My son uses my old pair of Pyro Platforms. That way I (he) does not have to buy new cycling shoes every 6 months. He just uses his running shoes, while he gets comfortable with clipless pedals. He has been using them now for nearly 3 years.

I think if I could find some metal toe clips, I could get those to work out, but nobody sells those anymore..

something like this might work well:

http://www.performancebike.com/shop/profile.cfm?SKU=2275&subcategory_ID=5240

[reply]I'm looking at options for my daughter. She has a Felt F24 that came with some SPD pedals, but I'm not sure if a) she's ready for clipless pedals or b) they even make shoes in her size. I was thinking of perhaps some mini toe clips. Thoughts?

Thanks,

JohnA[/reply]

If the rider is motivated it is probably never too young to get clipless pedals. I had an 8 yo national level BMX rider come by to try my cranks and he had his own cycling shoes with spd clips. He was too small to fit on the exercycle so I took the seat off and he got on and it took him almost no time to figure out how to ride the PC's out of the saddle. Kids haven't spent years learning bad habits so they can amaze us.

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Frank,
An original Ironman and the Inventor of PowerCranks

Metal toe clips? Sheldon Brown can help you there. Harris cyclery has all kinds of hard to find parts:

http://sheldonbrown.com/harris/pedals.html#toeclips

Frank Day is absolutely correct. Go to any BMX track and you will see kids as young as 5 or 6 years old riding around on clipless pedals. They seem to pick it up instantly, as long as they don't pick up on their parents' fear! An exercycle with the seat off is a great way to teach them to clip in and out, or a bike on a trainer if they are big enough. You should be able to find very small women's mtn. bike shoes, probably even in a discount bin.

BTW, BMX is a great way to introduce kids (boys and girls) to cycling. It's fun, it's short, they get trophies, and, best of all, they learn to enjoy the sport at the same time they are learning great bike handling skills.

But where do you find the shoes?

I opted for some mini clips for now to get her used to the idea of being connected to the bike. We'll look at the other options later in the summer.

Thanks for the input.

John

Some of the bigger bike shops will have small shoes in the store. We always seemed to be able to find tiny mtn. bike shoes (34 to 36) in the clearance section. Or you can look around on the web. I just looked at a bmx website (danscomp.com), and they have some that go down to a size 2.5. Many of these are Vans-style shoes, but SPD compatible. Answer actually makes a youth SPD that goes down to a size two. The model name is the Answer Palisade Youth SPD.