# What have I done! SPD shoes!



## Mixman (Dec 18, 2007)

Well, reading advice on here, magazines etc, I feel I have to make the move towards SPD's. Not wanting to spend a fortune on shoes, I've managed to buy myself a set of Specialized SPD shoes, used for not a bad price. I'm always amazed how much some of these are.

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI....352817&ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT#ht_500wt_1156

So I have a few weeks before my next 'competition' to try and get used to them.


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## chunkytfg (Feb 1, 2009)

top stuff. It's a slippery slope from now on. It wont be long before you have carbon soled Sidi shoes with proper road cleats on a couple of grands worth of road bike


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## Epoch (Jul 30, 2006)

I've gone backwards for the start of this cycling season (Back to flats) but SPD's are much better when balance and confidence are no longer issues. The ability to push/pull in circular cycles can really help when your legs are burning to get you to the end.

Last year I dropped it sideways on a wet rocky incline (way beyond my fitness an ability at the time) sloppy pedal through tired legs and a in opportune turn of the bar and then down. Pride hurt longer than my knee, ankle and wrist (humour in the office for weeks) but SPD's or not i'd have gone down then. 

Getting your foot out will be all you can think of for a week or two but when set up right this should never be a problem and will quickly become second nature.

I've decided to work on my balance and fitness and flats made it easier to pop on the bike for a short ride out locally. The SPD's wil reappear on the XC hardtail soon and the flats will move to a full susser when i make that step.


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## Stumper (Apr 5, 2009)

I just ordered my first pair of SPD shoes today and I reckon it's going to be interesting learning how to ride with them!

I've just got my first road bike so I'm fitting SPD pedals to both bikes and using the one pair of shoes for both road and off-road.

We'll have to come back here next week and compare photo's of our SPD related injuries :lol:


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## robz (Apr 18, 2006)

graeme_t said:


> I just ordered my first pair of SPD shoes today and I reckon it's going to be interesting learning how to ride with them!
> 
> I've just got my first road bike so I'm fitting SPD pedals to both bikes and using the one pair of shoes for both road and off-road.
> 
> *We'll have to come back here next week and compare photo's of our SPD related injuries *:lol:


The bit in bold...i appreciate the benefits of SPD helping you build a good rhythm, i just cant get my mind of "What if i need to put my foot down fast?" which happened today... think i'll stick to flat pedals for the time being :lol:


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## 335dAND110XS (Dec 17, 2010)

You'd be surprised how easily good SPDs release. They used to be pretty lethal but are now a lot better.


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## Twingogeekeo (Mar 2, 2011)

I ride both road and offroad. SPDs make life so much easyier. Road its awesome as you get about 30% more power when using SPDs so means your goning to be quicker. Only down fall is if you have what i had at the weekend where you lose control of the bike and your still connected to the pedals :lol:

Also you will have SPD moment dont worry it happens to us all :lol:


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

335dAND110XS said:


> You'd be surprised how easily good SPDs release. They used to be pretty lethal but are now a lot better.


Agreed, I'm not always the most gung-ho of blokes, but took to SPD's on my mountain bike readily... much better than flats... helps to cheat with getting air too :thumb:

Yes, you will have a "moment"... managed mine in my garden whilst perfectly stationary. :lol: No harm done however, apart from my ego 

Just don't set them at their tightest, or you might be stuck for better or worse - and they may need adjusting for tightness after the first ride or so :thumb:


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## 335dAND110XS (Dec 17, 2010)

McClane - I had them on my (new at the time) 1997 Stumpjumper and they were horrendous! Stuck with them for almost two years and kept turning minor incidents into major crashes, usually ending up with me stuck in the pedals (they were Ritcheys).

So when I got the current 2007 Stumpy, I stuck flats on and was fine. Finally thought I should be using SPDs (did an off road tri with flats and didn't feel all that efficient) so tried them again - ten minutes into the first ride and I had to stop suddenly beside two pedestrians and keeled over! Since then they've been fine. Do a lot of very technical XC riding and they always release okay when needed.

I still don't think they are essential like many MTBers but they definitely increase efficiency.


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

I don't think they're a necessity but they do help on uphill and road sections, if you're struggling to get out of them they need setting up properly, mine came out at a slight twist of the ankle.


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

335dAND110XS said:


> McClane - I had them on my (new at the time) 1997 Stumpjumper and they were horrendous! Stuck with them for almost two years and kept turning minor incidents into major crashes, usually ending up with me stuck in the pedals (they were Ritcheys).
> 
> So when I got the current 2007 Stumpy, I stuck flats on and was fine. Finally thought I should be using SPDs (did an off road tri with flats and didn't feel all that efficient) so tried them again - ten minutes into the first ride and I had to stop suddenly beside two pedestrians and keeled over! Since then they've been fine. Do a lot of very technical XC riding and they always release okay when needed.
> 
> I still don't think they are essential like many MTBers but they definitely increase efficiency.


Oh dear, I can imagine... I know they had a "repuation" which worried me (I'm not an expert rider) when my new bike came with the basic Shimano 520 ones early last year.

But like your more recent experience, and BigMC's, I have found them a pleasure. Really natural feel (once set up properly), and real easy to clip in and out of with a little foot twist. It's like second nature to me now. One thing I had to do was fashion my own shims out of some plastic container or another to improve the pedalling angle for comfort... the very flat nature of them gave me sore knees initially.

I put my old flats with open toe clips on the bike for the first few rides (til I got some shoes), and the efficiency and control improvement was massive with SPDs (used to use the spin style bikes in my gym - so like circular peddling! :thumb. Forced me to remain attached to the bike and peddle through more - as I was always a "better safe than sorry" foot planter type before.


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## 335dAND110XS (Dec 17, 2010)

In what way are your shoes too flat? Spesh BG shoes are slightly angled sideways to straighten your knee up - I've had knee issues before and these really work well.

I did have Spesh Tahos but wore them out. Got Spesh Expert Carbons a month or so ago and very impressed indeed - I use XT SPDs on the MTB and 540s on the road bike (don't like road SPDs/shoes).

Managed to win that tri on flats so hoping if I do another one, I'll be a wee bit quicker.

Did a 16 mile night ride last night - 95% off road on severe terrain. The SPDs were excellent!


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

I have the Specialised Tahos which are pretty comfy. I think it is to do with hip width or foot interpronation, basically, I like to have my feet angled out a bit more than the shoe/cleat/pedal set up allowed for (there's not much angle lea-way on shimano SPDs)... so read you could buy/DIY your own shims to raise the inner side of the cleat and increase the angle.

Helped with power and no knee pain since, basically I think my knees were taking the hit for the fact that my feet angle out a little naturally as my hips are reasonably wide, but the pedals were sucking them in flatter than they'd like to go. Only takes 0.5-1mm or so x the length of your legs and lots of pedalling.

Item no. 3 down talks about foot angles, useful article on SPD's all round: http://www.caree.org/bike101cliplesspedals.htm


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## hulla the hulla (May 20, 2009)

For those concerned about getting out of SPD's you can get multi directional cleats from Shimano which are even easier to release

From Wiggle :
* SH51 SPD single release cleats, recommended for all MTB SPD pedals except PD M858: release the cleat by twisting heel outwards
* SH52 SPD single release cleats, recommended for PDM858 pedal: release the cleat by twisting heel outwards
* SH 56: Designed to work with all open design pedals: allow your shoe to be disengaged by rolling or twisting the foot in any direction


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## J3FVW (Sep 28, 2009)

I wouldn't be withot SPD's on my road and mountain bikes. Good quality pedals and shoes properly set up make riding a pleasure and getting your foot out becomes second nature pretty quickly (even though most people have had an embarrasing moment with them at some point!).


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## andy monty (Dec 29, 2007)

initally i had a few prat falls

then went onto the mentality of unclipping before anything technical

but its far far better to stay clipped in once you build up the bottle 

this is worth a read

http://www.bikemagic.com/maintenance/fitting-spd-cleats/7004.html

also worth filling the bolt heads with epoxy resin once all set up to save them getting full of crap you can dig the epoxy out should you need to replace the cleats

lather in thread lock too so they will not seize into the shoes plate :thumb:

just keep out of traffics way till your happy with them


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## somouk (Jun 14, 2006)

You'll be fine.

I've only had one fall that could of been prevented by unclipping and that was when a front wheel washed out on some gravelly singletrack.

Anything else is confidence related so take it easy and get used to them. They make a huge difference when your going up hills!


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## Mixman (Dec 18, 2007)

I was feeling a lot more in control of the bike with them on. As though I was part of the bike instead of just being on the bike.


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

spds are great ive got them on several of my bikes,mind that you can adjust the tension of the pedal so there easy to get in and out of,usually theres about 6 clicks either way of tension on the pedals ( depending on model make etc) they are prolly set in the middle to begin with,also you can try moving the cleat position on the shoe usually in the middle is a good start but if you get knee pain etc then try moving them more forward,the shoes you got are they a size larger than your regular shoes as cycle shoes are always very small made which will lead to numb cold and painful feet ideally if your a size 42 you need a size 43 in cycle shoes,deffo the case if you buy shimano shoes..

once you go spd it will take a few weeks and just practice lots at getting your feet out in a hurry but after a few weeks it will feel fine,,spray some good teflon type oil on the pedal outer and the cleats them self,if your off road with them and there hard to get into then just bang your feet of the pedals as your cleats or pedals will no doubt be clogged with mud.

i worked in the bike trade for 14 years and can safely say 99% of the folk i sold onto spd have stuck with them.enjoy


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## Mixman (Dec 18, 2007)

It's strange what you say for the shoes as I'd seen this before but then saw some used Specialized shoes on ebay and thought I'd have a punt. They are size 44, which I'm normally 44/45. But they fit great.

And the pedals, well now see, after just 1 ride, I know I love them. I just bought the entry Shimano M520's. Didn't want to spend too much in case they weren't going to stay on for long. Now will I notice any difference if I bought some more expensive ones? Or should I just stick to these?


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## McClane (Dec 9, 2010)

Mixman said:


> It's strange what you say for the shoes as I'd seen this before but then saw some used Specialized shoes on ebay and thought I'd have a punt. They are size 44, which I'm normally 44/45. But they fit great.
> 
> And the pedals, well now see, after just 1 ride, I know I love them. I just bought the entry Shimano M520's. Didn't want to spend too much in case they weren't going to stay on for long. Now will I notice any difference if I bought some more expensive ones? Or should I just stick to these?


I've been advised their pretty solid/quality and to keep mine... it's more weight that's an issue for a lot of people spending more. I'd say wear them out.


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## bigmc (Mar 22, 2010)

As above wear them out before you buy new imho, I used to just stick to Specialized own stuff on my Stumpy, looking for a new bike now and will probably buy Shimano XTR M970 pedals tbh.


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

specialised shoes tend to be a bit more regular ive got a few pairs of specialised and shimano shoes even northwave ones too.the specialised are a size 43 but fir more like a 42.5 the shimano and northwave are deffo small fitting the shimano are narrow ,i take a 42 normally ,but you gotta bear in mind that when your feet are cold and your just on the bike your feet will expand slightly as you warm up which then leads to sore feet etc etc .always best to try before you buy on bike shoes,but not easy if from ebay ( or lack of bargainsbay)


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## WRX_Paul (Apr 27, 2010)

I tried them on my bike but could not get used to them, now back to flats again.


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## Mixman (Dec 18, 2007)

robtech said:


> specialised shoes tend to be a bit more regular ive got a few pairs of specialised and shimano shoes even northwave ones too.the specialised are a size 43 but fir more like a 42.5 the shimano and northwave are deffo small fitting the shimano are narrow ,i take a 42 normally ,but you gotta bear in mind that when your feet are cold and your just on the bike your feet will expand slightly as you warm up which then leads to sore feet etc etc .always best to try before you buy on bike shoes,but not easy if from ebay ( or lack of bargainsbay)


To be honest, I wanted to try first before forking out loads of cash. I got them for £25 so quite happy with that. Pedals and shoes for £40.

But now I know I like them, I'll definitely go try some different ones on for my next pair. :thumb:


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## somouk (Jun 14, 2006)

I run the 520's and have done for the last 7 months now including a harsh winter. Covered hundreds of muddy miles and they've been great.

They are servicable as well if they need it.


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## andy monty (Dec 29, 2007)

somouk said:


> I run the 520's and have done for the last 7 months now including a harsh winter. Covered hundreds of muddy miles and they've been great.
> 
> They are servicable as well if they need it.


by the time they want servicing its usually in my case time for new cleats as well cleats go for about £12 now where as the likes of Chain Reaction do the 520's with cleats for £20 the Shimano servicing tools are £55 ish

http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=5730


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## robtech (Jan 17, 2011)

i had a pair of lx spds from 1996 which lasted 12 years and were still going great till i tried to service them and they would not go back together.....doh,,think they had done 20 thousand miles .....mind never ever spray wd 40 type stuff into the bearings,,but a light spray of lube over the mechanism is great...


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