[JaredP91]

I’ve owned my road bike for around 2 months now and have started to build up the miles and my confidence enough to consider clipless pedals. Unfortunately as a complete newbie to the road cycling scene, I am a bit clueless!

Having researched online, it seems as a beginner that MTD pedals may be the best as they enable dual engagement on both sides of the pedal and are, therefore, easier to clip into. Is this correct?

Also, if I were to purchase SPD compatible mountain bike pedals, would I have to buy MTB shoes? Or can I add SPD cleats to any road shoes?

Any advice from experienced riders would be massively appreciated.

Topic

[Sriracha]

if you ever used toe clips
if you ever used toe clips then you’ll know how easy it is to flip a pedal the “right” way up to engage your foot. That being so, I use Shimano M324 pedals, one side for SPD, the other side is for ordinary shoes. That way I have the option to clip in or not, and also to not have to wear cycling shoes necessarily.
If I do fumble the flip, it doesn’t matter, the worst case is normal shoes hitting the clip side and that’s just a moment’s discomfort.

[hawkinspeter]

I second what Joe Totale said

I second what Joe Totale said. There’s two main types – 2 hole MTB (SPD) and 3 hold road bike (SPD-SL).

I use single-sided SPD pedals (they’re Shimano road/touring style) on my road bike as I find that being able to walk in my shoes more important than other considerations. I’ve previously used double-sided MTB pedals on my road bike and they work great too.

I recently got a pair of Bont MTB shoes which are great – you pop them in the oven for a bit and then mould them to your feet (use socks and wait for them to not be too hot). They’re also a great combination of being okay to walk in and very stiff (good for pedalling efficiency).

By the way, clipping into pedals isn’t that much of an issue once you’ve used them for a while, but un-clipping is the thing that you really need to practise so it becomes second nature. There’s nothing funnier than seeing someone come to a stop, then slowly fall over to the side as they’ve forgotten how to get their foot free.

[Joe Totale]

If you’ve never cliped in

If you’ve never cliped in before then I concur and would say that double sided MTB pedals such as the Shimano M520 are the way to go. You can set them to be pretty loose as well so you hopefully won’t have any moments where you cannot clip out in time. 

In terms of shoes, you’ll need MTB shoes which have holes for a 2 bolt cleat attachment.

Road shoes in general will have the holes for a 3 bolt cleat attachment and unfortunately they aren’t compatible with each other. 

There are some shoes out there that take both but they’re few and far between and you’d really limit yourself in terms of what you can buy. IIRC as well the cleats on these shoes aren’t recessed which means that if you use MTB cleats then you lose one of their biggest advantages, that they’re easy to walk in. 

[Author]

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