Road shoes or Mountain shoes?

[Velocirapture]

Perhaps the issue is really stiffness of the sole, and not size of the pedal? If its an uber stiff sole, it becomes  the platform that your foot pushes against, and then its the whole shoe regardless of pedal size. if its flexy, it will flex over a road pedal or a mtn pedal. so rumour has it that road shoes are stiffer cos there is less need for walking in them. but does that apply to even top-of-the-range carbon-soled mtb shoes? surely if the platform size was a problem, all the mtb stage-racers would be yammering for bigger-platformed mtb pedals?

[Tumbleweed]

Perhaps the issue is really stiffness of the sole' date=' and not size of the pedal? If its an uber stiff sole, it becomes  the platform that your foot pushes against, and then its the whole shoe regardless of pedal size. if its flexy, it will flex over a road pedal or a mtn pedal. so rumour has it that road shoes are stiffer cos there is less need for walking in them. but does that apply to even top-of-the-range carbon-soled mtb shoes? surely if the platform size was a problem, all the mtb stage-racers would be yammering for bigger-platformed mtb pedals?[/quote']

 

good point. and as i pointed out, some the shoes are actually the same should with slight mods. i found my bicycling, and had a look at those shoes you get to choose between. the soles look quite similar. 

[frankiefiggs]

I say go for the Road shoes!

[frankiefiggs]

I use to have MTB shoes on my road bike, but now road shoes much better.

[Velocirapture]

better how? better why? in what way and how can you tell?? details, gimme details!

[Tumbleweed]

one thing i have noticed is that after a while i get a bit of side-to-side movement on my spds, which i don't mind, and which i don't get on my time road pedals/cleats. that said, it's a real b!tch getting my cleats into the road pedals at times  holy roller2007-10-31 09:16:09

[Minion]

 

 

 

so the question might be why aren't MTB cleats bigger? Do you need less power transferred than on a rd bike?

 

I was thinking about pedals the other day and my conclusion was that the larger road pedals are better for power transfer, producing lower contact pressures and thus less flexing. From this followed your question of why aren't MTB pedal also this size?

 

I think it is because you have additional design constraints on a MTB pedal:

1.) Access - On a road bike you don't clip and unclip very often (stopping at a robot etc., start and finish of a race) and when you do, there's usually not so much of a rush to clip back in again. On a MTB you could unclip anywhere (stop/start, really technical stuff etc.) and probably need to clip in again quickly. It thus helps to have a symmetrical pedal which you can clip into from either side (top/bottom) rather than having to align the thing first before clipping. You could design a symmetrical road pedal but it would be large (see below) and heavier .

 

2.) Size - The nature of the terrain means that there are many more things that your MTB pedal could get caught up on.  A smaller pedal makes a smaller 'target' for all of that crud. Likewise a smaller cleat when you walk around off the bike. A smaller, metal cleat (SPD) is also less likely to break from impact - I have managed to break two road cleats by stomping on them a bit too hard (Translation: Regaining balance after almost falling over )

 

3.) Grip - The MTB shoes need to have grip and need to be designed to walk on. A smaller cleat is much easier to recess into the sole of the shoe so you don't end up standing on it - as mentioned above, larger cleats don't like being stood on with any kind of force - rather let the sole of the shoe take the load.

 

Thus end the conclusions of the meandering thought processes of a bored engineer, formulated to stop him going insane while on a long IDT session.

Hopefully these ramblings make some sense, while proving an adequate first post

Edman2007-10-31 10:43:02

[Tumbleweed]

 

so the question might be why aren't MTB cleats bigger? Do you need less power transferred than on a rd bike?

I was thinking about pedals the other day and my conclusion was that the larger road pedals are better for power transfer' date=' producing lower contact pressures and thus less flexing. From this followed your question of why aren't MTB pedal also this size?

I think it is because you have additional design constraints on a MTB pedal:
1.) Access - On a road bike you don't clip and unclip very often (stopping at a robot etc., start and finish of a race) and when you do, there's usually not so much of a rush to clip back in again. On a MTB you could unclip anywhere (stop/start, really technical stuff etc.) and probably need to clip in again quickly. It thus helps to have a symmetrical pedal which you can clip into from either side (top/bottom) rather than having to align the thing first before clipping. You could design a symmetrical road pedal but it would be large (see below) and heavier .

2.) Size - The nature of the terrain means that there are many more things that your MTB pedal could get caught up on.  A smaller pedal makes a smaller 'target' for all of that crud. Likewise a smaller cleat when you walk around off the bike. A smaller, metal cleat (SPD) is also less likely to break from impact - I have managed to break two road cleats by stomping on them a bit too hard (Translation: Regaining balance after almost falling over )

3.) Grip - The MTB shoes need to have grip and need to be designed to walk on. A smaller cleat is much easier to recess into the sole of the shoe so you don't end up standing on it - as mentioned above, larger cleats don't like being stood on with any kind of force - rather let the sole of the shoe take the load.

Thus end the conclusions of the meandering thought processes of a bored engineer, formulated to stop him going insane while on a long IDT session.
Hopefully these ramblings make some sense, while proving an adequate first post
[/quote']

 

dude, who cares if they make sense! welcome to the hub!

[ewep]

 

one thing i have noticed is that after a while i get a bit of side-to-side movement on my spds' date=' which i don't mind, and which i don't get on my time road pedals/cleats. that said, it's a real b!tch getting my cleats into the road pedals at times  [/quote']

 

OK, don't know the Time's HR, but I do know that on the Look Keos the cleat gives you your movement.