So I went for my first commute today. 50km, very nice to ride in, feels very smooth and it's so nice to have the whole foot completely clamped into the pedal. I don't feel like I am wasting any energy in the pedal stroke, it's much easier to pull.

I do find it a bit weird as they do allow me to rotate a few degrees. so it doesn't feel like a really solid platform. Unless I need to increase the clamp tension.

I did have a fall today though, thinking about work at the lights, I wasn't concentrating on the technique of unclipping and lost my balance and fell over! HAHAHA!!! I find it funny and just laughed and picked myself up again! I am sure within a few days it'll feel completely natural to unclip like it was with my clipless.

Also, I sometimes can clip in without looking and very quickly, whereas other times it seems impossible to find the cleat and make it lock in. So I guess I just have to get used to it.

There are two kinds of cleats available for the SPD-SL system, ones that allow float (rotation) and ones that don't. The former are yellow, the latter red. I think the red floats are called SH-11 or something like it.

had some DA 7801s for awhile now. Love 'em

Increasing the tension won't decrease the amount of float, it just requires more force to clip in and out.

I think you may be thinking about LOOK cleats. AFAIK SPD-SL cleats are black.

I do love my SPD-SL pedals a whole lot. They're on my road bike, but I had them on my fixed gear commuter for a week or so, and It seems silly to used clips and straps after that. I'm thinking I'll get some decent-looking mountain shoes and attach the Smarties I've got hanging around. Clipless is great.

SH-11 cleats



SH-10 cleats


I'd stick with the yellow cleats, float is good.

I prefer my spd-sl road cleats on my long rides in the country but for around town where I might need to walk a bit the mountain bike spd cleats are what I use. A lot of roadies use them, too. Especially with the sandals.

You might have some older ones or something. The main cleat bodies are all black, but the floating cleats have the little rubberized protrusions in yellow, and the no-float ones are red.

Crap, I forgot about those. Mine definitely have the yellow parts. I didn't even know about the red ones. Learn something new every day.

it took me awhile to get used to the float on mine but once i did i never even really thought about it

I actually switched from the yellow, floaty ones to the red, no-float ones. I slid around on the pedal too much with all the float, and I also don't want to develop a pedal strike where my foot makes all kinds of weird rotations. So there's arguments for both sides.

If your knees hurt after using no-float cleats, I'd definitely look into float-y cleats.

Been riding the SPD-SL pedals for a while now with the yellow cleats and DA PD-7800 pedals. The cleats are pretty much centered on the bottom sole bolt pattern.

I love them but can't whipskid in an emergency because as I rotate my foot to whip the bike I clip out sometimes to the right. I have to stick with regular skids to stop. I've been meaning to try tightening up the spring screw but I like having it loose in case I have a spill.

Bottom line is I love 'em and am not going back to straps. Don't really care too much about wearing bike shoes, I'd just rather throw a pair of sandals in my bag.

Has anyone gone from SPD to SPD-SL? I'm curious how much of a difference there is in the feel of the pedals. I want to get SPD SL for my road bike and I don't know if I should stick to SPD for my fixed gear.

A friend of mine runs the SPD's and compared to my SPD-SL's he doesn't clip out during skids. He is tensioned a bit on his pedals though.

Also his shoes are a way more walkable than mine, that's a plus. But SL's are definietly better on the upstroke and efficiency.