Drivetrain Upgrades

As anyone who has ever shopped for cycle components can attest, there are so many choices to make that you can easily get psyched out, especially if you have as tight a budget as I do. Tonight, after several years of contemplation, I finally made the choice to upgrade shoes and pedals. What a relief to finally arrive at a decision and feel good about it.

For those of you living in or near Central NY, Glenn Swan has a fantastic shop on Mt. Pleasant Rd., just outside of Ithaca. It's certainly off the beaten path, but well worth the trip. You'll come back again and again, and just marvel at how much great gear he keeps in his modest shop. Great prices, but more importantly, incredibly knowledgeable and no-nonsense advise.

I've been riding clipless pedals since around '84, around the time when Shimano's SPD pedal system came on the market. What a difference it makes to be one with your pedal, but as with all technology, improvements keep on coming. I never kept up, and have continued to ride with the original SPD system, even after the introduction of SPD-SL, the Look Keo, Speedplay, Egg Beaters, etc. Yeah, I'll admit to some serious pedal envy, but until this year it didn't matter that much to me. Now that I have a road bike, every component choice matters more. For example, Ultegra shifters and derailleurs were an important choice, as was a carbon crank and the Selle San Marco Aspide saddle, which I love.

My new bike came with generic one-side SPD road pedals, so I couldn't justify spending even more right off the bat, and since my Shimano shoes were the old school two-bolt system and wouldn't accommodate a three bolt cleat, I was overwhelmed by the sticker shock of new shoes AND pedals. However, after a year of very intensive riding with a less than satisfactory shoe/pedal combination, I finally was able to justify the upgrade.

My pedal choice was the Shimano 105 SPD-SL pedal. In a way it was a conservative decision. I toyed with the idea of Speedplay, but something about the complexity of the cleat had me a bit worried, particularly the thought of cleat-related problem while riding far from home. Yeah, it's unlikely, but also Speedplay has so many products with such a range of options that I was overwhelmed by the decisions just within one type of pedal. Then there's the price, not only of the pedal itself, but of replacement cleats. I briefly considered Look Keo Classics, but I wasn't so sure about buying a polycarbonate pedal. It just didn't seem like it would hold up as well as the Shimanos. I feel like the steel Shimanos just seem more robust and are likely to be more reliable and last longer. You can't really argue with their track record or the extensive testing process. Also, Shimano has only three flavors of this model; the 105, the Ultegra, and the Dura-Ace. There's a $60 price differential between the 105s ($75) and the Ultegra ($135), and enough online reviewers and serious cyclists opined that the weight differential was probably not worth the big price jump. Since Dura-Ace was just out of the question for my budget, once I decided on Shimano, it wasn't hard to chose the 105s.

Shoes are a whole other torturous decision. Ratcheting clasp or straight-up velcro? Carbon fiber soles or nylon with steel reinforcement for added stiffness with a weight penalty? Buy online and return several times until I land the right fit/price combination or buy locally and be assured of a good fit? I chose to buy locally with no regrets. The Louis Garneau Ergoair 2 don't have a ratcheting clasp or a carbon sole, but they fit nicely, are plenty stiff, and cost less than $100, so I'm very pleased with that choice as well.

After testing them briefly on the trainer, I know I made a good choice. Yeah, $175 is not insignificant, but it's a huge performance and comfort upgrade for the price. (I'm not sure if comfort is the word I'm looking for...perhaps stability is a better term.) The concept of float (how the heel can have wiggle room to pivot a little bit without losing firm contact with the pedal) was only an abstraction until now. Yeah, they only allow 3 degrees of float, and Speedplay offers much more, but after so many years of having essentially no float and frequently accidentally forcing myself out of my pedals, any amount of float feels luxurious. Even more significantly, the larger platform feels so much more substantial, and the stiff soles will certainly translate to less wasted energy and more power heading directly to the drivetrain. I can't wait to test this out on the open road, but it'll be a while.