Shoes for Clipless Pedals

Ritchie Velasco has an easy question to answer all to do with clipless pedals. He needs to know is if all road cycling shoes will fit all clipless pedals? We describe what he needs to look for in a shoe to fit his clipless pedal shoe plates

Question:
does any road cycling shoe fit any clipless pedal? No specifics?

Hi Ritchie,

The answer is; yes, well, just about all “proper” cycling shoes will take the shoe plate for clipless pedals. If the shoe has the three bolt holes for LOOK style shoe plates then that’s most pedals covered. Then if there are the two adjustable central bolt holes then that’s just about all the others taken care of.

Mountain bike shoes usually only have the central bolt holes, so you can’t fit the LOOK style three bolt shoe plates. If you find shoes with all the bolt holes you can’t go wrong.

The Sole

LOOK Style

4 Responses to “Shoes for Clipless Pedals”

I Lost Thirty Póunds in Only a Month August 17, 2009

Hi, nice post. I have been pondering this topic,so thanks for writing. I will likely be coming back to your blog. Keep up the good posts

Rich McCarthy August 17, 2009

There’s an addendum here and it regards the cleat compatability with the pedal. Specificlly the older SPD cleat/pedal setups.SPD means Shimano Product Design but was the designation for not only shimano pedals and cleats but house brand clones.And there in lies the rub.Mountain style SPD lceats may clip into a road pedal but you’ll never get em out (and that poses a real problem!) House brand SPD cleats arn’t always compatable with other SPD pedals and to make matters worse (because I have them) Shimano apparently redesigned the old style (not to be confused with the new SPDRs or more modern setups)at least once and one style is sloppy in the pedals regardless of how much tension is on.So: The Buyer Beware adage applys to the origional 2 bolt SPD cleat/pedal compatability.

Jez August 17, 2009

Hi, I don’t entirely agree with the above answer. If the shoe has just the three bolt holes then make sure whether they are for LOOK (KEO) or SHIMANO because whilst both types of cleats are three hole fixing and look very similar, the pitching of the holes is different and LOOK aren’t compatible with SHIMANO and vice versa. Most, if not all, SHIMANO shoes are only suitable for SHIMANO cleats and therefore SHIMANO pedals. Similarly many shoes are only suitable for LOOK. However there are many shoes on the market which have a universal set up built into the sole with a sliding plate which will allow the use of SHIMANO and LOOK / KEO. They may also take some of the other cleats required for pedals such as SPPEDPLAY et al but I cannot confirm that.To play safe, if buying new pedals, or new shoes, check with the retailer that shoes and pedals are compatible.

elizabeth August 17, 2009

Looking for a Answer shoe that I cannot find anywhere. Is there a website or a place that might carry a few models? I don’t know the model, but it is a black casual looking ankle high shoe that has a removable pad for cycling. Any information would be greatly appreciated. My friend has had these shoes for 10yrs and I think its time to retire those shoes!!!