One clipless 'system' for both road and mountain?
 

I want to upgrade my road and mountain bike to a clipless system. I am hoping that I can get 1 shoe/cleat style, and 2 sets of pedals (different style pedals are OK, just the clip system would preferably be the same).

I realize that there are potential sacrifices in getting one shoe into both setups.

Is this even possible? 1 pair of shoes for both road and mountain? If it is, any reccomendations for pedal or clip system? I ride intermediate XC, and am largely a novice on the road.

I use Shimano's SPD mountain pedals and shoes on my montain, commuter, and recently converted my roadie as well. The pedals are tough as old boots, fairly cheap, rebuildable, and available everywhere. I have over 10,000 miles on the commuter pedals with zero servicing and zero problems in all weather (Shimano M520).

I use a nike katoIII strap shoe on both my roadie and MTB and am pretty happy with them. Pedals are Crank bros on both and I can walk in the shoes no problem.

I use SPD on everything.

As long as you buy reasonably good stuff, for most people there is no disadvantage to using MTB style shoes, cleats, and pedals on the road. None. Not weight, not comfort, not power transfer.

I have SPD on my mt and road, seem fine to me.

SPD, Eggbeaters, SIDI Dominators. Rugged and simple.

Sheldon Brown has written about the marketing hype between road and mtn components.

thanks for the input guys, will investigate a few suggestions!

I really like my Crank Brothers Eggbeaters on my road bike and the Candy pedals on my mountain and commuter.

I have the Candy version on my bike and I can't seem to clip in. I prefer Look-compatible cleats.

+1

I've got my Shimano SPD pedals on all my bicycles, and I live in my Lakes.

SDP's here to.

I've got Looks on my road bike, but SPD on all the rest. If they ever die, they will not be replaced. SPDs and MTB shoes with recessed cleats is the only way to go! Life's too short to walk around like a duck. At least that's all I can think of right now walking around in my Looks.

I have SPDs on my racing bike, and toeclips on my commuter. If I were to go all-clipless I'd just buy a couple more pairs of SPDs.

Frogs on both.

I can walk in the shoes, they're light, easy in and out. 1 pair of shoes.

I used to have knee pain after a couple of hours riding with spd's and I couldn't find any position or adjustment that would help. I also found they clogged with mud easily on my MTB. Finally I switched to Looks and Sidi road shoes for the road bike and the pain went away. I use Looks on all of my road bikes now, Time on my MTB, and cage pedals on the commuter. I'd love to find a system that works well for all of them but I'm leary of the lack of a good, wide, stable platform on all mountain style systems I've seen.

The easiest solution is to use spd style pedals on all of your bikes with a mtb shoe. I did this for a long time but, as far as road biking goes, I wish I would have bought my speedplays a long time ago.

hey guys, just wanted to update this thread a little bit. thanks for all your suggestions. i ended up ordering a cheap crank bros. smarty system, and getting a set of mountain shoes to try it out. i'm loving it so far, though the first time i went out onto singletrack i can usually handle, i wiped out a bunch of times ... but i did noticeably feel the increased power i was getting from the clipless system.

i'll be sticking with it, and have ordered a second set of smarties (even though they're not "road" pedals) for my road bike.

great suggestion on getting mountain shoes so they're versatile enough to walk in when you're off the bike. i'll be using the mountain shoes on my road bike as well.

I've used eggbeaters on both my maountain bike and road bike with much success.

Some roadies may think it's a bit out of place, but so what....4-sided entry for the win.

If you need a eggbeater compatible road pedal, those esist as well.....IMO they are the end-all-be-all for clipless pedals. No fuss, easy use, readily availible parts (compared to many other pedal types, like Ritchey...I love em, but I won't use em if I can't get replacement cleats).

Not really, it just means you're too incompetent to use 1 sided entry. Kthx.

When in doubt, slap Mallets or M324s on it.