Shoes that take SPD and SPD-SL cleats £50?

[DanX5]

I have just got back on my bike after many years and after putting a some dark, cold and wet miles on my Kona MTB since Christmas, I have just bought a second hand Kona Esseto D road bike as well as a Tacx smart flow trainer.

The road bike has come with SPD-SL pedals on it and I quite fancy fitting some SPD's to the mountain bike at some point. I am therefore after a shoe (up to £50 budget) that is a jack of all trades - needs to have SPD-SL and SPD cleat 'holes' on the bottom and I would prefer something that I can walk on (so probably favour the slightly more rugged MTB style sole rather than road style).

Can anyone recommend any particular shoe that fits the bill?

Or is my logic flawed (apart from the faff of changing cleats on the shoe), i.e. are there other reasons that I should buy two specific pairs (one for road bike SPD-SL and one for MTB just SPD) at say £30-35 mark?

[louiebaby]

I ride Shimano SPD-SL on all my bikes, which include a roadie, a MTB I use for commuting and family duties, and a Brompton. I don't do very much "proper MTB-ing" at all, but when I do go on forest trails, I have no problems in roadie shoes.

You don't want to be changing cleats. Once you get them right, which can be a bit of a faff, you want to leave them on until they need replacing, and will then need to be careful to fit them in exactly the same place.

So either go for two sets of shoes, or have the same pedal system, I'd have thought.

[yellowjack]

I've seen shoes that have both the two-bolt fittings for SPDs and the three-bolt fittings for SPD-SLs, but you'll struggle to find any that fit the SLs which also have a MTB style sole.

In your position, I think I'd buy a couple of sets of SPD pedals and one set of MTB style shoes, and stick to the same pedals on road and MTB. Either that, or if you're keen to keep the SLs on the road bike, buy a second pair of shoes. Play with the cost permutations first if money is an issue. There are certainly quite a few options on cheaper pedals. I'd look for the best shoes I could afford, and upgrade pedals later if I was starting on a budget. Because as someone else has already said, mucking about taking cleats on and off is less than ideal. Far easier to get the cleat position 'correct' for your feet, and leave it there.

My road shoes came with both sets of fittings, but I took the SPD two-bolt slider out when I fitted my SPD-SL cleats. It's no big deal using 'MTB' pedals on a road bike. The only people who will frown at the idea are the cafe poseurs who have all the gear, but can't manage more than twenty miles between preening cafe stops, and their opinion is, quite frankly, irrelevant.

[yellowjack]

These are slightly over the £50 mark, but compatible with both cleat styles... http://www.tweekscycles.com/Product.do?method=view...

and these at £42 are dual fit too... http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-r065-spd-sl-road-s...


As I said before though, due to the size of the SPD-SL platform and the amount of twist needed to unclip, you might struggle with a grippy sole and dual cleat fittings. Cleats are usually supplied with pedals, not shoes, too. So buying two sets of SPD pedals would give you a spare set. Some of the cheaper pedals are barely more expensive than a set of cleats bought separately anyway. Then keep the SL pedals that are on the bike for a possible later 'upgrade' to a separate pair of road shoes.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Ive got a specialized shoes that take both spd and sl

Its a pain to swap cleats, but it gives you the option of supporting both

Having said that to accommodate spd-sls the spd cleat is not recessed behind grip, so you walk on the spd cleat, unlike most spd shoes which had off road grips, meaning you can walk easily

Last year i just fitted spd-sl to all my bikes, but ive just taken sl off my commuter bike as it just wasnt suitable for commuting or any kind off off road (it is doable)

As said just buy 2 x shoes and 2 x pedals or use spds on both bikes

Ive got some shoe bargains off ebay, people buy the wrong size and then often sell them unworn. I got a pair of SPD carbon brand new but tried on shoes for £15 instead of the new price of £90

I like SPD-SL and make use of the larger contact area , but I get fed up with them clogging up with dirt, wearing really quick and being un walkable, hence I only use them for road bike rides.

Edited by TwistingMyMelon on Friday 20th January 11:59

[offspring86]

I use these:

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-m065-spd-mountain-...

With 2 pairs of these, one on my mountain bike and one on my commuter road bike:

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

[Kell]

I have MTB, Road bike and Brompton.

I've ridden MTB most of my life and only got a cheap road bike about 3 years ago.

So I already had SPD cleats, pedals and shoes, so for me it was a no brainer to just put SPD pedals on the road bike.

This works for me as most of the riding I do (commuting) involves walking around station platforms and also driving to and from the station. None of this I could do in SLs.

What I'm getting to is that I think it makes more sense to run one system across them all than to have different systems and start swapping cleats about.

That way, if you do decide to get another pair of shoes, you could get winter shoes (for example) and make riding when it's cold and dark far more pleasant.

[DanX5]

Thanks for all above responses. I'll look at costs and decide what to go for, gut feeling is that a decent pair of shoes and SPD's on both bikes looks the easier overall option and probably slightly cheaper to achieve.

[TwistingMyMelon]

Ive gone through periods of having 2 sets of pedals between 3 bikes or similar so swapped pedals when I was waiting for a pair to be replaced under warranty, was a faff but OK. Although I stopped it as I could tell one of the cranks was getting close to cross threading

[tr7v8]

I have a pair of these albeit without clips at the mo. Beware the sizing is all over the place. I ended up going to Evans & trying a pair on & ended up with a big for me 44.

http://www.giro.com/eu_en/products/men/cycling-sho...