ADVICE: Want to use flat shoes on road bike.

Coolaboy

Hi folks. Due to am knee injury I don't want to use clip on shoes on the road bike. Too much upwards stress when clipped in. Going for flat pedals and still intend to do 60k on a regular cycle. What are the reccommendations for flat shoes doing that km on regular basis. Thanks.

cletus

The pedals are probably more important than the shoes. I'd be looking at mountain bike flat pedals with a nice big platform. After that you could look at some of the MTB shoes like five tens etc

Idleater

Coolaboy wrote: »

Too much upwards stress when clipped in.

I was under the impression that flats and shoes put more pressure than spds due to the float from the cleats.

buffalo

I commute in flat shoes on a road bike, using toe clips. I'm not sure if that'll suit you as it will add some upward pull, but a lot looser than clipless.

Eamonnator

https://en.wellgopedal.com/products_detail_3_287.htm

I have a pair of these. They are good quality, have a good large platform, replaceable pins and are fairly light. The pins give great grip and still are not too aggressive. Obviously for a road bike, you won't want them in red. I can't remember, where I bought them. And I can't see them for sale online.
These or something similar might fit the bill.
CRC have somewhat similar pedals for about 50 quid. I don't think, I paid anything like that for mine.

Thargor

See if you can track down a pair of these:

https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/ie/en/shimano-pd-t420-click-r-clipless-mtb-pedals/rp-prod108681

Ive tried most of the flat one side/SPD the other side available (Well Im sure more have been released in the last 4 years Ive been on these) and these are the best by a country mile, I spend about 50% of the time in flats and these are the only ones Ive found that work exactly as you want, you'd be amazed how many of the others manage to have a big lump hurting your foot on the "flat" side.

Op from my reading of your post you are already cycling and not new to it? What shoes are you using at the minute?

If moving to flats I'd be looking towards MTB shoes or Touring shoes for riding on flats all the time.

Coolaboy

Clipping in but after knee surgery. In the process of buying a new bike so choosing pedals at the moment.

Idleater

Coolaboy wrote: »

Clipping in but after knee surgery. In the process of buying a new bike so choosing pedals at the moment.

Get medical/professional advice, especially to diagnose what your issue is with the clipless pedals you have.

As I said above, flat pedals and especially pinned pedals _reduce_ foot movement and transfer the rotation up into the knee area, due to the foot being fixed in place.

It could be something as simple as cleat adjustment.

magicbastarder

when you say upwards stress, there's too much stress going up through your leg on the downstroke? not sure the pedal itself may be the only factor here; how high you have your saddle changes the load on the knee too.

Idleater is also spot on, medical advice is not allowed on boards, so your best best is to see a physio who understands cycling to best advise you.

Coolaboy

Thanks for all the advice folks. Have a good idea where I want to go. Really appreciate all the views. Going to cycle up Mount Teide in November with a mate and want to be good form. Keep on cycling🚲🚲🚲🚲

smacl

Nukeproof EVO are a great flat pedal for a decent price.

Thargor

Tbh if its just a flat pedal you're looking for the lightest flat pedal for a fiver off Ebay or Ailexpress isnt going to be all that different from a €50 one, would you actually be able to tell them apart in a proper test?

Coolaboy

You would know when the soles of your feet start to ache.

cletus

Comparison between an expensive platform MTB pedal, and a much cheaper knock-off from China.

The main takeaway was that he couldn't tell the difference between the two pedals while out on the trails, if you had bought the cheap one you'd done well, but he wouldn't buy the cheaper pedal because it was a blatant rip off of the expensive one.

https://youtu.be/7BoEZWUh9Nw

smacl

Thargor wrote: »

Tbh if its just a flat pedal you're looking for the lightest flat pedal for a fiver off Ebay or Ailexpress isnt going to be all that different from a €50 one, would you actually be able to tell them apart in a proper test?

In my experience, a pinned flat pedal with a big platform feels very different from a smaller cheap pedal. They can still be cheap enough, the NukeProof I linked is €38 on CRC and I'd guess you could find them or similar cheaper elsewhere. I don't think there's much sense putting a €5 set of pedals on a €1k bike.

Mc Love

cletus wrote: »

The pedals are probably more important than the shoes. I'd be looking at mountain bike flat pedals with a nice big platform. After that you could look at some of the MTB shoes like five tens etc

I have pin pedals on my commuter - was using five tens but fecking got them too small, my feet would be numb nearly by the time I was home. Use a pair of runners with thick soles and they are perfect.

Mc Love

smacl wrote: »

Nukeproof EVO are a great flat pedal for a decent price.

Have these exact ones and find them great

smacl

Mc Love wrote: »

Have these exact ones and find them great

Got them for my off-road hack and I love them, actually thinking of replacing my SPD pedals on my CX with them as well at this point.

Gidea

smacl wrote: »

In my experience, a pinned flat pedal with a big platform feels very different from a smaller cheap pedal. They can still be cheap enough, the NukeProof I linked is €38 on CRC and I'd guess you could find them or similar cheaper elsewhere. I don't think there's much sense putting a €5 set of pedals on a €1k bike.

I've gone through a couple of cheap flat pedals before dropping around 70 euro on a pair of these. Best money I ever spent tbh as the cheapo pedal always broke, always slipped in the wet, and just didnt feel comfortable

Those shimano padels almost feel like being clipped in, they just stick to your shoe its easily worth spending 40-50 on a good pair of flats imo

smacl

Gidea wrote: »

I've gone through a couple of cheap flat pedals before dropping around 70 euro on a pair of these. Best money I ever spent tbh as the cheapo pedal always broke, always slipped in the wet, and just didnt feel comfortable

Those shimano padels almost feel like being clipped in, they just stick to your shoe its easily worth spending 40-50 on a good pair of flats imo

Moved from SDPs to Nukeproofs and gravel tyres about ten days ago and while there's some difference it isn't huge. Overall, SPDs are probably a bit nicer on road but I find that I'm much more confident with the Nukeproofs off road and also where there is a lot of stop starting with traffic lights. It is a bit of an experiment at the moment but looking likely I'll stick with the current configuration for a couple of months anyway. Regarding knees and float, there's effectively no float on the pinned flat pedals where there's plenty with the SPDs. That said, you can easily change your foot position when you feel any twinges. FWIW, I also had a pair of single sided SPDs with flats on the reverse on for a few days prior to getting the Nukeproofs and they really were the worst of both worlds. That said, I kind of like the look of these.

TGD

Coolaboy wrote: »

Hi folks. Due to am knee injury I don't want to use clip on shoes on the road bike. Too much upwards stress when clipped in. Going for flat pedals and still intend to do 60k on a regular cycle. What are the reccommendations for flat shoes doing that km on regular basis. Thanks.

If you are not putting out a lot of pressure/force, then any basic ‘platform’ pedal will probably br fine with whatever regular shoes you use. It might be different if you were putting out a lot of power. If you want to go beyond that, these types of non-cleat MTB shoes have little grippy spikes and you can get shoes to match
https://www.chainreactioncycles.com/nukeproof-neutron-evo-electron-evo-flat-pedals/rp-prod122950