Cycling shoes question

Dedalus1984

I ride a mountain bike that i've adapted somewhat for commuting and leisure/fitness riding.

Currently i'm using a pair of old lightweight trainers that just don't do the job. I'd like to buy some dedicated cycling shoes (nothing flashy), but not ready for clipless pedals yet. My question is, are cycling shoes effective/worthwhile if used with normal, non-clipless pedals?

Cheers all,

Sam

biondino

If you're intending to go clipless once you've gained confidence then you could buy some cleat-ready shoes, but really there's no reason ordinary shoes shouldn't do the job for the most part and it'd be quite an extravagance if you're not intending to go clipless.

always_tyred

Are your feet unfomfortable in the trainers? When I first started out, I found that the flex in my trainers made my arches hurt. Even a moderately stiff pair of touring shoes will help with this. Getting a pair will remove one barrier to going clipless, that's for sure!

bluecow

Don't do it. I bought my stiff-soled mtb shoes before i bought the pedals and once tried commuting on flats but my foot kept slipping off the pedals. The shoes arent designed to grip the pedal like trainers would. Unless the grips underfoot are soft you'll probably have problems.

always_tyred

bluecow wrote:

Don't do it. I bought my stiff-soled mtb shoes before i bought the pedals and once tried commuting on flats but my foot kept slipping off the pedals. The shoes arent designed to grip the pedal like trainers would. Unless the grips underfoot are soft you'll probably have problems.

Toe clips (even without straps) will get around this problem in the interim. Do you really think this is a problem with touring shoes as welll?

coffeecup

The whole clipless thing isn't as frightening as you might think. Most pedals can be loosened so that the tension holding you in is very light

I've only fallen off once in 3 yrs of clipless riding (keeled over at the bike rack at work and the shame taught me never to do it again!!!)

Even in a blind panic, with loosened pedals, your feet will come out of the pedal

They're totally worth it!!!

blackworx

Northwave do a pair of touring shoes that are pretty close to a pair of trainers and which will grip your flats just fine. They're pretty heavy though, but iirc they're under forty quid. You can also get a pair of combi pedals with SPD on one side and flat on the other for £not much, so you could try the whole thing out without having to commit straight away.

girv73

I commute on a converted MTB with toe clipped pedals, wearing Shimano MTB shoes. I used to use a pair of light trainers, but it hurt my arches (and I have bad arches anyway). After making the switch to the Shimanos, the pain went away and I was a lot more comfortable. I'm not sure if I'll ever go clipless on the commuter bike but I still think the cycling specific shoes are worth it.