Are MTB shoes a better choice than Road shoes?

daniel_b

Hi guys,

newbie roadie here, have most of the kit now (Wiggle and CRC are running out of stock me thinks) but have still to get some proper cycle shoes.

A few friends have suggested that if I want to walk anywhere, or even on grass, that MTB shoes are the way to go for 2 reasons.

They are slightly more flexible than their road counterparts
The cleat is receased (Meaning when you walk your not waliking on the cleat, thus causing it less/no damage??)

Would appreciate your feedback and experiences.

Cheers

Dan

jibi

Daniel

What type of cycling do you want to do?

I use both types of shoes, it all depends what I am doing.

You can fit MTB cleats to some roads shoes, that means you can have the SPD pedals and choose which shoes to wear.
If you think you may need to walk then shoes with a recessed cleat, or if you are going out for a fast blast, TT, or whatever then stiff road shoes can be worn.

george

daniel_b

Hi George,

likely to be 20-30 mile rides, or day rides here and there, but we're likely ot want to stop for a pub lunch, or just stop for lunh wherever and have a little wonder around.

Not planning any TT's

Can you get Road shoes with a recessed cleat?

Does the fact it is recessed make it more difficult to engage?

In your experiece, do the more flexible MTB shoes make a noticeable difference interms of power loss?

Cheers

Dan

Monty Dog

Road shoes per se don't have recessed cleats, but some designed of cleats e.g. Crank Bros Quattros are easier to walk in - your choice of pedals is more critical. The most popular types of road pedals - Look, SPD-SL and Time are all fairly awkward to walk-in for all but the shortest hobbles. For beginners I'd probably recommend MTB shoes and pedals for exactly that reason and only suggest a road shoe and pedals if they plan on getting serious or racing.

daniel_b

Thanks for the replies,

I'm still a little in the dark - are MTB and Road cleats actualyl differecnt?

And does it mean if I get a pair of MTB shoes, I wouldn't, for example, be able to use Shimano Ultegra pedals with them, as the cleats wouldn't fit the MTB shoe?

Apologies for the numpty q's :oops:

Dan

blackhands

Ultegra pedals would not be compatible with MTB shoes.

MTB(SPD) cleats are quite small and tend to fit into a recess in the MTB shoe although they will fit some road shoes as well. You can get some MTB (SPD) shoes which look very similar to road shoes but they have heavier soles and you can walk easily in them.

jibi

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bicycle_pedal

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cycling_shoe

Wiki is my friend

Dan
take at a look at the above links and if you have any questions , get back to us.

george

mea00csf

I use mtb shoes mostly because i already had a mountain bike with spd's and the shoes so when i got my road bike it was just a case of buying an extra set of spd's for £20 rather than road shoes and pedals (which would have cost a lot more)

I was lucky that i had a comp mtb shoe so it has a stiff sole and i still have no probs walking in them.

Boyfriend has road shoes and pedals on the road bike and mtb shoes and pedals on the mtb bike. This is only because he had the road shoes first and road shoes can't be used for mtb ing. For the mtb shoes he bought carbon soled shoes (as the comp mtb shoes felt floppy to him) and reckons there's not much difference in stiffness between them and his road shoes.

If your only going to be onroad and are a fairly confident rider go for the road shoes. Everyone (mtb and road) have the embaressing slow motion topple to start with but you should get used to them pretty quickly and within a few weeks you'll not even think about it

Mossrider

I use SPD's on the winter / commuter bike and have no problems. My shoe is a Shimano designed for touring and has done a number of century rides with no problem. Far better for tottering round a cafe!

I've only changed to Look cleats in the last few months - it does make a difference but it is marginal. Go with the SPD and recessed cleat (try for something that looks reasonly "roadie" though) and if you change later it'll still come in useful if you ever commute.

Eurostar

Daniel, you sound like a candidate for Touring shoes! Don't worry, they don't have special touring cleats. But they are comfy for walking in and can be good value and not look too ridiculous in the pub. E.g. these ones http://wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx? ... 5360018438 which could double as normal trainers really. Tho you wouldn't want to run in them.

Or you could go retro and buy these http://www.evanscycles.com/product.jsp?style=21233

I suggest you go to a shop and try some on. Check out the recesses in the soles where the cleats go. If you walk across grass much you will have to dig mud etc. out of the recess before clipping in again.

By the way, have you already bought clipless pedals? Not all shoes are compatible with all clipless pedal systems.

If you haven't bought pedals yet I would suggest choosing shoes first. You really don't want some that will be unpleasant to walk in. Unless you take 'street' shoes with you and change when you get to the pub.

By the way, some people swear by these: http://wiggle.co.uk/ProductDetail.aspx? ... 5360020450 Saves money on socks!

basha

Did you know you can buy road pedles that will fit an SPD cleat, now you have the best of both. Bought mine form Edinburgh cycle, SHIMANO's cost around £38,
Have used mine for around a week love them

alfablue

Eurostar wrote:

Daniel, you sound like a candidate for Touring shoes!

I think you should go for these Exustar touring shoes - very retro 8)



or these:



In dry weather I use Specialized Taho's, they are very comfy, good to walk in, but not too agressive sole



The Specialized Sonama also looks good - flatter sole, more like a road shoe, but still recessed cleat for walking

fluff.

The above type shoes (I think they're calling them ATB shoes these days?) are good if you're doing alot of walking about, but can get annoying if you're biking for long periods. They have quite flexible soles to aid walking which will make your feet ache after a while on the bike. If you're mainly biking but with the occasional wander I'd go with the MTB shoe option, walking will be fine (though things like steep cobbled roads will be interesting!) and riding will be easier.

alfablue

I find the specialized shoes to be sufficiently stiff for a good few hours riding

pompey-dude

Daniel B
I had the very same decision last month.
I tried them all.
I had to be able to wear them round the office for a 12 hour shift. The MTB ones i tried were a little stiffer than the Specialized Taho's that I eventually went for, but the Taho's look better round the office and town, they are very easy to live with off the bike, and are more than stiff enough to go out for a 3 hours blast on the road bike.
I would try as many as you can.
mind you there are some very sexy MTB ones about though.

Phill

baudman

As ppl have said, dep on the type of riding you do.

I wear Specialized Taho for commute and for MTB (just easy stuff). I will also, on occasion, wear them as my shoe on 'casual Fridays' here at work. They're OK for walking around in, but not overly comfortable. I wouldn't be wearing them to walk for any more than a 15 min journey. They give far more than a road shoe, but nowhere near a regular shoe.

For my road bike, I have road shoes with road cleats. And no, I wouldn't recommend walking in them any further than from the road to the cafe, and from the cafe back to the road. However, I echo other people's statements. They provide more power and less pain over longer distances.

A good mate has touring-style shoes with recessed SPD cleats, and as others have said, they seem to be a good compromise for your purposes. He has road-style SPD pedals on his road bike, and double-sided pedals on his commuter.

herbie12

Not wishing to duplicate what other's have said, but it is horses for courses, although after much experimenting and expense I've found a solution that works for me...

I'm using Quattros on my road bike, mainly with road shoes and Mallets on my MTB with MTB shoes, although as the cleats for all Crank Bros pedals (I think) are interchangeable you can use which ever combination of pedal / shoe you wish...

The only thing that I will repeatr is that for road use, a stiffer sole tends to be better... I was originally using Eggbeaters on a road bike with softish MTB shoes and it just didn't work - the shoe ended up practically wrapped round the pedal causing quote a bit of discomfort.

Unfortunately I don't think there is a best of both worlds... although if you went with something like the Crank Bros Mallets you could use a reasonably soft shoe as you'll have the support of the cage around the clipless mechanism. Won't look very elegant on a road bike though!

daniel_b

Brilliant stuff, thanks everyone for your inciteful educated replies, and useful suggestions - mucho appreciated

This gives me a good grasp on the differences between shoes and pedals/cleats, that I knew little about before today!

I think I will probably go the MTB shoe option, and if I feel I want to put some nice spd's on my felt, I may end up getting a ncie pair of roadies as well, but a few months down the line, see how I get on first 8)

Cheers all

Dan

daniel_b

Hello again,

it's been an age since this was posted, but just to show you i took it all on board, I have now bought a pair of Diadora Scorpions 2005 vintage, but brand new:



And these Pearl Izumi (Silver/Blue) shoes for my gf:



Thanks for the help!

Dan