Shoes and pedals, your suggestions please.

Picked up some of those Crank Brothers Smarty pedals as they were cheap but wanted to find out if anyone else has tried these? Isn't it float in a clippy-inny pedal that saves your knees and if that's the case then what pedals would you suggest from your knowledge/experience?

Also trying to get some shoes but they all look like such fucking cak. Does anyone make shoes that will take cleats that are classic looking, just plain, simple, black leather that can also be used to walk around in when off the bike. Not all 12 velcro straps and dayglo bits? Is this too much to ask? Ta muchly.

Yeah me too, my bro just bought me new pedals and need some 2 cleat hole shoes, looking at something like this
I would need them to be walkable but still stiff to put the power down, is that too much to ask?

I haven't tried smarty pedals, but I've been slightly put off Crank Brothers because of a few people mentioning that the bearings in them are smaller than usual, hence they wear out more quickly than other pedals, although I'm not 100% certain on that.

I think the majority of people on here use ATACs. I do, and I can't fault them. Never unclipped accidently.

Dunno about the shoes.... I think the ones that try and look normal look terrible, as if you've got special feet and need prescription shoes :P

If you go all out SIDI/Spesh/Shimano, you just look like a cyclist.

If you go all out SIDI/Spesh/Shimano, you just look like a cyclist.

When you say cyclist do you mean flouro wearing commuter?

I used some smarties for a year.

ok I suppose.

prefer times.

got aliums on both my bikes as I like the tight secure feeling of the time pedals

shimano shoes are good, 3 strap mtb "race" type shoes are good for fixed riding as you get a stiff sole and tight upper.

IME northwave shoes have crappy inner plates, mine have stripped all over the shop and I used a torque wrench ffs. not much cleat adjustment either, which is gay.

No.

How many day-glo commuters do you see wearing clipless shoes anyway?

I don't get what the big deal is with everyone using fluoro commuter as some kind of pejorative term. After all, aren't all of us on here commuters, since we all have places to get to on a regular basis? Just because someone is wearing anything reflective it doesn't automatically make them a muppet. I'd much rather there was an additional person on a bike, wearing high vis, than another person in a taxi.

You'll find dangerous cyclists everywhere, regardless of whether they're wearing a high vis item of clothing or not.

got aliums on both my bikes as I like the tight secure feeling of the time pedals.

I agree - they make a nice clunk when you're in, and if you rotate your feet they seem to tighten up even more, but if you rotate them quickly you unclip.

@eeehhh

Fair enough, I just wasn't sure what you were getting at with the whole '*If you go all out SIDI/Spesh/Shimano, you just look like a cyclist.' *since we are all cyclists, it just seemed like you were saying it like it was a bad thing which clearly you weren't.

I actually would say that 50% of the commuters I see on the road go clipless but thats in edinburgh. Although I did see a lady in high heels yesterday whilst out on a stroll

Sidi/Shimano double sided for London. Easy entry and exit and comfortable.

Sidi MTB shoes and Time ATAC Aliums. That's what you want. Don't unclip as much as SPDs is the generalisation.

50/14's got a brand new pair of shoes too. Silver, they are. He can see up his trousers in them.

yeah but can you get aliums in nice shiny silver?

you see for me fucntionality has to be combined with colour schemes. Maybe I'll get the aliums for my beater, they sure are good value.

plus if it's your first set of clipless it's not a bad idea to go for a cheap standard. Yes, 520s. Noone's said much bad about them.

My Aliums are silver.

50/14's got a brand new pair of shoes too. Silver, they are. He can see up his trousers in them.

Used to be my brand new pair of shoes and yes indeed you can see up your trousers in them.

No one has said anything particularly good about 520s either ;)

Aliums are well cheap - you can get a pair for about 27-28 quid online, if you look hard enough. £35-40 in the shops.

Thanks gents, some good suggestions here. What's the deal with float and being kind to your knees then?

A property of a clipless pedal system that allows the rider to rotate the foot within limits, as opposed to a fixed cleat which holds the shoe at a fixed angle in the yaw axis.
Pedals with float allow you to rotate your heel inward or outward to some extent before disengaging the cleat

from http://sheldonbrown.com/gloss_e-f.html#float

I don't think many people ride with their legs perfectly inline, so if you didn't have float, your knees would be under a torsional load?

No one has said anything particularly good about 520s either ;)

Aliums are well cheap - you can get a pair for about 27-28 quid online, if you look hard enough. £35-40 in the shops.

I got mine for about £18 on the bay.

yeah but silver ones are hard to find.

watching the one pair on ebay now though. Though without cleats.

yeah but silver ones are hard to find.

The black ones go silver pretty quickly.

CXS are worth the extra, IMHO.

I have the crank candy pedals, 4000m with no issues no unclipping no bother. I recently invested in some properly fitting sidis and they are fucking rad.

Have had 520's and now on Time ATAC Alium, both used with Sidi Dominators, and the ATAC are so much nicer. Not sure what it is but they seem easier to disengage and firmer at the same time, don't think I'll be going back to Shimano any time soon.

Found an interesting thread on the subject I thought others might like a looky, looky:

http://www.bikeforums.net/archive/index.php/t-142921.html