Shoe and Pedal question...
 

I have block pedals on my road bike. I haven't had the money to upgrade yet. I was looking at my Nashbar book and saw a couple pair of shoes that I liked, one was a Shimano for $24.99, the other a Nike for $49.99. The pedals I saw that I liked was a Look 3.1. I noticed that the cleats on the look had 3 screws but it looked like both pair of shoes had just two slotted holes in the bottom. Would I be able to use that pedal with either one of those shoes??? If not, could you all recommend a pedal that I could use with either shoe.

Thanks,

Ray

I was pretty sure both the nike and shimano shoes where compatible with look style cleats, atleast the ones we have at our shop are. Anyways, if this is the case, and the shoes your looking for a not 'look' compatible, you'll need to either look for a) different shoes or b) different pedals. You cant mount a look style cleat on a shoe that doesn't have the holes for it

Oh yeah: spd cleats (shimano) or speedplay pedals would work for those to shoes...probably a few more but those are the ones I got off the top of my head

speedplay!!!!

i buy most of my bike paraphernalia online, but shoes - especially the first pair to be used clipless - are something i'd recommend shopping for at your lbs so that you can try them on, etc. (and also get eyes on and hands on answers to the cleat compatibility questions)

get as much quality and comfort as you can afford down there, too..

good luck!

I have Shimano SL shoes which are SPD and LOOK compatible.

Thanks everyone,

I'll definitely give those suggestions a try.

Thanks again,

Ray

Ray, just my $00.02 here but I've bought a few pairs of pedals and shoes from Performance and I always go to the live chat to make sure both are compatible and they techs seem pretty knowledgeable and haven't done me wrong yet....good luck.

I stopped by the Performance store in Cleveland and looked at the shoes. Tried a pair on and they felt really comfortable. The saleman said I would have to use MTB pedals and that I couldn't use road pedals. He said the road pedals would give me alot more power than the MTB pedals. Is that true and how much are we talking??? I want a shoe that I can get off and walk a little bit in and the MTB shoes seemed to be what I was looking for, but now I'm torn and don't know what to do. HELP!!!!!!!!

I better run before I'm late for work.

Have a good evening guys,

Ray

You shoudn't lose that much power. MTB shoes aren't has stiff so you lose a little power when the sole flexes, but as long as your clipped into the pedal I doubt your lossing much.

Thanks I really appreciate the help. I've been going over everything again and again in my head and wondering what to do. This helps quite a bit. I respect your guys opinion on this stuff.

Thanks again,

Ray

I have the Shimano MTB/Road shoe that has a soft sole and are fine for walking in as the cleat doesn't protrude from the sole.

I'm sure you won't notice any lack of power, in fact if you are getting your first pair (as I just did) you will notice a distinct increase in power, especially uphill.