Toe Clips kiss of death!

[PpPete]

Thanks for the advice so far! From what I see you need special shoes as well as the pedals. This is going to be quite an investment then as cycling shoes are about £50+ and pedals around £35+.

Are road SPD's all one sided and the MTB ones also come as double sided? There is quite a confusing array of setups! I think I will have to go in to Halfords and look around before I buy. I usually just get stuff online, but this seems like a choice I will be stuck with.

Is it tricky to flip one sided pedals to clip in? At the moment trying to flip these monstrous toe clip pedals I have is really hard.

Some of the cheapest double-sided pedals (Shimano PD-M520) are amongst the best value around (under £20 in many places) - make sure you buy then WITH cleats (expensive separately)
Lidl & Aldi sell shoes on their "special buy" days - usually about £20

Not all "road" pedal systems are single-sided (but vast majority are). As you say - very confusing area.
There are lots of pedals using the SPD system, some designed for touring, others for MTB, not all are double-sided.
I'd stick to double-sided if you find trad toe-clips difficult.

 

[deptfordmarmoset]

Is it tricky to flip one sided pedals to clip in? At the moment trying to flip these monstrous toe clip pedals I have is really hard.

I use both one- and two-sided SPDs. One the one-sided if you happen to put your shoe down on the wrong side, then lifting your foot for a single turn of the pedal is nearly always enough to get the pedal turned round.

 

[Linford]

As the others have said, go get some SPDs, On my road bike I use the double sided Shimano ones and some MTB SHimano shoes (comes with some grip for walking)

They work very well

 

[MontyVeda]

...
Best thing i ever did was ditching the clips and going to SPDs

best thing i ever did was ditch the clips and go for flats... each to their own eh

 

[PpPete]

.......... each to their own eh

So very very true that.
I'm mid-fifties, changed from clips to double sided SPD five years ago, would never go back. Changed from indexed DT shifters to STI about same time.
My son, still a teenager, tried SPD, hated it, gone back to toe clips, AND he prefers friction (non-indexed) DT levers.

 

[DaveReading]

I changed to SPD's from Toe Clips too I find the latter a lot more consistent.

Ah, so you prefer Toe Clips, then?

With toe clips I almost always remembered to clip out but my foot would ocassionally get stuck, spds are the same movement and force each time.

Ah, so you prefer SPDs, then?

 

[ColinJ]

Aldi cycling gear is on sale next Thursday (26th) - cycling shoes £19.99.

My sister bought me a pair of Aldi SPD shoes about 5 years ago. They are a bit cheap-looking but perfectly ok otherwise.

 

[HLaB]

Ah, so you prefer Toe Clips, then?

Nope,

I changed to SPD's from Toe Clips too

If I prefered Toe Clips (cages) I wouldn't have changed to SPD's (clipless).

Sorry if my post wasn't clear, I'm still recovering from food poisoning and a bit light headed at the mo

 

[gavintc]

! I think I will have to go in to Halfords and look around before I buy.

I suggest you look at Halfords for car stuff and go to a bike shop for bike stuff. Having someone who sells 'car stuff' for a living, advising you on new pedals is likely to lead you in the wrong direction.

 

[PpPete]

I suggest you look at Halfords for car stuff and go to a bike shop for bike stuff. Having someone who sells 'car stuff' for a living, advising you on new pedals is likely to lead you in the wrong direction.

Good point. Given the woefully poor standard of advice I've heard given in Halfords it would not surprise me if tell you that double-sided SPD MTB pedals (such as the M520 mentioned above) are "incompatible" with your Carrera road bike.

 

[MossCommuter]

My Aldi SPD shoes lasted about 400 miles before the soles of both shoes split in two.

I have SPDs on the single speed commuter bicycle but pub/towing and snow bicycles have straps and cages ('cos I don't want to clip clop round like Shirley Temple when I get where I am going) and hippy-hipster single speed town bicycle has flats and no straps (because I don't want to mark the shoes I wear when I am likely to be riding it)

So to my mind, it depends on the kind of cycling you're doing whether to go flat with nothing, clipped or clipless, not forgetting budget of course, the undeniable disadvantage of clipless being the need for special shoes.

 

[HLaB]

My Aldi SPD shoes lasted about 400 miles before the soles of both shoes split in two.

Unlucky, my pair of LIDL shoes have done thousands of miles in all weathers, eventually the metal loop for the velcro strap broke and I replaced that with a key ring loop.

 

[Venod]

MossCommuter said " ('cos I don't want to clip clop round like Shirley Temple when I get where I am going)"

With double sided SPD & moutain bike type shoes the cleats are recessed so no more clip cloping , on a recent ride I took a wrong turning it was a long way back & round to get on a parallel road, but there was a path connecting the roads which I walked up, I would not have done this with my old Look pedals with cleats stuck out the bottom of the shoes that made me walk like I had s**t myself.

 

[oldfatfool]

Get some speedplay frogs, no messing about with tensions or cleat positions, much kinder to knees

 

[Cycleops]

I suggest you look at Halfords for car stuff and go to a bike shop for bike stuff. Having someone who sells 'car stuff' for a living, advising you on new pedals is likely to lead you in the wrong direction.

Halfords actually sell both car spares and bikes and have done so for some time, agreed you might get some poor advice so look for that here and buy on line. If you want to get some SPD shoes be aware that the sizing is different from regular shoes or trainers. If your feet get hung up with toe clips you will have the same problem with cleats. I use both. You will also find walking almost impossible in most SPD shoes unless you get ones with recessed cleats.