spd vs spd sl

granda

what type of pedals do people use on their road bikes or does it matter
at the moment i have spd's and as i have feet that turn out i find them good as i can adjust the angle with the cleats but can you do the same with spd sl pedals as well or are they fixed.
i need new ones and was thinking of getting the mountain bike type which are double sided.

Dermot Illogical

SPD-SL are adjustable, probably more so than SPD. I've used both and settled on SPD-SL. SPDs are very handy around town though, ideally double sided. Saves you from looking down, also better grip when your foot is down. SPD-SL I find far more comfortable over longer distances, so that made my choice.

smacl

Double sided are so much handier on SPDs. Personally I also like the ones with a platform as well, handy for when your not using cleated shoes, and IMO more comfy on long rides.

joxerjohn

I have had the double sided Shimano M540 pedals, they were good but are SPD only. I never really used them much unclipped even though I initially thought this would be useful. I found that the grip was not great on the platform side when you had the SPD's on.

I changed my shoe recently to Shimano road shoes but would have needed an adaptor for these shoes if I wanted to continue with the SPDs so I changed the pedals as well to SPD SL. I find the SPD SL very good easy to get in and out of and very comfortable. They also provide plenty of adjustments options.

As previous comment shoes with the SPD SL not so good for walking around in but still quite managable for the coffee stop etc. wouldn't be great for sightseeing.

If I was starting from scratch again I'd buy SPDs, not SPD-SLs, purely because it's a pain walking in them.

Canis Lupus

If you're commuting then SPDs as you can jump off and happily wander around a shop to get dinner etc. If it's purely for cycling then SPD-SLs.

Again if commuting the different sided ones are handy for times when you can't be bothered changing footwear.

patrick151

I have SPDs on my commuter and SPD-sls on my road bike and to largely echo the above, if its for commuting go SPD and some shoes for walking in-i end up walking about 5-6k a week in my spds(still haven't had any cleat issues though after 8 months) but if your training SPD-sl are considerably better. The power transfer is much better, it spreads the force out over your foot, which is great for longer rides but walking is a pain.

Also SPDs are much easier to clip into, especially double sided ones, only recently have i gotten use to clipping into my SLs first try

Wheely GR8

I like using my spd's with double sided pedals ,but my shoes look like football boots when I'm on my road bike.
Are there any shoes that look road specific ,with spd.

Lumen

Wheely GR8 wrote: »

Are there any shoes that look road specific ,with spd.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-r1-road-cycling-shoe/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-rt32-spd-touring-shoes/
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-rt82-touring-shoes/

The R1s will take both SPD and road cleats.

GTDolanator

spd's are rubbish,time attacks are were its at....

granda

thanks for all the replies and i see most people seem to be edging towards spd sl's but i realy need to know how much you can adjust them as i'm fairly duck footed (due to a number of ankle injuries in my younger years)and if my feet are forced into a straight ahead position i usually end up with quite a bit of strain on my the insde of my knees but with spd's i'm able to angle the cleats enough that i dont have this problem

cdaly_

Are you actually twisting the cleats in relation to the shoe rather than just using the available float with the pedal? AIUI, SPD-SL cleats come with different levels of float so you might achieve the same effect. Any pics of your mounted cleats?

I'm inclined to thing you wouldn't be able to twist the SPD-SL cleats to the same degree.

clod71

I changed from SPD to SPD-SL
I find the SPD-SL a lot more comfortable but also a lot easier to unclip.

clod71

Dónal wrote: »

If I was starting from scratch again I'd buy SPDs, not SPD-SLs, purely because it's a pain walking in them.

strangely enough I find the exact opposite to be true.
SPDs were metal and a pain to walk around with (with road shoes without recess)
the cleats for SPD-SL are a sort of plastic material and they are a lot more comfortable to walk around...
.. at least with my dhb shoes

Lumen

cdaly_ wrote: »

I'm inclined to thing you wouldn't be able to twist the SPD-SL cleats to the same degree.

I would guess the opposite.

MTB shoes are more space constrained since there is a big tread running round the outside.

On a road shoe there are no clearance issues and you can drill holes wherever you like if you don't mind a bit of diy (this is suggested by the mid-sole cleat placement advocates).

Also, float is not supposed to be used to gain additional rotational offset, but to allow the foot to rotate through the pedal stroke.

victorcarrera

granda wrote: »

... but i realy need to know how much you can adjust them as i'm fairly duck footed ...and if my feet are forced into a straight ahead position i usually end up with quite a bit of strain on my the insde of my knees but with spd's i'm able to angle the cleats enough that i dont have this problem

... at the moment i have spd's and as i have feet that turn out i find them good as i can adjust the angle with the cleats

This doesn't make sense. You have a road bike so there is very little room to adjust toe out on a 9/10 speed 130mm dropout frame, possibly more on older 6/7speed 125mm dropouts without your heels rubbing on the chainstays or cranks and made worse if you have to wear winter overshoes.
Some suggestions would be to get wider pedals or insert pedal extenders. Get a wider BB if it is square taper or maybe change it to square taper.
If you are not doing more than 100Km regularly and you don't race you could use toeclips with a hard sole shoe which will give you all the flexibility you need.

granda

jesus i seem to have opened a can of worms here but i'm going to try out a mates shoes that have spd sl clips and as i have to go to the physio about another problem i'll ask him what he thinks, but after looking online it seems you should be able to get about 5 degrees of toe out angle which should be good enough so here's hoping