I bid on some shimano 105 pedals with the toe clips from the pre-spd days. Then (of course after i bid) i read that people say you really need the cleats that go with them...

well thats not the point of me getting toe cages... i wanted to be able to just ride in regular shoes...is this still possible/practical with these?

Heres the link to the ebay listing.
https://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll...#ht_709wt_1136

I think its a pretty good deal, so i won't feel bad if someone just outbids me and ends my mental anguish but if not, will they work well or am I going to have to turn around and flip em on ebay?

I have a set of the Shimano 600 version of these on my roadie. It is definitely both possible and practical to use them with regular street shoes, although it's not terribly comfortable. If you win them, just give them a try and see how you like them, and flip them if you don't like it. You might also be able to bolt in a small wooden block on the interior of the pedal where the cleat would go, to give your feet a more solid platform.

you can ride those with regular shoes

It is possible to ride the pedal with a regular shoe, but it is terribly terribly uncomfortable and tears up your shoes really bad. So I would strongly recomend against it, unless youre going to ride them on the track.

yea just add straps and it's just a set of regular pedals.
the twist is that you CAN have cleats that work with these pedals for better attachment to your feet (their spd back in the day)

i run the dura ace version with vans. i find that the way the auction photo shows, without the cleat clips, is most comfortable.






so comfortable you can wheelie on? did that answer your worries?

No need for cleats unless you wanna be practically glued to your pedals.

I can ride 'em all day long with running shoes (done a few centuries that way). Probably good for an hour with thick sole skate shoes. Maybe just a couple gentle miles with my Chucks.

I just repacked the bearings in mine for the first time. First pedal took a little over an hour. Second pedal was a piece of cake, maybe 20 minutes to take apart, clean really good, repack and adjust.

Bonus : less pedal strike than any non-clipless pedal I've been on.

Surely this is what you really want

+ clown shoes

Yeah it's worth mentioning that I ride them in Sambas, which don't exactly have stiff soles.

As long as you have the toe clips they'll be fine.

N.B. finding replacement toe clips in the event they break can be a problem.

sigh, i thought this would be about those.

also, im considering selling a pair of those in silver.

Thx for the reminder. This weekend I'm gonna ride down to Universal Cycles and get three or four sets (hopefully a lifetime supply for this old man with old-man riding style).

$13 for the plastic ones at Universal, BTW. M, L, XL in stock.

Thanks for all the replies! I ended up losing the auction so I'm looking for some mks's or something of the sort.

^Fk Our Lives guys, FOL

If you really want a set drop me a PM. I think I have set in the parts bin.

I rode those pedals with cleats.

In 1989. There's no reason to use them these days.