Road Bike Shoes and clips on the cheap

[Shinobi]

Be gentle guys, first foray into this part of the "club"

I've signed up to do a 170 mile 2 day charity cycle and need to get out on the bike and practice, fitness wise I'll be ok and I have a cheapy halford Carrera road bike which is fine however I think I could benefit from some proper shoes and clip in pedals.

My bike has some weird net things at the moment so I need to upgrade. I want to spend as little as possible ideally so does anyone have any idea where or what brands I should look at? I've noticed muddy fox on sports direct and Amazon seem to have some for £60 with the clips?

Do I need new pedals also? Reason for going cheap is cycling is something I did a hell of a lot of ten years ago and now it doesn't fit with my life so no point investing a lot however I do want to perform well and raise a fair wad of cash for the charity.

All help appreciated.

[citizenmtb]

Braver than me!

These would be my go to entry level items:

https://www.evanscycles.com/specialized-sport-road...

https://www.evanscycles.com/shimano-r540-spd-sl-ro...

[The_Jackal]

How cheap is cheap?
Chainreaction do some Look Keo pedals for £16 and various pairs of road shoes for under £30
Decathlon is also an alternative and you can try the shoes on.

[Pot Odds]

Good on you for raising some money for a good cause.

However make sure you do plenty of good training rides so you enjoy the charity event rather than struggling. I ride 2-3 times a week with anything from 35-50 for regular weekend rides but feel pretty tired with sore legs the next day after anything from 75-100 and you've got 2 days of that.

Do you have a route for the ride and if so whats the elevation because 170miles flat is very different from 170 with lots of hills. Is it the 'way of the roses' as thats around 170 miles ?

Not being -ve, just want to make sure you get the most out of it. We are planning a 2 day Coast 2 Coast for later in the year but thats shorter at around 130 miles. We had intended to do it in a day but decided that about 12,000 ft of climbing was gonna make it a real slog so we'd enjoy it more over 2 days.

Good luck

Pot Odds

[Magic919]

I'd avoid the road SPDs for such casual use. Get Shimano M520 for under £20 and shoes for about £30. Easier to walk in.

[jamiebae]

I agree, you're better off with MTB shoes and pedals as they're double sided and easier to walk in, but if you're confident the road ones will be lighter and stiffer. Wiggle do some DHB branded shoes which are decent enough for road cleats, and some own brand pedals which I've used before and work fine, or the basic Shimano ones work well too.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-r10-road-cycling-shoe/

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/lifeline-essential-spd-sl-...


For MTB stuff the basic Shimano M520 pedals (which come with cleats) are cheap and will do the job just fine. Just make sure the shoes are compatible with 2 bolt cleats.

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-pd-m520-pedals/

I believe Muddy Fox stuff is total rubbish and to be avoided, much better to buy from a proper bike place like CRC, Evans, Wiggle etc and they all do good own-label kit.

[W00DY]

Merlin will sell you some Mavic Aksium shoes and Look Keo Classic 2 pedals for £65 which is a steal and both mavic shoes and Look pedals are great.

https://www.merlincycles.com/mavic-aksium-ii-road-...

Look at the bundle deal on the right hand side.

[BoRED S2upid]

Avoid Sports Direct they aren't very good shoes too flexible. Any of the above will be better.

[yellowjack]

I recently bought some MTB shoes for £40 and Shimano SPD cleats for £10 at Decathlon. All good so far, as you can try shoes on there, so not guessing what internet stuff might fit your feet. I'm pretty sure you'd get some half decent SPD pedals for about £20 or so, and they usually include the cleats.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/500-mountain-bike-cycl... (the ones I bought)
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/m520-clipless-mountain... (similar to ones I already had)

I know they're not road specific kit, but prices are pretty similar for equivalent road stuff. So £60 for shoes and pedals, that you can actually walk in off the bike.

[Shinobi]

Thanks guys!

£50 was what I was hoping for so that's great.

Just completed my first 40 miler today after almost two years off the bike, hopefully with some proper pedals and regular rides I'll improve a lot. Averaged 12 miles but aching now.

Hope yo be a regula around here for a few months.

[Barchettaman]

Hi Shinobi,

Have a look at the dual platform/clip in pedals from Shimano. They're lovely things and mean you can use the bike in comfort both with and without clip shoes:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-a530-spd-single-si...

They come with cleats for tue shoes.

I would echo the advice to get MTB-style shoes as they're easier to walk in.

Best of luck in the charity ride mate.

[Stupeo]

yellowjack said:

I recently bought some MTB shoes for £40 and Shimano SPD cleats for £10 at Decathlon. All good so far, as you can try shoes on there, so not guessing what internet stuff might fit your feet. I'm pretty sure you'd get some half decent SPD pedals for about £20 or so, and they usually include the cleats.

https://www.decathlon.co.uk/500-mountain-bike-cycl... (the ones I bought)
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/m520-clipless-mountain... (similar to ones I already had)

I know they're not road specific kit, but prices are pretty similar for equivalent road stuff. So £60 for shoes and pedals, that you can actually walk in off the bike.

Another vote for decathlon.

Just bought some of their BTwin SPD pedals for my commuter - £15.99 and they are lighter, but more solid feeling than the Shimano 520s on my carbon bike!

Shoes are pretty nice looking too.

[Marcellus]

Which charity ride are you doing and what size shoes are you?

I have a spare pair of shoes which are too large for me so may be ok for you.

[Shinobi]

Marcellus said:

Which charity ride are you doing and what size shoes are you?

I have a spare pair of shoes which are too large for me so may be ok for you.

Hi Marcellus, it's Cancer Research. If they would fit that would be great happy to pay postage and some beer money I'm a size 11 - 11.5 depending on width.

Thanks

[Dannbodge]

I used the wiggle (DHB) R1.0s for about two years.

With shimano pedals it came to <£50

[Marcellus]

Shinobi said:

Marcellus said:

Which charity ride are you doing and what size shoes are you?

I have a spare pair of shoes which are too large for me so may be ok for you.

Hi Marcellus, it's Cancer Research. If they would fit that would be great happy to pay postage and some beer money I'm a size 11 - 11.5 depending on width.

Thanks

Good luck with it, but alas the shoes will be too small for you as they're 43s!

[ChunkyloverSV]

W00DY said:

Merlin will sell you some Mavic Aksium shoes and Look Keo Classic 2 pedals for £65 which is a steal and both mavic shoes and Look pedals are great.

https://www.merlincycles.com/mavic-aksium-ii-road-...

Look at the bundle deal on the right hand side.

Thanks for this, treated myself on Saturday and made the plunge to clipless

[Zippee]

Make sure that whatever you buy you either spend time aligning the cleats in the show or get advice from someone local that can show you - 170 miles with your knees out of line will hurt like hell...

[Kell]

I would certainly recomend trying some on before you commit to buying.

Cycling shoes (in my experience) come up small. I'm normally a 42 in most shoes but in cycling shoes, I have to buy a 44.

But then in some brnads it's a 43.

The amount I've wasted in postage sending back shoes that don't fit, it would have been cheaper to try some on in store and buy them at full price.

[Marcellus]

Chain reaction & wiggle are great for this..... sidi come in half sizes too, plus a range of colours, so before i bought my latest pair i "bought" a dozen pairs, tried them all and then returned 11 of them free postage!