Pedal advice for road bike

[hab1966]

My wife has signed up to do a 121km road ride in June on the Novo Nordisk diabetes bike ride - she is a type 1 diabetic herself.

We normally ride mountain bikes, but for this event she needs a road bike so went out and bought a Boardman SLR8.6 from Halfords.

A couple of questions i'd like to ask -

On our mountain bikes we ride with flat pedals and are happy with these. I don't think these will be suitable for a road bike and i don't want her riding clip-in as i know it will put her off when she fails to unclip and falls over. After she has done the ride, the plan is for her to use the bike for commuting. What pedals should she look at?

On our mountain bikes we are running slime filled tubes or tubeless tyres. Is it worth fitting slime filled tubes on the road bike? On the event there is a support crew to help with punctures and mechanicals so she wont need to be changing tubes herself.

[frisbee]

Nothing wrong with using flat pedals on a road bike.

For that sort of distance you definitely want cycling shoes with a stiffer sole, so I would be tempted to go for combination SPD and flat pedals.

[DS240]

I wouldn’t be too put off with clip in pedals. With a half decent pair of cycling shoes I think the benefits would be felt.

You can do a lot of work doing static practice clipping in and clipping out and I think you get used to it pretty quickly.

Look Keo Max pedals are decent and user friendly.

The tubeless option will depend on your wheels you have or are willing to buy. I run tubeless on my good wheels (mavic ust system) and have no issues with it.

They will sort small punctures but there Is the risk of bigger punctures not sealing. But you can revert to tube fairly easily if you take spares.

[Donbot]

If clipping in is out of the question I'd at least go for pedals with toe clips.

Having more flexibility in the way you pedal helps with muscle fatigue massively.

[bigdom]

If she’s used to riding, she will be fine with clip in pedals. SPD type and shoes, just slacken the release to start with, drop the saddle a bit, and cycle round flat and empty to get used to them. It doesn’t take too long, my wife uses them and only cycles a few months each year. Personally I wouldn’t use cages/toe clips, I remember using them in my informative years, and that were so much more difficult to release from if the straps are too tight.

[DE1975]

She could try some pedals from the Shimano Click'r range. They work with SPD cleats but are more forgiving for clipping/unclipping needed about 50% of the force of SPDs.

[Connectors]

Donbot said:

If clipping in is out of the question I'd at least go for pedals with toe clips

There’s lots of good advice about spd etc, the above isn’t good advice though. I’d encourage you to ignore it.

An spd/flat pedal (Shimano M324) might be a good option for her, then she ultimately has the choice of being clipped in or not.

[deeen]

I use Boardman SPD pedals from Halfords, adjustable, so you could set the clips very soft to get used to them, then tighten them up a bit when she is more confident. I also would advise against toestraps, even more likely to stop and fall over!

[Donbot]

Connectors said:

Donbot said:

If clipping in is out of the question I'd at least go for pedals with toe clips

There’s lots of good advice about spd etc, the above isn’t good advice though. I’d encourage you to ignore it.

Why's that out of interest?

[hab1966]

Thanks for all the helpful replies.

We are used to riding approx 60 miles as there are a number of road based charity rides we do each year. We've normally ridden mountain bikes with slick road tyres and used flat pedals and trainers. However, the ride my wife is doing requires a road bike thus the questions.

She is going to go with the supplied pedals whilst she gets used to the bike and then look to try the combination SPD.

[lufbramatt]

+1 on Shimano click-r

My wife has a pair and they work really well. Much less force needed to release than road pedals. They use 2 bolt mtb cleats so still a good choice of shoes from casual to really stiff race oriented stuff.

[frisbee]

Donbot said:

Connectors said:

Donbot said:

If clipping in is out of the question I'd at least go for pedals with toe clips

There’s lots of good advice about spd etc, the above isn’t good advice though. I’d encourage you to ignore it.

Why's that out of interest?

You tend to stay attached to the bike when you crash at high speed. With clipless you don't even notice your feet coming free.

[anonymous-user]

The benefits of a stiff soled shoe and properly set up clipless pedals for a long road ride are massive, if not larger

[BeirutTaxi]

If you go with cleats (so you're effectively attached to the bike) go with one of the Shimano options.

http://vankru.moonfruit.com/blog/4556077342/Pedal-...

[keith2.2]

frisbee said:

Donbot said:

Connectors said:

Donbot said:

If clipping in is out of the question I'd at least go for pedals with toe clips

There’s lots of good advice about spd etc, the above isn’t good advice though. I’d encourage you to ignore it.

Why's that out of interest?

You tend to stay attached to the bike when you crash at high speed. With clipless you don't even notice your feet coming free.

plus toe clips are even more difficult to get out of in a hurry than clipless pedals.

OP - it's five months away - thats 4 months 3 weeks and 6 days more than would be required to learn to use clip-in pedals and it will transform the ride.

[Donbot]

I didn't mean the full cages / straps, the ones you can move your foot out sideways aren't a problem to get out of.

I do see your point though.

[griffter]

I use flats on my mountain bike, look keo type cleats on my road bikes and toe clips and straps on my gravel bike.
Cleats win hands down for the road. I’ve never fallen off _because_ of them.
Personally I find clips and straps a good compromise. I never do the straps up tight - they’re just there to stop my foot coming out sideways. It quickly becomes second nature to pull your foot off the back of the pedal, even heading for the ground.
Whatever she chooses, there’s plenty of time to get used to it, so my advice is cleats.