Back on the mtb properly for 4 years. Back on clipless on the road back for the last 6 months. Not had clipless mtb pedals since the mid 90s. DX spds with sidi dominators (for 90s xc kudos. so young. so innocent).
Now riding all sorts, local natural and managed trails (bristol, mendips, FoD) some xc days, welsh trail centres, all on a "do it all 130mmm full sus". Need a do it all shoe to go with and as I've five tens and V10s already I want something that will contrast for longer rides when efficiency is important.
I'm tied to wiggle as I got some vouchers for a birthday, probably going to pair with XT platform spd (8120?), any obvious errors in the selection below?
Leatt DBX 5.0 - can't find much on these
Shimano AM9- good discount on these at the moment. wonder if the sole is too flexi for small platforms like the XT?
Shimano ME5- no a glorified as the ME7 but in my price bracket and seem decent.
Giro Ventana- follow up to the seemingly popular Terraduro
Mavic XA GTX - big discount. little written about but positive.
Five Ten Kestrel Lace- love my freeriders for flat pedals but heard these are heavy and perhaps too gravity focused.
Any tips welcome. Leaning towards Mavic, AM9 or Ventana.
Had a few pairs of Mavic on the older XT platform SPD's.
No problem at all, nice fit, reasonably stiff and good for walking in too.
Pedals have been great but I'm going the opposite way and giving flats a go after 20 odd years on SPD's
Thought you were going to tell us all about your brand new 250 hp Fendt and the 24 tonne trailer you are using to haul potatoes. Is dissapointed 🙁
I thought this was someone giving up keto.
I've ME5 and really like them but I have Shimano shaped feet it would seem as I also have Shimano road and flat shoes.
I size up with Shimano (normally a 43 but a 44 in Shimano)
The ME5 are pretty stiff, well made, with grippy tread and are actually ok for walking about in. I like the raised instep too. Got mine from Decathlon a couple of years ago for £50 so very happy with the price.
I tried the Terradura's on and found them not as nice a fit as the Shimano ME5's. Similar type of shoe though.
Sorry welshfarmer, my garden only has 2"x6" of potatoes so I don't think that level of kit is needed.
New ME5 and ME7s are coming in September. Hopefully they'll heavily discount the old ME7s when they arrive. Tempted by the Mavic and Giro though,
Didn'thurt - Was walking around in my freeriders last night and realised how flexi they are compared to my road shoes (northwaves). Which shimano flats do you have and how are they compared to the ME5? from what I can gather the AMs and GRs are pretty similar bar the cleat.
The shimano stiffness chart puts the AM9 and ME5 1 point away which surprised me.
I've got both ME5 and XC5 and they're great shoes, Shimano sizes are whack (90's) I'm a UK 10 so should be an EU44,but I take an EU46 in Shimanos latest offerings.
Thanks for the above. Didn't buy anything in the end. The event (Mendip Murmuration) I wanted them for was postponed so been plugging away merrily with the flats and I'm a bit back to the drawing board on small spd (520) vs platform spd (xt etc)
Perusing the discounts today there are some nice Northwave Spider Plus 2 available for a song and look decent despite being a few years old. They don't have the long channel sole like the shimanos I was looking at and this raises a queston to me about steep loose climbing which is the area where I expect to encounter more problems from spds than other terrain.
with platform spds is it really possible to ride for short tricky climbs unclipped as they're sugggesting with the shimano sole and decent platform?
For example, I went up one of my local nemisis climbs the other day (Bradley Cross climb from Cheddar to Cliff Road if you know it) and while I was able to make it with many a dab with a few pauses for breath, my buddy riding old one sided spds couldn't keep going and had to push. Am I expecting too much from a platform spd in this instance to keep pedalling without clipping in on steep loose climbs.
If platforms spds are little use other than the odd dab in easy terrain or clinging on during a gnarly descent, this has got me thinking of trying a non-platform spd (520s etc). In fact I could probably dig out the old M525 DX 90s pedals to save a few quid to test the water.
stick with flats. the pedalling efficiency benefits of clips over flats is overblown. particularly for trail riding.
I've just had a month back on clips after breaking my flats. happily took delivery of a new set of burgtec composites yesterday.
I've already decided to have clipless as an option alongside flats. It's not just the efficiency. I've found on the road bike on a long hilly ride I like the ability to pull and lift the pedal to keep cadence up and give the legs a change from mashing (there are those spuds again) the pedals. I get a tiny bit of the pull from the flats at the moment but it's not the same.
This also as much about long xc days/events. Are there really folk doing massive days on flats?
Just run the m525s or cheapie 520s will shed mud better due to new design
Shimano me5 work great for me, good grippy sole
platform spd pedals are pointless. You ain't riding unclipped.
Yeah I was getting that impression and the platform won't be as useful as I'd hoped.
That's three votes for the ME5 then, bloody typical my size is out of stock at wiggle.
