road cleats that are fairly large not the small SPD cleat so you can't get shoes that allow the cleat to be recessed.

you're sidestepping the whole lightness and clearance in turns aspect of an spd-sl by having a platform/toe cage on the flip side. unless you make it yourself, it just doesn't seem like that combo is very likely. Also, a cage or platform would probably tear up the sole of a road shoe pretty quickly.

edit for clarity: i'm just saying it doesn't make sense that a manufacturer would put out such a product

I really like toe clips for commuters, specifically the big, wide mtb style ones, as they can take everything from Chucks to hiking boots, allowing you to wear whatever is most appropriate for the weather and where you're going, without having to invest in several pair of bike specific shoes, plus carrying the shoes you'll wear at your destination.

So after thinking about it more, I am just going to go with toe clips. When the weather is nice and I want to cruise, I won't be using that bike anyway. Time for me to go read up on all the threads comparing and contrasting platforms, track pedals, and the like.... thanks for the input!

It makes sense, but mainly for a specific application. I've seen spin bike pedals with cages on one side and SPD-SL (or maybe Look) clips on the other. We found them online sometime a year or two ago and posted them here on BF, too.

Aha!
http://www.amazon.com/Schwinn-95150-.../dp/B000F5M580
Posted in RBR: http://forums.roadbikereview.com/sho....php?p=2395231

Basically, they're a combination SPD-SL and SPD pedal, then an optional plastic cage platform clips into the SPD-SL side. Good for indoor spinning classes because they're likely to work with anything.