Would Road Pedals Make a Difference?
 

I been riding my road bike using MTB spd pedals for many years. I was wondering if i used actual Road Bike pedals, would that make any difference for performance. As I had some people ask me about using MTB pedals on my road bike at last club road race?
Thanks

Doubt it.

Unlikely.

In the process of bringing my old 1980's Mercian back to life as my town bike, I opted for a set on CrankBrothers Candy3 MTB pedals to allow the use of a walkable shoe. I'd be hard pressed to tell the difference in terms of pedal stroke alone between that set up the Time IclicII pedals/cleats on my road bikes.

i recently asked a similar question and the consensus was no. i ended up getting road shoes on sale anyway cause i had a set of pd-r540 pedals lying around that were gathering dust and i wanted click-adjustment on the top strap (which really has been fantastic). no difference in performance--definitely more annoying to clip in to, if anything. but now i have to play around with cleat cant all over again. aaargh.

those asking you what you are doing with mtb pedals on your road bike are just trolls. i would drop road pedalers all the time wearing my spds (okay, maybe only occasionally, but you get my point), and still get schooled by some friends wearing spds.

I only use MTB pedals so that I can use the same shoes for all my bikes.

I find the wider contact point a bit more comfortable on longer rides (spd-sl vs. spd). Doubt there is much if any performance difference.

+1 The only benefit I gleaned from switching from SPD to wider platform was comfort., not performance. I would get hotspot on my foot from smaller SPD contact point on long rides.

Good:
I don't look down to click in after stoplights, unlike some of the other group riders.

It's easier to walk with spd shoes.

Bad:
It's said that the small spd pedal doesn't support your foot as well on longer rides, and can lead to hot spots. But that also depends on how stiff the shoes are.

I've pulled off the pedal on hard sprinting a couple of times. I think I twisted my foot a bit, and it released. Road pedals should be more secure.

Comfort = Performance. At the end of a long ride you will perform better if your feet dont hurt.

I didn't EVEN get that though - my old SPDs were fine. I was finally persuaded to go to SPD-SLs and... nothing.

I never stated that road pedals were more comfortable than SPD. All I said was that if your feet dont hurt you will perform better. Road vs SPD pedals are a personal call. I WILL say though that as a fitter I have had customers with foot pain that when we switched to a road pedal it helped solve there issue. I think good stiff shoes that fit well are much more important than the pedal system though.

Once again, bikeforums amazes me: there are people out there who look at other people's pedals? And comment on them? Jesus Christ.

Oh, I wasn't saying you were - I was just giving another anecdote. Sorry if that wasn't clear.

And SPDs are much easier to run through transition in not that anyone here cares.

I've had it happen. Not just a BF thing, amazingly.

I used both for years and still use spd on my cx bike. The only performance benefit I notice is with long duration sprints and steep out of saddle fast climbs. As you fatigue your foot wants to move around slightly and the larger contact area with spd-sl keeps the foot stable and it is noticeable in terms of performance

I recently switched from a MTB pedal setup (SPD) to speedplays with road pedals. Before, I was having pain near the ball of my foot. People call it having hot spots. I think my new shoes are more rigid and I can pedal much more comfortably now. I am still getting used to the speedplays, but I hope to be able to clip in without looking.

This year i switched from crankbrothers egg beaters and bontrager mountain shoes to SPD-SLs and new Shimano shoes with a much stiffer soles and like the new shoes a lot more. i've been having faster rides and feel a lot better this year, but i think only a small part of it is due to my new footwear.

i did take out my old bike this weekend for a casual group ride and used my egg beaters/mtb shoes and hated it. lol. SO much float in my foot, without that solid *click* in, i continually felt like i might not be clipped in. im picking up a cheap set of spd-sl pedals to put on my old bike and just use one set of shoes.

Fair point

Ice been riding clipless (Speedplay Zero) for a little over a month now and clipping without looking has become very easy. I did slip on the pedal trying to do a hasty takeoff to clear an intersection and came down hard on my saddle. I had the pedaling equivalent of a limp for a minute or two afterward.

Yeah, though I'll say that owning both Speedplay (road) and Time Atac's (mountain), for some reason that's unlikely to be related to the system itself my mountain bike shoes are definitely more comfortable than my road shoes.

I've bought and tried 2 different pairs of road shoes (older Sidi with a plastic sole, and new Specialized with a carbon sole), and several shoe inserts, and only managed to get my feet at the end of the ride to go from "almost completely numb" to "somewhat numb". With my mountain bike shoes (which are also Specialized, and a cheaper model at that) I only rarely have foot pain after a long ride.

I'm really not saying mountain shoes are more comfortable on the whole for other people, just that there's definitely nothing that says you'll actually be more comfortable with road shoes. If you're having problems now they might be worth trying, but if some guy was just saying something (and your current shoes are comfortable) I don't think I'd spend the money.

"As I had some people ask me about using MTB pedals on my road bike at last club road race?"

So what did they ask you about?