A question about pedals

[sperminator]

I was wondering if there was an advantage of having the triangle shaped pedals for the road bike over the SPD or egg beater pedals?

[bent steel]

Before rigid, carbon soled road shoes, the argument was that a bigger clip offered a bettter supported interface, leading to less fatigue of supporting your foot on a small platform for hours on end. My experience is that with rigid soles, this is no longer an issue.

One thing to note however is the distance from the top of the cleat to the axle center. True road pedal systems tend to have a very small q-factor, making for better efficiency. Not that it matters, but I run Speedplay pedals, which tend to have one of the lowest q-factors.

[sperminator]

cool thanks for the advice and info.

[FFW]

I started out on my first road bike using my time attack mtb pedals and they worked ok. after about a year I went to speedplay road pedals - way better. I've tried time and look road pedals as well, but the speedplays are the best in my opinion:
- low q-factor
- 2-sided entry (most road pedals are one-sided)
- very low weight
- excellent cornering clearance
- easier to clip in/out
- don't need to replace cleats as often

in the end it's whatever works best for you though

[ubermensch]

Originally Posted by bent steel

One thing to note however is the distance from the top of the cleat to the axle center. True road pedal systems tend to have a very small q-factor

Just to clarify, the distance between the cleat and the axle is the stack height, and the distance between the attachment points of the pedals is the q-factor.

I agree that with the stiff soles these days, there is little need for the big platforms anymore. I use Look Keos only because they are black and were on sale at the time.

To the OP, there is really no getting around trying out a bunch of pedals until you find the right ones for you. I bought some CB Candy SL for the MTB based on recommendations, but I'm getting ready to switch to Time pedals because the CB just aren't for me.

[dirtmistress]

On my road bike I use speedplays. They are great for knees but tend to collect dirt if you walk in them and that makes it hard to clip back in unless you can find a pointy stick.
For touring or rides where I get off the bike quite a bit, I throw on spd's.

[Endo Verendo]

Mtb pedals require a mtb shoe or an adapter for a road shoe. Road shoes are lighter and more aero than mtb shoes. There's a risk of pedal strike with mtb pedals when cornering due to the larger stack height. If you're just starting out road riding, your mtb pedals and shoes will work fine. Once you kick up the mileage you'd benefit greatly by switching to a stiffer road shoe and pedals with larger platforms. You're still going to get hot spots with carbon soles and a pedal like eggbeaters and you'll also suffer from a less stable platform.

[sperminator]

thanks for the info guys!!

[MTBMaven]

+1 for the Look Keo, I have the Sprint model. That and some carbon soled Adidas I got on sale. Make sure to get a shoe that is a bit larger (in width for me) if you are going to do longer days. You feet will swell after a few hours. Now I start off my rides with the shoes very loose and they fit fine a few hours in.