About to purchase road pedals and shoes for the first time
 

I’ve been cycling well over 30 years. And I’m going to try road shoes for the first time. All I’ve used are Shimano, CB and Time MTB pedals. (Currently Time)

Pedals - I like Time pedals (although CS stinks). How well regarded are Time road pedals?

Shoes - Currently on Sidi Dominators. Should I look at Sidi as well? I’d like Boa. I like the Specialized offering as well. Their MTB shoes fit me well in the past.

Thanks.

Shimano SPD-SL pedals are the best out there, for road riding. SPD reigns supreme for mountain biking and touring. It's that simple, imho.

Apologies for not actually answering your specific questions.

I rode Speedplays for many years, switched to Shimano briefly, now use Look compatibles (Favero). If I were buying today I'd go back to Shimano.

Oddly, the pedals that I've had the most trouble with are a pair of Time MTB -- even in the most relaxed setting, irrespective of cleat setup, they often refuse to release. They may just be a lemon pair, but I hate those f***ers.

Bike shoes are like any other shoes, they have to work for YOUR feet. I have narrow feet. Giro is what works for me. I buy the top of the line when they are on sale and don't care about the color.

SPD-SL on my road bikes. Dura Ace when on sale or get em here on the forum. SPD on gravel- Giro shoes.

I haven't ridden Time road pedals, but one of the guys I used to work for loves them

I've been on most generations of Shimano road pedals from 7401 thru today. They all work and continue to work for years.

Rode Speedplays till I started racing in clips and double straps at the track. The difference between loosey goosey and locked down got me to switch to SPD-Rs on the road. SPD-Rs weren't the best choice...

OP: are you racing on the road? If you aren't, mtn pedals work fine. I ride my CX bikes on the road on them most days.

Moved away from ATACs when I started racing CX. Riding up to the barriers on Times was just too 'gummy.' I yard saled a few times before I changed pedal systems. The positive click of the SPDs is mo bettah

Long-winded. The TL:DR version is 'if you aren't racing, mtn pedals work fine.'

M

If you're in Sidi's and they work, I wouldn't mess with that. Why add another confusing factor?

Aren't you risking injury riding on pedals that don't release?

SPD-SL all the way for road. Time for MTB & cyclocross.

Shoes are a personal fit thing. If Sidi works for you, stick with them. My wide feet really like Bont.

I prefer Time because their retention system is solid but clipping in and out is simple. Tried SPD-Sl and while the platform felt more stable, the process of clipping in was not as simple as that on the I-clic system.

I used TIME i-clics Carbons before I switched to Shimano SPD-SL. Would not recommend.

Biggest issue is they unclip suddenly and without warning, which almost caused me to crash twice. Shimanos will float freely until it hits the edge of the available motion and you'll hit a hard stop, where you'll have to be very deliberate in kicking your heel out, the TIMEs will keep letting you float and all of a sudden you'll be unclipped. Fortunately my balls lived to tell the story, but barely.

Absolutely go for Sidi shoes. I switched from mountain shoes and pedals (on the road) to road shoes and pedals as well, and went from Sidi Dominators to Sidi Genius. The shoes are so similar, your feet won't know the difference, and that's a good thing.

I think road shoes and pedals are the only way to go for road cycling. Good road pedals have a *huge* platform that for me was transformative. I love the feeling of putting down the power that road pedals provide. I hope you discover the same feeling.

While there are lots of options for road pedals, I suggest you really only need to consider Time, Shimano, and Speedplay. (I ride Time road pedals and think they're great, but the choice is very personal.) Time and Shimano are more time-tested "classic" designs, while Speedplay is more idiosyncratic and "revolutionary." If your LBS will let you try them on a trainer, you'll know in about two minutes which of the three you prefer.

I should have used past tense -- I stopped using them when I sold my gravel bike. And yes I injured myself.

I use TIME Xpro's, tried Dura Ace, Speedplay and the TIME's just have a smoother float with a wide platform.

Buy shoes that fit, regardless of brand, stiffness, or features.

The Look-style pedal/cleat dominates the market. Other styles have their fans and that's fine.

As long as the shoes you choose accommodate the pedals/cleats you like, get the pedals you like, which in your case is Time.

Times have been around a long time which should tell you something. If you can readily get replacement cleats, stick with them. Time is owned/distributed by SRAM so I imagine customer support should be good.

Agree with others. Get a shoe that fits right and is comfortable on your feet. For me I have multiple sets of Giro Empires and Factors.

I rode time pedals since I used to be a weight weenie, and still am somewhat. Rode Xpresso 12’s and got tired of cleat breakage and replacing bearings and bushings. Went to Dura Ace and so buttery smooth easy engaging and disengaging. Still have them on many bikes. My main road bike has Garmin Rally RS200 and love these too. Same cleat so it works when I switch bikes.

I used to love wrenching on bikes but at my age and at this time in my life I rather just ride. I mention this since it would be easy to swap pedals when I switch road bikes but that just adds something else to prep for a ride.

I do use either Sidi or Giro for MTB. Pedals are XTR and Xpedo.

Just goes to show people's preferences. I have ridden Time mountain bike pedals for decades, including for cross racing, and have been somewhat chagrinned to have to switch to SPD recently to get pedal-based power. SPD is fine, but I still prefer Time.

I also have Time and Speedplay on the road side. Both work fine, but I think the positive engagement of the Time cleat is better. Also looking at power pedals for this bike and again, disappointed there is no Time option.

Really though, none of the major standards are problematic and you can adapt to any of them. I would go with shoes that you know fit and then choose any moderately priced pedal you like.

I used SPD-SL for a long long time. Recently made all my bikes SPD, so all my shoes would be compatible with all my bikes. I hardly notice a difference. I think SPD shoes used to be 'mountain bike shoes' and those were relatively overbuilt, bulky, and heavy for the road. With the advent of gravel, shoes like the Shimano RX 800 exist, which are light and svelte like road shoes, so why not?

I think pedals/shoes are a lot like saddles.. many are good, depends on what you like, feels best to you..

I have rode mostly Shimano in my years, tried Speedplay for a minute and just couldn't get used to the feeling of standing on ice they gave me.. plus I didn't like the perceived fragility of a rock in the cleat could cause.. also tried CB eggbeaters and just didn't feel right to my feet either..

at this point, I think I might be on SPDs on all of my bikes for the near future..

I definitely notice a difference between road and MTB pedals, and prefer the more "locked in" feel of road pedals.

I echo that if you are comfortable in Sidi mtb shoes, it makes sense to go with Sidi road shoes.

Agree, and the float between spd and spd sl is much different feeling.

I just recently started riding spd pedals on my road bikes.. for me the reason is I got tired of the anxiety I was feeling at every stop light (esp when turning left with an arrow).. I almost never have an issue getting into the pedal when I'm alone on the road, but put me at a light or stop sign with cars and I can't function.. :confused:

the other reason is it's just easier to walk.. for my meager power numbers and how I ride, I'm not sure I've losing much, if anything, in performance.. my feet don't really feel much difference in the platform size.. I'm usually feeling it in my toes/etc by the end of a ride with either system..

we'll see in a few months how I feel.. :)

I find absolutely no difference in ease of in and out comparing my xtr and dura ace. If I had to pick I’d say my spd sl are easier to engage.

Walking while it’s obviously easier in mtb shoes they are still stiff and clunky and not much of an improvement over spd sl slippers and three silicone pads. I’ve hiked many miles in my road shoes on rocky trails.

SPD-SL is pretty no brainer but they do have a design flaw (I think all the 3 whole shoes have this?) in that lateral adjustment and cleat angle are tied up together. If you have to adjust one you lose range on the other adjustment.

Overall the shoe part is the more difficult part of the equation. The only real option with SPD-SL is the wider Q-factor version of Ultegra & Dura Ace. Otherwise they all work the same and are all ultra reliable.

Shoes are way trickier IMO, I personally think road shoes with the super hard carbon soles make it more critical you get in a really close to optimal shoe because the shoe is not going to give at all if something is off. Carbon road shoes have more of a curve often that forces your foot into a posture that's a little like standing on your toes and that makes it tricky too.

E.x. I know for me my window of adjustment with SPD + nylon MTB shoes with a little flex is bigger than with SPD-SL + Carbon shoes. If I'm outside of that perfect adjustment range my feet start going numb on long intervals up near the boundary of tempo/threshold. It just requires a little more fiddling to get the road shoe dialed in perfectly.

I really love the locked-in feel and wide platform of the SPD-SL shoes.

My one beef, however, is that I never seem to be able to get the cleat far enough back. I used SPD "gravel" shoes for a long time and I got used to a very rearward cleat position. Now that I'm on SPD-SL shoes, even with the cleats jammed all the way back, I feel like they're significantly farther forward, to the point where I had to move my saddle 1/2 cm higher to compensate.

I exclusively use Specialized shoes for both cleat styles, so that's not the problem per se.

Any suggestions on this are welcome.

I had the same issue and once I finally got shoes that fit (lake wide) this enabled me to size down a half size and it puts the cleat slammed all the way rearward, finally, into the proper place.

This is definitely an issue. I have had several times where I bought identical Specialized MTB & Road shoes that fit exactly the same (same last) and the 3-hole version has the cleat holes significantly forward of the 2-hole version. IME Bontrager shoes have sometimes done the same thing.

Haven't run into this in a while but I have also had 3-hole shoes where the measuring marks for the cleats are inaccurate and don't match between the 2 shoes!

this!

the "bike fit Tuesday" series on Cade Media often talks about folks who should really have a wide shoe, sizing up on a regular shoe to make it fit and, thus, not being able to get their cleats back far enough..

on a side not, it's crazy how hard it can be to find a wide shoe.. while some manufacturers certainly make them, good luck actually finding them to try on.. maybe that's the retailer, maybe not..

I don’t consider my foot wide but have splayed and long toes which seem to be my challenge. I’m otherwise thin and low volume…no fat feet here. I barely measured into lake wide by a couple mm but haven’t looked back.

Since moving to lake wide, I’ve tried a number of other brands that are wide but they aren’t the same. All seem to use the same last and just add more volume which didn’t fit my lower volume feet at all.

One thing I don't get is how there are so few cycling shoes (not sure I've ever seen one) that have a natural shape toe box like say Altra running shoes do.

I would struggle to find a negative for that and why we need the fashion style pointed toe that makes less room for the large toe and/or makes people need to size up. Maybe you could find some aero negative. I think that style toe box could really help a lot of us.

I just received a set of 2024 SIDI mtb shoes, and the cleat slots definitely extend farther back than my previous pair (2019?)

Also:
Although vaguely mentioned by Angry Scientist, I really like SPD MTB on road bikes. Never have to think about "flipping the pedal".

I've owned a few sets of SPD's and SPD-SL's and I've never had to ever think about them after installing them and getting the release dialed in. I still keep it relatively low and I've never really had issues unclipping.

I have tried shoes from Sidi, pearl izumi, DMT and Bont. These Bont ‘Vaypor 2023’ shoes are a clear favorite; the more ‘foot shaped’ wider toe box is clearly more comfortable in the case of my feet, and the comfort of the interior and softer upper is superior. The stiff carbon sole is great. They cost more, but as others in this thread have said, it’s most important to find a shoe that is comfortable for your particular feet.

I have tried Time, Shimano and speed play pedals. For road riding I prefer the smooth float and general quality of Speedplay. For off-road, the mud/dirt shedding of Shimano SPD.

And, wool socks are a great thing also.

If you are set on only pedals, I'd suggest Shimanos.

If you need power, then right now I think that the Assiomas are the most cost effective option, and they're based on Look Keo-style cleats. Favero have a retrofit option for Shimano pedals that increases the Q-factor by a lot. I have a feeling that they might be working on some sort of SPD-SL version that is non-podded and that has a normal Q.

Personally, I have a pair of the Keo-style Assiomas and I definitely like it less than SPD-SLs. Just a bit, though.

I definitely notice the difference in feel between SPD's and SPD-SL, and like Angry said, SL feels 'higher performance'. But I think that's only when new.
I don't change my cleats often, and I've found that over long periods, the SPD cleat/pedals have less wear and the unwanted sort of float.

Also, I've set several significant PR's on SPD's, so I'd say, regardless of feel, actual performance is at least similar.

Thanks folks. Sidi Genius 10 ordered.
The site says the shoe is only compatible with Shimano and Look? I guess that narrows down the choices. I’ll give SPD-SL’s a shot.

I'd ride my Crankbrothers eggbeaters with 2 hole MTB shoes everywhere if I didn't need my Garmin vector 3 pedals for power.

Having a single power meter which can be moved between bikes is more important, but I really like the eggbeaters and the ability to walk in the shoes.

I'm pretty sure Time still uses the same three hole pattern used by Shimano and Look.