I’m doing a double link-up with Lakeshore Runner for Tri-ed Tuesday and both You Signed Up for What?! and Blisters and Black Toenails for Tri-Talk Tuesday to talk about some new knowledge about bikes that I picked up…
In my post announcing my new bike, Sable, I mentioned I had Shimano SPD pedals installed. My rationale was that I wanted to be able to use my existing shoes in a Spin class, as spin bikes tend to have SPD compatible pedals. I had been initially disappointed that I didn’t have such pedals on my original bike as I had been sold a set of Shimano 105 pedals.
 |
| The Shimano 105 pedal |
The problem was that the bottoms of my shoes had three holes, which would make them compatible with a variety of road cleats, but not the SPDs. There did seem to be some kinds of adapters in existence, but I was never able to find any at local stores (in the very short amount of time I had to drive to stores and shop around).
One option would have been to buy new shoes, but a slightly cheaper one was to re-install the Shimano 105 pedals and buy new 105 cleats to install on my old shoes (the old ones were pretty worn out). I hadn’t had much luck taking my 105 pedals off my old bike with my own tools, so I also purchased a 15 mm pedal wrench; I consider that one of the smarter moves I’ve made when it comes to buying cycling accessories.
 |
| The Shimano 105 pedals on the left have some little pads that are better for walking on if you dismount your bike on a long ride. At the bottom left you can see my old cleat. The SPD equipment, you can see is much smaller and doesn’t fit the 3 holes you can just make out on the bottom of my shoe. |
For removing the SPD pedals and installing the 105s, I followed this video:
Then I used an Allen Key to screw the cleats to the bottom of the shoes; there was still an outline from where the old ones were, so alignment didn’t seem to be an issue.
I’ll keep the SPD accessories and eventually install them on my mountain bike and buy new shoes for them too – apparently SPDs are intended almost solely for mountain biking. So I don’t meet my goal of having one pair of shoes for both road riding (and triathlon races) and spin class, but the good news is that Sable is finally ride-ready.
I celebrated with a 2 hours 15 minute ride on the trainer while I watched the movie Man of Steel – I think the recent trailers for the sequel Batman v Superman: Dawn of Justice have gotten into my head. Superman makes for surprisingly good training inspiration, considering he never had to work for his superpowers…
Do you find bike technology as confusing as I do?
I pinned this to refer back to some day. I dont' have current plans but just this sinking feeling that I'll wind up doing triathlons at some point and need to reread all your blog posts for what to do! Lol.
I pinned this to refer back to some day. I dont' have current plans but just this sinking feeling that I'll wind up doing triathlons at some point and need to reread all your blog posts for what to do! Lol.
I am useless at bike stuff. I had to uninstall and re-install and recalibrate my Vector pedals and that almost made my brain explode.