Noob question re SPD's

Gillo · 24-10-2014 7:59pm #1

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question however. A few months back I changed the pedals on my bike, they were the bog standard pedal that you place you foot on. I decided to change them to SPD's so bought a basic pair and had them fitted to the bike, between one thing and another I haven't managed to get out much on them yet so it's still a bit of a learning curve with them.

Anyway, I've found if I am going for a quick spin, e.g. around to the shops, that wearing a normal pair of runners isn't nice and I have to go pretty slow. Can anyone advise me if it's possible to get a normal pedal with the cleat base that I could snap on and off the the shimano pedals? Effectively a quick temporary change over.

Maybe it's just a bad idea, but I can't think why it would be. So if I'm wrong, apologies and could some explain why?

iwillhtfu · 24-10-2014 8:15pm

Quick answer is yes(kind of) you don't clip them on you have a flat one side and cleat the other

Loads of varieties here's one.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-a530-spd-single-sided-touring-pedals/

Lemming · 24-10-2014 8:18pm

Gillo wrote: »

Sorry if this sounds like a stupid question however. A few months back I changed the pedals on my bike, they were the bog standard pedal that you place you foot on. I decided to change them to SPD's so bought a basic pair and had them fitted to the bike, between one thing and another I haven't managed to get out much on them yet so it's still a bit of a learning curve with them.

Anyway, I've found if I am going for a quick spin, e.g. around to the shops, that wearing a normal pair of runners isn't nice and I have to go pretty slow. Can anyone advise me if it's possible to get a normal pedal with the cleat base that I could snap on and off the the shimano pedals? Effectively a quick temporary change over.

Maybe it's just a bad idea, but I can't think why it would be. So if I'm wrong, apologies and could some explain why?

The following assumes you're referring to a mountain bike. If not, disgregard everything I write:

Other than accepting that SPDs and normal shoes don't go hand in hand very well at the best of times, Shimano do a single-sided SPD pedal; i.e. flat on one side, spd mechanism on the other. You can also find a variety of downhill-oriented pedals that have a flat pedal cage/frame with SPD unit in the middle (e.g. the crank bros 'mallet' offerings). You can also get SPDs with wider frames but you'd still find yourself in the same position albeit slightly less so.

darkvalley · 24-10-2014 11:09pm

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-m324-combination-pedals/
I have a pair of these and find them great for just your purpose. I have them on my road bike. I clip in when going for a spin or use the flats when going down to the shops. Have done about 5k kms with them with no issues.

seven stars · 24-10-2014 11:50pm

I've used both the Shimano A530 and M324. They both work well.

If you're looking for a flat pedal to click in on top of your SPDs, then the only thing I've found are these:

http://www.bikedabs.com/

I use them with SPD-SL and they also work well, but: (i) you need to go to the trouble of digging them out and clicking them in whenever you want flat pedals; (ii) they only ship from the USA.

quozl · 25-10-2014 9:27am

I had a pair of clip in platforms come attached to my latest pair of m520 pedals from crc. Took me a while to get the damn things off and sadly I binned them.

So Shimano do them.

Gillo · 25-10-2014 5:41pm

Thanks for the help, it turns out they are SPD SL's (lol, don't even know the right name).

Thats exactly what I'm looking for Seven Star, at $25 even if they aren't great I can't really go wrong.

Once again thanks for the help.

Noob question re SPD's

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