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Recommended hybrid pedals?

kyoazu

Maximum Pace
Nov 5, 2014
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I'm looking for purchase my first pair of clipless pedals! But, I'd also like the ability to use my normal shoes for the occasional commute to school or around town. I've done some googling and people have said you can use normal shoes for clipless pedals but I'm a bit worried about my feet slipping off. Does anyone have any recommendations?
 
I used to ride with Shimano PD-T780 pedals, which have SPD on one side and are flat on the other. They also have reflectors for safety and are very robust. They are probably some of the best for that purpose.

Like you I had just started riding clipless when I got them, thinking the flat side would give me flexibility with regards to what shoes to wear. However, in practice I found I virtually never used the flat side (I can count the instances on the fingers of one hand). The SPD shoes (SH-MT42NV, then SH-M088LE) work so well for me, I never use regular shoes when I go out on a bike.

The single sided pedals can be distracting when you sometimes have to hunt for the cleated side as you start up again, whereas my double sided PD-M520 (bought second hand for 1000 yen) work great on either side. I don't really want to be distracted by trying to find the cleated side when starting at a traffic light.

The PD-T780 are now on my wife's bike as she doesn't use clipless shoes yet.
 
@kyoazu Slipping?

If you mean accidental disengagement from the pedal while cycling, that's usually a fault with adjustment and straightforward to correct usually with spring tension.

If you mean slipping while walking, take a look at shoes targeted for mountain bike cyclists. These have good walkability.

I too started off with pedals that were flat on one side but have since moved on to dual sided mountain bike pedals. I do miss having flat side when I just want to putter around town and swapping pedals defeats the "just wanting to putter around" idea. Solution was N+1, get a dedicated putter around bicycle.

Take a look the various pedaling technique to take advantage of the cleats.
 
people have said you can use normal shoes for clipless pedals but I'm a bit worried about my feet slipping off.
You can pedal a bike with a clipless system installed using muggle shoes, but it's not nearly so comfortable and (yes!) your feel might slip if you try to hammer it at all.

My story is the same as Joe's. Started with a pair of SPD/flat pedals. Ended up swapping to both-side SPD very quickly. You can get normal-looking shoes that take SPD cleats. (I'm talking about the SPD system, which has recessed cleats, not the SPD-SL system that had protruding cleats).
 
Same story here. I think 2 sided mtb pedals with nice walkable shoes like this are the way to go for the recreational cyclist. I would definitely stay away from road shoes for your intended purpose.
These pedals from Wellgo have a removable platform if you really want to go clipless-less sometimes.
 
Your feet won't slip off typical road pedals unless the pedals or your shoes are wet, and even then only if you're pedaling hard. You will need shoes with reasonable good supoort, though. No flip flops. Sneakers are fine, though.

If you're super worried, get speedplays and some conversion covers.
 
I've been using Shimano's PD-A530 for the last three years, and can only recommend them. They're SPD on one side, and flat on the other side, while still being kind of sleak. Also, they will orient themselves with the locking mechanism up, so with cleats, you can get in blindly, while with regular shoes, you always have to give them half a turn.

Keep in mind though that they are for SPD cleats. While it is possible to use SPD cleats on road shoes, and I do that all the time, the cleats are not recessed on road shoes, so it's easy to slip off if you don't hit the locking mechanism perfectly. It's probably best to start with MTB shoes with recessed cleats, they make it much easier to get clipped in at the traffic lights.
 
I'm using clipless pedals (m540) for a week now on my commuter road bike. I asked the kind folks at Montbell shop (near the office) to install the pedals and adjust the tension. I also brought the mtb shoes. After that I borrowed their tacx trainer on display, to practice engaging/disengaging with my mtb shoes. Finally, I asked them to tighten the cleats. I went home extremely cautious halfway that night, later on for another 8 km. I finally gained confidence. I'm thinking now if I should buy another set of mtb pedals for the other road bike, or I should try the SPD-SL type. I guess for now, I'll just stick with mtb pedals.

I appreciate that I can walk quite comfortably (10mins.) from the bicycle parking lot towards our office building. I really like the looks of proper road shoes but walking on concrete with it is not ideal.
 
Same story here. I think 2 sided mtb pedals with nice walkable shoes like this are the way to go for the recreational cyclist. I would definitely stay away from road shoes for your intended purpose.
These pedals from Wellgo have a removable platform if you really want to go clipless-less sometimes.

I'd go for these pedals if I were you. I quickly found the one-side-flat ones annoying and got rid of them. The Wellgo ones will enable you to transition over to double-sided mode (which you will want to do) without having to buy another set of pedals.
 
I went home extremely cautious halfway that night, later on for another 8 km. I finally gained confidence.

If I remember correctly, I had my first going-down-because-I-forgot-to-uncleat incident a month after starting to use the pedals. Then I learnt to do things like uncleat one foot in situations where I might have to stop suddenly or where traffic is moving very slowly.

I'm thinking now if I should buy another set of mtb pedals for the other road bike, or I should try the SPD-SL type.

If it was me, my second pair of cycling shoes would be another pair of SPD shoes, so I can wear one while the other one is drying after I wash them. In fact that's what I've got :)

SPD-SL makes sense for racing but otherwise having just one standard tends to be more practical. I knew a few people who have switched to all-SPD for convenience and because they have no race ambitions.
 
I am with Karsten (Shimano PD-A530 on my commuter bike). I ride to/from work with MTB shoes (or Shimano cycling sandals in weather like this week) ... and can still use the bike mid-day to go around the center of town to meetings/lunch in my business shoes without wearing a hole in the bottom ... as I did when using regular shoes on SPD pedals previously on such occasions.

I also am with Joe. Yes, road shoes and pedals (in my case Look Keo) are slicker when riding a road bike and better designed for racing. The platforms are big, shoes are lighter and stiffer, in my case. But SPD with MTB shoes are incredibly practical if you want to WALK and not worry about cleat covers, slipping, etc. At some point as my rides got longer and slower and I started using a rinko more, I switched to SPD. And easier to find a pair with Goretex uppers, for example.
Yes, I still keep the road shoes and pedals/cleats ... but rarely use them.
 
I'm looking for purchase my first pair of clipless pedals! But, I'd also like the ability to use my normal shoes for the occasional commute to school or around town. I've done some googling and people have said you can use normal shoes for clipless pedals but I'm a bit worried about my feet slipping off. Does anyone have any recommendations?

What sort of riding are you doing on your bike? If you are riding road, and are doing distance / speed (or aiming to train and increase that) then get road pedals.

Also, how far is your commute. If it is about 5-6km, you could ride on road pedals with normal shoes as long as you don't hammer it too much (like other people already said).
 
Thanks for the replies, everyone. I should have been more specific with my post.

I have no interest in racing at all; only interested in doing long distances. Also, my commute is very short: 2km. However I do sometimes have errands to do across town, so I sometimes end up doing 10~20km after work. I'm thinking of saving up to get a dedicated commuter to cycle across town anyway; that would clear up alot of issues!

So from everything, I've read it seems like MTB shoes and double sized SPD pedals are the way to go?

Same story here. I think 2 sided mtb pedals with nice walkable shoes like this are the way to go for the recreational cyclist. I would definitely stay away from road shoes for your intended purpose.
These pedals from Wellgo have a removable platform if you really want to go clipless-less sometimes.

I almost wish you didn't show me those shoes; they are beautiful. Unless I missed something, the price isn't listed? I guess that's a good thing, I know those won't be cheap.
 
Update: I went with Shimano PD-M520 that @joewein suggested and bought Shimano RT32 MTB shoes.

I gotta say; holy crap. I seriously can't believe how much a difference clipless pedals and shoes make, it's insane. Definitely one of the biggest things that's affected my performance on the bike. Thanks all for your help and comments all!
 
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