SPD - SL pedals, cleats and shoes

Jesper

I've just got a Trek Domane AL-3. Relatively entry level road bike. I've put my mountain bike SPD pedals on it but the shoes are 10 years old as it is so I'm looking to replace them all.

Can anyone recommend an online website/location or some good examples to choose. Not many bike shops within 30 miles here. Mid level stuff is fine definitely not doing big millage.

Squidgy Black

Whereabouts in the country are you? Just in case anyone knows of a shop local enough that might stock stuff, there’s some Irish stores that have online stores too like 360Cycles and cyclesuperstore.ie, otherwise the likes of Alltricks, bike-discount.de and bike24.com are EU shops and tend to be a bit cheaper even with delivery taken into account

The go-to starter pedal tends to be the SPD-SL RS550, they recommend skipping the 500 as the bearings and platform are a little better on the 550 for little to no price difference. And there’s not much of a jump when you go up to the 105 pedals vs the 550s either.

ARX

I don't know about the SPD-SL RS550, but I got the 500s and the bearings had clearly been way overtightened at the factory, so I sent them back.

My 12 year old R540 SPD-SLs (Tiagra level) are buttery smooth with no play, and I've never serviced them.

Op are you planning on riding the MTB too? If so it could be a better idea to stick with the same type of pedals on both bikes so you can use the same pair of shoes on both.

Jesper

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/119400551#Comment_119400551

A good point. I've kept the mountain bike but I have cross over tires on it now. It's days on Tick Nock are behind it. It's only going to be used now as a town/trail bike so I'm ok with having the original flats on it.

I'm in Kilkenny. Might give Altitude in Waterford a shout as there isn't a huge difference online/store. I got the bike their and they were great to deal with.

Macy0161

Some people have issues with SPD on the road with hotspots, but to be honest when not racing I find spd fine. It's more about the sole stiffness for me than the cleat.