The big benefit of two-bolt systems like Shimano SPD, as used by mountain bikers, is that you can walk easily in the shoes because they have recessed cleats.
They do deal with mud and muck well though. This makes them popular with beginners and commuters, and as well as featuring on the best shoes for mountain bikers they are the go-to cleat design for the best gravel bike shoes too. By comparison, road shoes are much harder to walk in because the three-bolt cleats stick out from the bottom of the sole. It means you can use MTB shoes with recessed cleats, and many people do it.
Our guide to Shimano SPD vs. SPD-SL pedals explains everything you need to know about these pedal types, and you can also compare the benefits and disadvantages of flat and clipless pedals. A good bike shop can help you fix the cleats to your shoes.
If you need to change the angle — because your feet naturally point inwards or outwards and you can feel some discomfort — sit on the edge of a table with your legs dangling off the side, your shoes resting on a rectangular piece of paper, with the edge perpendicular to the table.
The angle between the centre line of your shoes and the edge of the paper centre line of cleat is your cleat angle. With mountain bike cleats, you can position the cleat in three directions: fore and aft in relation to the axle, as well as the angle in relation to your shoe.
Tighten down the bolts just enough to keep them firmly in place. Try not to let them dig into the sole of the shoe because the remaining indentations will make fine-tuning harder — carbon soles are more resistant. With your shoes back on, balance yourself against a wall and clip in. Your legs should hang naturally down, without any noticeable stress on your joints. If you're cycling short distances and casually, basic rubber pedals work fine.
As you pedal more seriously, say to achieve fitness, the speed and distance that you pedal increases and there's a risk of your feet slipping off the pedals. At the least, this is an annoyance; at the worst, it can cause a crash and injury. Also, even if you never slip off the pedals, rubber pedals allow your feet to change positions while you're pedaling, which is very inefficient. Ideally, you'll always pedal with the balls of your feet over the centers of the pedals.
Because it's difficult to keep your feet in position, toe clips and straps were invented shortly after bicycles were invented, actually. Toe clips and straps bolt to regular pedals non clipless and form cages to hold your feet in the correct place on the pedals and keep your feet from slipping off.
This is a perfectly viable solution and one less expensive than clipless pedals and the special bike shoes needed to complete the clipless system. There are drawbacks, however. One is that the clips and straps may cut off the circulation to your feet when they're fastened tightly enough to allow efficient pedaling and control.
It's also a fairly tricky two-step process to get out of the clips and straps when they're tightened because you must reach down to loosen the strap before you can pull your foot out. Also, when you're riding off road on the pedal bottoms, the toe straps hang down where they can snag on roots or sticks causing a crash. These are just some of the reasons that clipless pedals are now de rigueur for serious cyclists.
The only real disadvantage is that they take a little practice to learn how to use true with toe clips and straps, too , and they're more costly.
Just like there are two places to ride, on and off road, there are two types of clipless systems. The most popular are walkable clipless systems or SPD style, on which the cleats are recessed into the shoe soles and mount using two fixing bolts.
This means the cleats don't contact the ground when you walk so this clipless system is ideal for walking and even hiking. Yet, it's still incredibly efficient for maximum pedal power.
Walkable clipless pedals and shoes are ideal for off-road riding, commuting, touring and century riding, too. Many spin gyms tend to use SPD style pedals on their bikes due to their ease of use. So, what does SPD stand for? Many SPD systems utilize a double-sided pedal photo, right , which means you can click into the pedal on either side so you don't have to look down to get your feet in.
This also means that if you ride your bike with regular street shoes, you'll have a decent pedaling surface even though you're not using your special cleated cycling shoes. The other system is road photo, below SPD-SL or LOOK style uses 3 bolts to mount and as the name implies it's designed for use on road bikes where maximum efficiency, aerodynamics and minimum weight are all important.
Road shoes are lighter and stiffer than walkable models because the soles aren't lugged. The other difference in road clipless systems is that the cleats protrude from the soles of the shoes because the soles are so thin and light. This makes it difficult to walk in the shoes though there are cleat covers available to protect the cleat and improve traction. Also, road systems usually are single-sided so you must find the correct side of the pedal to click in when you start out.
Most road pedals hang a certain way to make this relatively easy. The majority of clipless systems today feature float. This is a few degrees of built-in lateral play allowing your feet to move slightly and find the optimum pedaling position. Float ensures that you won't injure your knees by riding with your feet misaligned with your knees, which was a common problem before pedals with float were invented. Keep in mind that even though most clipless pedals offer float, it's still important to align the cleats carefully.
They must be positioned to hold the balls of your feet over the pedals and to match your natural foot inclination. Our bike fitters are experts at this. Another adjustment many clipless pedals offer is fine-tuning the ease of entry and exit. Competitive riders often set their pedals very firm because they don't want their feet popping out in all-out sprinting efforts. Meanwhile, mountain bikers like a loose setting so that they can get out with very little effort should they need to get their feet down in a hurry.
A loose setting is also helpful if you're just starting out with clipless pedals. When buying clipless pedals be sure to tell us how you'd like the pedals set-up so we can get them just right.
We can also show you how to fine-tune the adjustment. The most important thing is practicing before hitting the road or trail. This is especially important if you started with toe clips and straps, which require a different foot motion to get your feet out.
Clipless pedals release by swinging your heels outward. Teach your feet this motion while standing over the bike. You're just going to practice getting your feet in and out, not sit on the seat or ride anywhere. If you're worried about falling over, practice on a lawn or soft surface. Even better, if you have an indoor trainer, mount your bike on it and practice in place.
Click your right foot into the right pedal and remove it 30 or 40 times, and repeat with your left. It should begin to feel natural and easy. Keep clicking and releasing until you've really got it down. When you're comfortable getting in and out of the pedals, do a short loop around the neighborhood and practice entering and exiting the pedals for real.
The trickiest thing the first couple of times is remembering to swivel your heels to get out instead of pulling back the toe-clip motion. As long as you keep the correct motion in mind you'll get your feet out just fine. If you're worried about it, plan your neighborhood test loop to end by a telephone pole you can hang onto for insurance. If you're still having trouble getting in and out of the pedals, practice some more while standing next to the bike.
There might also be something making it harder to get out of the pedals, such as a too-tight adjustment or a misaligned cleat. If that's the case, be sure to bring your bike and shoes in so we can have have a look, solve any problems and get you going.
Your email address:. This piece is written for any cyclist looking into clipless pedals for the first time. The majority of cycling shoes are compatible with either Look 3 hole mounting or Shimano SPD 2 hole mounting pedals. In the beginning there were just flat pedals, then the racers developed clips and straps to hold their feet into place with the pedal whilst riding for additional control.
See the clips and straps pictured to the right for reference. The inspiration for clipless cycling pedals came from ski bindings. Some of the first clipless pedal systems were pioneered by Cinelli of Italy in the s. It took until the s for clipless pedal systems to become acceptable for racer, when the French company Look developed the first commercially successful clipless pedal system. It features a significantly smaller cleat to fit into a recessed sole, allowing for easier walking when not on your bike.
There are a couple common worries for beginners using clipless pedals for the first time. Firstly, they worry that they will have difficulty clipping into the pedal system, and secondly, that they will struggle to get their feet out of the pedals where required. Honestly, there will likely be a learning curve, and hiccups are to be expected. The inability to clip out of clipless pedals for beginners often happens where you would least like it to occur, such as in traffic or rolling up to a set of lights alongside a busy pub beer garden on a sweltering hot day.
Practice makes perfect, and clipless pedals work brilliantly once your muscle memory takes over. To clip yourself into the pedal you simply slide the front of the cleat under the front catch of the pedal and press down hard with your heel.
As the cleat engages with the pedal you will hear and feel a reassuring click in most cases which lets you know that your foot is now clipped into the pedal. To release your foot from the pedal system you need to twist your heel out to the side until the cleat disengages from the pedal.
In times of panic this process is almost instinctive and will allow you to easily release from your bike as required. One of the best initial ways to practice is by leaning with your bike against a wall for support whilst practicing the simple process of clipping in and out.
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