So a little while back I won some of these fancy Mavic Cosmic Ultimate shoes.
They’re really nice, but I haven’t used them since all my bikes are time pedals.
I’m thinking of finally buying cleats and new pedals for my road bike especially to be able to use these shoes…but I have no idea what’s appropriate.
Any tips on pedals and cleats?
These are the shoes for reference; Mavic Cosmic Ultimate shoe review | Road Bike, Cycling Forums (insanely US$400 MSRP…I got them for nothing thank god)
Any “road” pedals with a three bolt attachment for the cleat will work fine.
Such as Shimano SPD-sl or Look Keos.
Almost all new road pedals come with cleats included.
I’ve never ridden with road pedals/shoes so can’t give any advice but Shimanos are the most common.
Shimano SPD-SLs are great. Even the very cheapest ones just work and will last for ages: I’ve got over 10k kms on literally the cheapest set and they’ve never not just worked. With those fancy shoes you should probably get the higher-end shimanos…
Shimano’s defs the easiest and cheapest. I used them for years but could never entirely get rid of a nagging knee issue. Swapped to Speedplay at the height of Wiggins euphoria and haven’t looked back. They are stupid and weird (but not as bad as ppl bang on about) but they work really well and have not any any issues since.
So if u have any knee issues can be good option.
Have used Look delta and Look Keo. Both are solid. Keo pretty easy to get pedals and cleats for. Only repace cleats when the little anti-slip pads all come apart, but I don’t do much walking in them anyway. Time make some great road pedals. A couple of mates have them, and the pedals seem to hang more vertical than the Look gear, so getting in is less tricky. I prefer the older delta pedals to the recent Keo pedals. The Keo pedals would more often rotate backwards and I’d end up standing on the bottom of the pedal for the first push and risk slipping and doing the old top tube crush stunt.
Do you want it to be super-easy? Do you want to be able to do it blindfolded? Try Speedplay with the adapter plate. I went to Speedplay as a test and now have them on 4 bikes. You just can’t miss with them, like a double-sided SPD only better. The float on the adjustable cleats can be finely tuned and varied side to side if you need. They do have non-adjustable float cleats too, they’re not so bad, I have those cleats currently and haven’t found myself over-rotating or twisting my knees.
That knee comment is super good to know. I have bad ones…my LBS stocks speedplay by the looks of it so when we’re allowed out of the house again I’ll go check them out. I’m sure they’ll have shimano too…oh also Look.
That’s all sorted then. Feel like buying something that will be a 10-20 year thing. Assuming the world lasts that long.
Appreciate all the comments! More thoughts welcome. 
it’s weird in the back of my head I seemed to remember you had knee issues. Must be my lizard fixie brain.
You will find the Speedplays have an odd feeling at first, they have much more float and it’s kind of like skating on ice. But you get used to it very quick. It’s a shame they aren’t as simple (or cheap) as Shimano but there you go. Another thing - don’t forget to put a light dab of oil on the cleats every now and then or they will creak. It’s no biggie tho.
+1 for Look, i run the Keo 2 Max carbons on my roadie. Ive used Looks for the past 8 years and im a fan.
cant go wrong with shimano / look / speedplay, just depends on your budget and knees, which by the sounds of it, speedplay might be your best bet (with the adapter plate as mentioned)
I had knee issues. Then I put Speedplay pedals on all my bikes. Now I don’t have any knee issues at all when I ride. I used zeros on the roadie.
And knees aren’t the only plus - the zero is also very light, double sided, easy to clip in and out of, and provides a good stable platform (pedal is small, the platform is in the cleat). With the float dialled out it feels a bit like standing on ice at first, but you get used to your foot moving naturally around as you pedal.
I’ve also used the Speedplay MTB pedals on my other bikes for years. Started off on Frogs which are excellent in every way except that the expensive cleats wear out way too fast (like 2 months). I now use the Syzr instead of the Frog and they are also great (cleats last about a year - not amazing, but better).
I’m guessing then speedplay might be the way to go. I was surprisingly agile ice skating when I did it a few times back in boston.
I wish I could go out to a store now…(wish I thought of this 2 months ago)
See if any local shops are open for web orders or even no-contact pickups. I know a few states and cities over there have classified bike shops as essential.
Yeah they are considered required services here, but all of them I’ve seen are doing drop off/pick up for bike servicing only. I might be able to get them to lend me some stuff for a trial but I’d be better off getting to talk to someone I think. Ultimately no rush anyway…finally found some half-decent trail riding in my neighborhood so that will keep me busy for a bit during the weekly rationed outside time.
Finally got around to doing something about this.
Went with the Speedplay Zero.
First ride went well and i didn’t fall over clipping in/out at any point.
So far so good.