i’m looking for any opinions on good quality, reasonably (read “as cheap as possible”) priced pedal, cleat, and shoe combination that might work for me. i’m new to cycling, but have a fairly tight schedule (Redman in September), so i don’t have much time (or money) to try different combos.
for the specs: i’ve got an ‘05 54 cm Dual (thanks Dave!) with a Gossamer crank(?). i’m 5’ 10" with a 31" inseam and weigh about 165 lbs. i plan on leaving the shoes clipped in for t1 & t2.
thanks!
New to cycling? I’d recommend some Crank Brothers pedals. They are often found on sale, especially the ‘candy.’ They can be found for under $50. They are a snap to engage. the cleat is easier to walk or run through transitions that Looks or Speedplays. I got a pair for my daughter, whose a really good swimmer and otherwise not a jock, and she had no trouble getting in and out of them. If you can find the ‘quattros’ for a good price, even better. (Occasionally, I see a special for less than $80.)
The Candy are great mountain pedals but the cleat causes hotspots for me. The Time RXS (not carbon, not the base model) are good and will help keep you in the saddle. Yes you are going to fall a few times, but you will grow out of mountain pedals in a week.
Go to the LBS and try shoes on. Specialized fit neutral, sidi fit narrow. It should be snug when buckled with room in the toes. Your feet will expand on the ride, so don’t get something that fits like a climbing shoe.
I second the suggestion of Crank brothers as good value for the money and a decent pedal as well. I have actually switched to Crank brothers on all my bikes after years on Speedplay–basically I wanted to be able to interchange shoes on my commuter, road, and TT bike and all CB cleats will work with all of their pedals (some shoes require a little sole trimming for the Quattro pedal).
Nashbar has a lot of shoes on sale now and you can get the pedals on eBay new for as little as $40.
Since you are planning to leave the shoes clipped to the pedal, you need an easy to enter shoe. I don’t know if the house brand Nashbar and Performance shoes are any good, but the are fairly inexpensive.