Cheap way to go clipless

jon_rourke said:

I'm looking to go clipless after a few weeks of trying to deny that it's probably better. I don't want to put much money into this, but I need shoes and pedals. Any suggestions?

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I'll bet you can get into it for for as little as $50 -$75 if you want, for pedals and shoes.

One important thing is that the shoes need to fit and be comfortable. They don't need to be expensive necessarily, but they need to fit. This makes buying online a little difficult, although I bought my first three pair of shoes via web and it worked out OK. Not perfect, but OK and I bought shoes that were on sale, so they were cheap. I'll bet my first two pair of shoes averaged about $60 and worked great. (I have more expensive shoes now, but only because I decided I used them enough to go higher end. They are lighter, but no better in terms of pure function... fit is absolutely most important)

I like shoes that have no laces, only velcro, but many people like more conventional looking lace-up shoes. Personal choice only.

Given shoes that fit, just spend as much as you feel like you can afford whether that be $50 or $300.

As for pedals, I'm a big fan of the generic brands - Nashbar, Performance/Forte, Wellgo. THey are cheap and work absolutely fine. Can be as cheap as $25 and will work fine.

The best deals are often found in shoe/pedal combo deals from places like Nashbar and Performance. Check those sites and then decide if you're comfortable buying the shoes without trying them on.

As for type- I recommend buying mountain bike type shoes with SPD-type pedals, just because they are more versitile and work absolutely fine for even high level cyclists, let alone us recreational cyclists.

Hope that helps.

jon_rourke said:

https://www.roadbikeoutlet.com/bike...on-bicycle-parts/gavin-road-cycling-shoe.html

https://www.roadbikeoutlet.com/bike-parts-and-components/sealed-bearing-clipless-road-pedals.html


This is what I was looking at, I'm sure the quality isn't the best, but I think I may give these a shot. Any thoughts?

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Never heard of the shoe brand, so no opinion there. The pedals seem to say "Wellgo", and that's a reliable bargain brand (they make most of the Performance and Nashbar house-brand pedals).

But a preliminary question: Are you sure you want a road-type shoe with the external (not-so-walkable) cleat? If you're going to get spd-type pedals, you can get a mtb-bike type shoe with a recess for the cleat, which makes walking much easier. If you go that way, there are bargains. I like the Shimano MT-21, which looks like a fairly normal shoe and can be had on sale often for $40 or less.

If you really want the smooth-soled road-type shoe, I'd suggest thinking about the larger-platform Look or Spd-sl type pedals, which give you a little more stability and pressure distribution. You can find decent examples of those cheap, too. This Look-type Performance pedal is on closeout for $35 (being discontinued because it's the old Look delta style, not the newer keo). I just bought two pairs, and can vouch for the quality. Heck of a bargain.
https://www.performancebike.com/bikes/Product_10052_10551_1033385_-1_1586000_20000_400265

I'll give you a free pair of MTB pedals and shoes, if you fit size 45 (American 10.5) and will Paypal me $10 to cover most of the shipping. These are Shimano's original SPD pedals (collector's item?) and 661 Expert shoes. I don't have any cleats for them so you'll have to buy SPD cleats. I need to clear out lots of old stuff and I'd like to think that they will get used.

This original design has a lot of surface area so they can be ridden short distances in normal shoes

These are in pretty good shape but I upgraded to carbon shoes.