Bicycling

I had a pair of dzrs but they blew up on me within three months.

Kuriin_sl said:

Yeah, the downside with all of these trips is that they're expensive. =|

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Worth it if you have the cash though IMO. Norway looked like this. The rental bike cost me something like $1200 for two weeks, and wasn't a bad piece of kit at all (Merida Ride 94, iirc). I don't know how expensive Tuscany is but holy fucking shit is Norway insane. I was lucky enough to go there for work, otherwise I'd never have been able to afford it - the per diem was something like $150/day (not including lodging).

Ao-_sl said:

Yeah, mine are starting to wear and tear. I'm thinking I might ask if they'd replace them but I might just buy a set of the Giros instead. Problem is that I'm leaning toward a pair of W?lvhammer also. So maybe beat-up DZR are staying.

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I'd go with the Lake 303s over the Wolvs. The Lakes are like wearing little clouds on your feet, they're ultra soft and comfortable. The Wolv's felt like a $300 pair of Sketchers with a gator over them.

Ao-_sl said:

Hrm, note taken. These?MXZ303 SILVER/BLACK | Lake Cycling

What's the temp range? I'm guessing the same.

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Yup, those. I was going to clip in for the winter on my fatty, but ended up just sticking with flats + toe warmers otherwise I'd have a pair. (So far so good - I went out yesterday and today - 15* last night with a wind chill around 0 and my feet were perfect). I tried the 303s and the Wolvs, and the 303s just made the 45Ns feel cheap. They have weird euro sizing though so definitely try to find a place to try them on if you go that way. They're seriously awesome boots.

fifey_sl said:

Also, don't worry about the bike staying attached, every time I've crashed or been hit, I've popped right out. I believe the upward force needed to pull out of spds is like 30-40lbs at max tension.

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I've been in and been behind others involved in plenty of XC mountain biking crashes and unless you are goingreallyslowly (like slow enough that it won't matter if you're still clipped in/you won't really get hurt) the shoes release from the pedals and you land away from your bike every single time. Also unclipping becomes completely second nature, its simply a matter of training your brain and body's muscle memory.

As far as road, and specifically that statement about "if I get hit by a car...", well if you get hit by a car you have far bigger things to be concerned with than your pedals and clipping/unclipping wouldn't have saved you. If anything I'd think old style toe clips are worse for getting out of in a hurry. Not that there's anything wrong with toe clips per se, but its just outdated tech for an application which has better options now.

So if I were to make the transition to clip in's what would you guys suggest purchasing?

I started with SPDs on my first bike and they were pretty fucking simple. 5 minutes practicing and I was good to go. I had only one OH SHIT moment. I did find out from my LBS that the SPDs are more MTB than road bike, so I bought some Sidis and put on the typical cleats on. I didn't buy the lollipop type of clipins. Again, not as bad. BUT, you have to make sure to keep covers for your shoes whenever you get off the bike or else: 1) You can potentially injure yourself, 2) You will destroy the cleats and won't be able to clip in (I rode from SF to LA and could NOT clip in d/t this).

In short: SPDs are a great introductory clip-ins, but are not necessary. Cleats or lollipops are fine.

Kuriin_sl said:

I started with SPDs on my first bike and they were pretty fucking simple. 5 minutes practicing and I was good to go. I had only one OH SHIT moment. I did find out from my LBS that the SPDs are more MTB than road bike, so I bought some Sidis and put on the typical cleats on. I didn't buy the lollipop type of clipins. Again, not as bad. BUT, you have to make sure to keep covers for your shoes whenever you get off the bike or else: 1) You can potentially injure yourself, 2) You will destroy the cleats and won't be able to clip in (I rode from SF to LA and could NOT clip in d/t this).

In short: SPDs are a great introductory clip-ins, but are not necessary. Cleats or lollipops are fine.

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I use SPD-SLs. They suck ass to walk around in but I find them the easiest to clip in/out of. I'd switch, but they're the only piece of Dura-Ace I have, hah.

So I was thinking of this combination, any opinions?

Shimano SH-R107 Shoes
Shimano PD R550

Whoops. It looks like SPD-SL are roads. The ones I had were Shimano ProSH-XC31 - OFF-ROAD - CYCLING FOOTWEAR AND PEDALS - LIFESTYLE GEAR - SHIMANO

The ones I linked are kind of what I had. You could easily walk in them. In any case, I have the SPD-SL for my Sidis and yes, they fucking suck ass to walk in. Lol. But yeah, I have Dura-Ace as well.


Eonan: Those are fine introductory shoes. I am in love with my Sidi shoes and it seems they are the bandwagon shoe.

(product I linked was for MTB it looks like...ugh trying to find the shoe)

Eonan_sl said:

So I was thinking of this combination, any opinions?

Shimano SH-R107 Shoes
Shimano PD R550

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Try on shoes at an LBS if you can. I use these Mavic ones. 3000 miles on them and they still look brand new, and broke in nicely.

Amazon.com: Mavic Road Bike shoes Avenir black/asphalt/dark silver metallic: Sports Outdoors

Eonan_sl said:

So I was thinking of this combination, any opinions?

Shimano SH-R107 Shoes
Shimano PD R550

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Don't get those shoes, they are road shoes and will be smooth on the bottom and a huge pain to walk in.

Go with a mtb shoe, you won't have pure roadie rapha cred but it's a hell of a lot easier to transition with.


Giro Privateer Cycling Shoes for Men at SunnySportsAre what I'm currently wearing, about 2-3k miles and twenty cross races in they are holding up fine.


Shimano RT82 SPD Shoes - Black | Merlin Cycleshad these for about 2 years and maybe 10k-15k miles, they are still hanging on but are starting to die at the top seams.

I forgot to add, go with the shimano m520 pedal, super cheap, reliable and doesn't have the unnecessary weight added with the platform part you'll never need.

Fuck all this shit, wear flip flops with steel cage pedals, nothing will go wrong I promise.

In regards to staying clipped in while falling: As others have mentioned, you will only stay clipped in if you're going VERY slowly. I flew over my handlebars going downhill -- so I obviously got unclipped. Lol.