Dropsafe

by Alec Muffett

WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

Having received the happy news that my trike will be arriving in January (hooray!) rather than March/April (Boo!) I am currently researching the extra bits & bobs that I’ll need to use it as a on-road/off-road commuter.

When I visited the factory Neil explained to me that the key to riding a recumbent trike is spinning, rather than outright force; that’s fine by me as I can (or used to be able to) keep up a moderate cadence (60..90rpm) prettymuch indefinitely when fit.

Getting back to that degree of fitness is kinda the point of buying the Trice.

Moreover (he continued) “your legs are dangling in front of the trike, and when you’re doing 40MPH downhill you don’t want to have your foot fall to the floor and drag under the trike” – and I can immediately sympathise with that advice. I want my foot to stay where it is, please, on the end of my leg.

So it follows that your feet either need to be (a) strapped into the pedals, or (b) clipped to them using some sort of SPD pedal system.

I rather like the idea of the SPD system, but am looking for advice from users; what I’d be seeking is a robust, comfy shoe in the form of a cross-trainer, with SPD cleat, ideally that I could also wear around the office. It needs to accomodate a high instep, so will probably be a lace-up or laces/velcro combination.

Matching that: a compact, robust, reliable double-sided SPD pedal.

Comments? Suggestions?

⊞

Comments

12 responses to “WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice”

  1. Joe
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    Most cycle shoes with SPD sorts of connections have a ceramic or metal foot-plate that helps trasfer the energy from your foot to the pedal without letting your foot flop around. This leads to shoes that are a pain to walk in. Can you leave a pair of comfy shoes at the office?

    Reply
  2. alecm
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I *can* do that, but it’s hassle. I’ve become used to leaving shoes at the office for the days when I come in on the motorbike, but then I sometimes find that I am at home, on the weekend, and the shoes I want to wear are at the office…

    I *could* buy a custom pair, just for office use, I suppose… 😎

    Reply
  3. Pete
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    You should see if you can try on some Diadora cycle shoes – good Italian shoe people.

    Thats what I’ve got for my (mountain) bike. The ones I have have chunky tread on the bottom which means the clip bit is not sticking out of the bottom and you can walk about quite happily in them.

    Mine are a a few centimeters higher and thus not as stable as normal shoes, also they tend to skid about a bit on polished surifaces. But they seem to have quite a range, you can probably find something to suit. I’d say they are confortable enough to walk about on for a shopping trip, but I wouldn’t want to wear them every day.

    Perhaps you can get some slippers for the office! 😉

    Reply
  4. rama
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I highly recommend Sidi shoes. After messing with others, I won’t go back. As for pedals, look for mountain bike style shoes/pedals if you want shows that are reasonable to walk in. SPD/Time are fine, Time/Look/Speedplay are not.

    Reply
  5. Stephen Usher
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    Isn’t it a bit of a design flaw that a leg slipping off can cause a serious injury? Surely, there should be some sort of heel/leg catching system under the crank to prevent this from happening?

    Reply
  6. alecm
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    You do realise that if you come off a bicycle at 40MPH you’ll probably come off rather worse than “scabby knees”, too? Even if you’re wearing fluorescent lycra?

    It does not seem terribly likely to happen to me – simple lever theory suggests my ankle will bounce off the floor in most circumstances – but I can see the potential for turning your foot over or some other issue like that, and I would prefer that not to happen, so I shall buy the proper equipment to restrict the likliehood of its happening.

    Otherwise you can always write a letter to the Daily Mail complaining about these irresponsible tricyclists clogging up the roads, putting themselves in danger and insisting that the Labour government ban them.

    If you think this is pure hyperbole, go read http http://www.livejournal.com/community/uk_bikers/171400.html

    <<< I find it remarkable that these deadly machines are permitted on the roads when such tight controls exist governing the safety of car drivers. Riders know the risks and they take them. But do they always stop to think of the effect their injury or death will have on those they love, those dependent on them? >>>

    So no, I’m not going to fret. If you think that the above is dangerous, you should see some of the open transmission belts on American Chopper.

    As for a device to stop it happening, how about using the recommended SPD/clip shoes? 😎

    Reply
  7. Stephen Usher
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    Bah! 🙂

    I wasn’t saying anything about “take them off the road” merely the thought that a minor modification might prevent a foreseeable danger, which you, yourself, brought up. A safety net type affair would probably do.

    The problem with clip shoes, of course, is that they’re not too useful when you’re not cycling. Maybe straps would be better in that case. I imagine that the recumbant bike/trike scene isn’t big enough to persudae a manufacturer to make a heel clip rather than a toe clip so that your foot rests in the clip and is then strapped.

    Reply
  8. Jander
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I’ve recently taken the cleated pedal/shoe plunge – only one outing so far, but that’s due to a front mech problem :-/

    I wanted pedals that were both cleated and platform so that when I came to a scary bit I didn’t have to be clipped in but could still pedal. After looking at the various Shimano offerings and discounting them I was put on to the Crank Brothers pedal. I’ve ultimately bought the Mallet Cs. These use the wonderfully simple Egg Beater pedal with a decent sized platform. For me, they’re superb, for you probably not so. I would still suggest the Egg Beaters for the pedals.

    As to shoes, I’ve just gone for the Shimano M038 leisure shoes – I needed treaded soles, but not too much as it’d make clipping-out difficult – the tread interferes with the platform. Shimano do some ~£100 walking boot type shoes which might suit your needs. Having never used cycling shoes before it was a little unexpected how rigid they were and also how little heel they have – you kinda feel that you’re walking uphill all the time. I don’t however find them uncomfortable to walk in, but a day’s worth of walking in them might change that viewpoint.

    Reply
  9. Craig Morgan
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I’d second the Crank Brothers recommendation … I’ve been using their egg beaters on my MTB for the last year or so (previously various Shimano SPD systems over many years) and I find them excellent.

    The Mallets (with an external body) might be more suitable given your riding position, but offroad I find the egg beater basic design superb. Shoes which are cross-over, ie. good stiff sole but trade off use in the office, you might look at Nike and or Shimano cross boots. I used to wear older boot type Nike SPD cleated shoes for use on my commute and they were quite comfortable around the office, but then my office was a little more progressive than regions of GMP …

    Why not just leave a pair of comfortable shoes in the office and get the best of both worlds. BTW, if you’d like to transfer a set of egg beaters onto the trike when it arrives to try I can quite happily bring a set into GMP for a few days for you to try out. Look me up in namefinder …

    Craig

    Reply
  10. Jander
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I finally got out this w/e just gone to try to Mallets out. I did 12.8 miles about 1/2 and 1/2 road and off-road.

    I’ve got to say that I was impressed with them. The ease of clipping in and out and the comfort level was great. The platform worked really well when needed – I had to do a hill climb just after a tricky bit so wasn’t clipped in and didn’t want to lose momentum so just pedalled normally – worked a treat.

    The only issue I found was that on a couple of occassions I had unclipped on a tricky/slippery bit only to find that my left shoe had reclipped itself. There are two issues there: 1) my right cleat needed rotating a fraction to make that one easier, and 2) I just need to move my feet slightly forward/out to ensure that I don’t clip in when I don’t want to.

    Otherwise they were well worth the purchase – especially as I got them almost half price 🙂

    Reply
  11. Alan Donnelly
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I have a pair of Shimano trainers with SPD clips – just like walking in ordinary trainers except that you get crunchy noises walking on gravel. Shimano do SPD sandals too – a really excellent item. For recumbent riding, SPDs (or similar) are higly recommended – you can also pull on the pedals – less tiring in a more horizontal poition than on an upright. (Have you come across the term “wedgie” as applied to bikes yet?)

    Reply
  12. Bendy
    re: WANTED: SPD Pedals / Shoes Cycle Advice

    I have a second hand bike with half flat and half Shimano SPD pedals. I’ve bought some SPD Specialized shoes but the booklet says I need a thing that screws in to the shoes which is compatible with the pedals. This thing should have come with the pedals. Tell me straight: how badly have i messed up? Needless to say i bought it all on the internet without research. Advice is gratefully sought

    Reply

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