Vintage comfort

Having had a few reasonable rides on the "new" bike I am starting to find some niggles after about 30 miles ...

#1 is shoes, I need some new shoes that actually fit ...

What do most of you do, use modern shoes or vintage?

The outside of my foot seems to rub up where the strap is.

Also, the clip length prevents me getting my feet as far forward over the spindle as I do with clipless, is this a trend that over the years people have moved the foot forward over the spindle? I have 3 sets of clips and they are all the same length, I am aware they come in different lengths but none of the clips are marked with any size information.

The other thing is the narrow round bars are not as comfortable as my nice profiled carbon bars but I guess I will just have to get used to that.

Tricky one..........I find that clipless pedals have the feet a bit further forward, using toe clips is a bit more like peddling on "tip-toe". Why not swap over to clipkless on the vintage? Unless it's L'Eroica who's to know ?

To use toe clips properly you need to have "proper" shoes and sole plates to finish the job off

Vintage bars are narrower and some people find it easier to wear a pair of mitts.

Shaun

I had considered putting clipless on as I have on my other bikes ... it is the obvious thing to do but it would just grate.

I was wondering about putting a thin rubber sole on a modern shoe and sticking with the clips.

After spanking £200 on a pair of Sidi's I swapped over all my pedals to the same model. The bikes all ride differently but I know my feet are aligned correctly and I don't get the aches and niggles from having ridden with a slight 'difference' as I was when I had different pedals on different bikes. I tried toe-clips and didn't enjoy it, felt like I was using completely different leg muscles. Shaun's exactly right when he say's tip-toes and he's very much spot on when he says who will know - we all get a bit hung up and getting every aspect period correct but the bike is for riding and so it has to feel right. However, I do concede that a lovely old bike with toe-clips can look the business

http://www.ebay.com/itm/New-Old-Stock-A ... 3f23e87cb9

My favourite shoes back in the 70's were Atala Sport ..........am always tempted to relive the old days.

Shaun

My input - you should be able to get retro shoes and the right plates reasonably easily as your feet are small than mine. 80's Sidi's are a good choice - black lace-up and the plates for these are available on ebay regularly for around £9. I have, as you know, size 10.5 feet and use large toe clips, medium might be more your size (medium are no good at all for me). There are cheap clips on ebay at the moment (sorry i don't have the link) but i saw some earlier and they were around £4 - you could buy these and test them for size before buying more expensive Christophe ones or Campag.

UPDATE - look here - http://www.ebay.co.uk/bhp/steel-toe-cli ... 7675.m2392

The other side of this coin is usability, my opinion is that you can make concessions to modern bits so you can get better use out of a bike - like new BB's and headsets, so why not clipless pedals too. Use the old pedals for pics and the clipless for riding. Oh, one more thing - i have a wide foot and had to change my caged pedals as the quill bit (may not be the right term) always ate into my foot with the SR pedals i was able to get a pedal that seemed slightly wider and the pain was gone. You may have to visit a bike shop to try a few - i think Halfords might do some.

SECOND UPDATE - i have a pair of these although i do not have the metal plates below the plastic one - i am not sure why these have both; they are a comfortable shoe and wear well, mine have done a lot of miles (10,000 at a reasonable guess) and have only suffered by a tear in the mesh on the inside of one shoe and they are still fine to use -

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/NOS-SIZE-40EU ... _316wt_904

On a final point, if your feet are sore you will not survive - almost anything else can be coped with but pain in your feet will absolutely kill you so i would sort this out quickly.

I hope this is of some use,

Richard

You need bigger cages and "proper" shoes if you don't already have them: clipless shoes are more pointed compared to leather soled ones.

I too find bars quite thin for my "pianist's fingers": I slip an old inner tube over them before wrapping to thicken them somewhat, talcum powder helps them go on.

Until I can find some decent shoes I'm putting modern pedals on.

The pinarello shoes that are great but too big are going back on eBay.

I want it to be an enjoyable ride and the sore feet were unwelcome.

MKS certainly do toeclips ion three sizes - a good LBS is a better place than the internet. They should be able to order them up from the distributor.

I have gone to clipless and yesterdays ride was far better ... I will keep an eye out for some new vintage shoes.