Cleats, part 2

Look Keo

I soon discovered that my Speedplay Frogs, good as they are combined with my touring shoes didn't quite cut it for road biking. For road biking, aside from weight, stiffness is king; particularly for climbing, you want as much of your effort to be transformed into forward motion. If, among other things (and there are lots of other things!) your shoes aren't stiff enough, you end up using some of that precious power to flex your shoes. That's the excuse, anyway.

You also want your cleats to have a relatively wide platform, so you can distribute that force over a wider area, reducing the stress of hard pedaling on the cleat/pedal system. While mountain/touring bike shoes have two holes on the sole, road shoes will have three (most common, pioneered by Look) or four holes (Speedplay and some Time systems).

Time iCLIC

One of the best selling pedal systems is made by Look. Their Keo pedals are pretty ubiquitous and are ridden by just about every level of rider from beginner to Alberto Contador, the 2007 and 2009 winner of the Tour de France. Look claims to have invented the clipless pedal. I wonder if they were responsible for naming them clipless too. Time makes some pretty good pedals too, and they claim to have pioneered the whole idea of "float". Other manufacturers are Shimano and Speedplay.

For those of us with heavy frames (I mean body, not bike!) the issue of float is important. Float allows the cleat to move from side to side on the pedal, theoretically making it easier on the knees than a fixed cleat that doesn't move once it's on the pedal. Time's iClic cleats have about 5 degrees of float, Shimano offers fixed (0 degrees of float) or 6 degrees of float. Look's Keos can be outfitted with zero float, 4 degrees of float or 9 degrees. Speedplay Zeros can be adjusted by set-screws in the cleat to an infinite number of settings in between zero and 15 degrees. Other Speedplay models have fixed non-adjustable floats.

Speedplay Light Action

Most of the manufacturers have different levels of pedal performance. Material on the lower end are usually chromoly steel (I don't think I spelled that right). Then you usually have stainless steel in the middle with carbon and titanium pedals rounding out the top end. You can expect to pay more for lighter and stiffer pedals.

I still have my fear of getting stuck on the pedal and ignominiously falling over in front of a crowd. I also wanted a system where I could choose different float angles. I still don't know how much I'll need or even if I need any at all. I also wanted a system that had replacement cleats readily available. I ended up choosing the Look Keos. I tried the black cleats, no float: Wow, if you're even mildly claustrophobic, you're not gonna like no float. You may like them if you're into the kinky bondage scene though. I also tried the red cleats, which provide 9 degrees of float. The foot movement was disconcerting and I decided I didn't like so much float (which is strange, because my Speedplay Frogs had at least that much float!). I'm now using the gray cleats which provide 4 degrees of float.

Shimano Ultegra

The Look pedals are very easy to clip in and out of. Hardly any effort is required for either, yet unless you twist your foot in strange ways while pedaling, they'll keep your foot firmly clamped onto your pedals. My only complaint is that they're one-sided, so you have to fiddle with them a bit to get them facing the correct way to cleat in. I've been riding them for a few months now and so far, I'm happy with them. I paired the pedals with Sidi shoes and guess what? I still suck at climbing! On to the next excuse.

By the way I lifted the pedal photos from www.competitivecyclist.com. I don't mind recommending them because so far, they've treated me right and their prices can be very good, particularly for closeouts. (I'm not in any way affiliated with them, I just like them)