Should I switch to road shoes?

AllTheGear

I've been riding on road seriously for about a year, before that I was riding a mountain bike for a few years.

I use SPD shoes and pedals - mountain bike style. I stuck with these on the road bike because I already had the shoes, was used to them etc. I have never used road cleats.

I have ridden toe clips once, on my dad's bike. Let's not go there!

I have had 2 days rest from riding yet I can still feel some very minor discomfort on the balls of my feet right where the cleats are.

I'm getting a lot fitter and am now pushing on the pedals for harder and longer which is probably why I've not had any issues up to now, and as I have some longer rides planned it's likely to get worse.

I can't use thicker socks or any inserts because the shoes I have will become too tight, currently I'm limited to thin socks. So I'm thinking I'll get some shoes half a size bigger.

Now, do I switch to road shoes and pedals, or stick with MTB style and just get a better pair? I did 3 riding days last week totalling 96 miles. Mark Beaumont rode around the world in MTB shoes so I can't see that distance is an issue?

I do occasionally commute which is why I'm posting this here, also there's likely a lot on here with experience of both types.

TIA

cjcp

I suspect each foot is different, but I think LiT mentioned this last week, maybe the week before and JG said that the cleats on SPDs are smaller than say SPD-SLs on road shoes.

Fwiw, you need to make sure that the SLs are set up correctly, but I've never had discomfort on the soles of my feet. That said, I've never used SPDs.

itboffin

cjcp wrote:

I suspect each foot is different, but I think LiT mentioned this last week, maybe the week before and JG said that the cleats on SPDs are smaller than say SPD-SLs on road shoes.

Fwiw, you need to make sure that the SLs are set up correctly, but I've never had discomfort on the soles of my feet. That said, I've never used SPDs.

So how did you attached cleats to your bare feet? :shock:

cjcp

Eh?

(Look, I'm just guzzling the first coffee. I need to wake up a bit before I can be expected to post with any sense. )

itboffin

cjcp wrote:

Eh?

(Look, I'm just guzzling the first coffee. I need to wake up a bit before I can be expected to post with any sense. )

Snap out of it, it's practically the afternoon!

AllTheGear

He meant SPDs as opposed to SPD-SLs. Curse you Shimano!

The cleats are small on SPDs, this should not matter if the sole is rigid but I suspect mine is not very, and it's causing a pressure point.

Sorry for asking similar questions to what gets brought up week after week!

Roastie

My recommendation is to stick with the MTB style SPDs on the for the commmute, just get a better pair of shoes.

a) SPDs are easier to clip into than road shoes. So often I see riders with road pedals wobbling away from the lights fumbling with their pedals - and by the nature of the beast, even if an SPD isn't clipped home, you can still get going, where with a road pedal you will likely have a gonads/top tube incident if you try to apply power not properly clipped.

b) MTB shoes have the benefit of being walkable. Walking with decent road shoes knackers both the cleat and the shoes. Plus they (road shoes) are quite perilous if you need to put a foot down on wet roads.

c) Money. For the price of new road pedals plus new road shoes, you could get yourself a much better pair of SPD compatible shoes. This will certainly solve any cleat pressure problems you might have from an overly flexible sole. I like the look of the new Mavic shoes, worth a look.

Don't get me wrong, I do think that road type pedals are ultimately better (I run Look Keos on my race bike, but Eggbeaters on my commuter), but MTB shoes do so much better for the commute.

lost_in_thought

I think the stiffness of the sole is important... as I said on someone else's thread, where they were after some new MTB shoes or something, there's a compromise between comfort off the bike and stiffness on the bike.

A stiff sole will help to spread the pressure from the pedal over your foot.

However, stiff soles are definitely not limited to road shoes - I have some SPD boots from northwave which have a good stiff sole.

However, if you're keen to switch on to another pedal don't let me stop you!

One thing I have noticed in my quest for shoes is that there are precious few available that can take both a 3-hole 'look' style cleat and a normal SPD.

jedster

THere are lots of shoes which have two versions: MTB and road. They should be similarly stiff (same midsole) but with different soles. No reason why you have to go to raoad pedals to get stiff shoes.

Gazzaputt

I use MTB shoes on my commute as the are easier to walk in than road shoes.

Clipping in and out I find no difference between mtb cleats and road cleats.

I use Speedplay on the weekend bike and CB Candys on the commuter.

Sea_Green_Incorruptible

Out of interest, what do you reckon is the balance between stiffness of the soles and the larger pedal area of SPD-SLs in performance?

I ride and have ridden both and have always found SPD-SLs MUCH stiffer and more stable, more closely connected to the bike. In contrast, my SPDs can feel like I am riding on a point because they don't spread the load.

HOWEVER, my SPDs and SPD shoes are cheap, flexy and crap. My SPD-SLs are Ultegra with plastic soled Shimano shoes. So I'm not sure how much the difference is down to the cheapo set-up or the SPD/SPD-SL issue. Does anyone ride decent versions of each? What is the difference?

[NB I'm considering changing back to SPDs precisly because I'm tired of faffing around clipping in at the lights]

alfablue

I think most of the rigidity is about the shoes, if the sole plate around the pedal area is very stiff then the actual size of the cleat contact area should have little effect. I have two sets of mtb shoes, one much more stiff and it is these that I use for long rides or it gets uncomfortable. As said above, some mtb shoes are identical to equivalent road shoes, with the addition of bits to walk on.

lost_in_thought

I ride Speedplay Zero with good shoes (Northwave Aerlite 3 or Mavic Avenir depending on location) on the Tifosi and the Viner, and SPDs with either sandals or northwave winter boots on the fixie. The sandals are OK on the stiffness but the winter boots are excellent.

I have to say the speedplays are more comfortable over a long ride due to the bigger platform, the longest one I've done on the fixie is about 30 miles and by the time I got home I could feel the pedal a bit, but not so much that it was uncomfortable. And that was with the sandals.

I think the cheapo set-up with the SPDs is probably the issue - they're a v small platform anyway so theoretically would require an even stiffer sole for long distance comfort. I understand that it's the load spread you get from a stiffer sole that makes for comfort on the bike...

spasypaddy

i have SPDs on my fixie and Looks on my road bike, the Looks are much much much better. So much so that i'm actually going to put speedplays on my fixie this week so that i have road pedals for my fixie.

prawny

Would it be horrendously bad form of me to use some lower end road shoes with mtb spd pedals?

I fancy the foot vents of roadie shoes but I want to keep the same pedals on mtb and road so I can used my MTB shoes on both.

Whatcha reckon?

whyamihere

prawny wrote:

Would it be horrendously bad form of me to use some lower end road shoes with mtb spd pedals?

I fancy the foot vents of roadie shoes but I want to keep the same pedals on mtb and road so I can used my MTB shoes on both.

Whatcha reckon?

If you can get some with 2 bolt holes, it's fine. They'll still be a pain to walk in though, as the cleats aren't recessed.

As for road pedals, I have them on my good road bike, and love them. However, I spend at most 15 minutes per ride in towns on that bike. I dread starting from the lights with traffic revving behind me, as although I can get clipped in instantly 75% of the time, those few times when I need to look down and guide my foot in are quite scary. For that reason, for commuting I won't use single sided roadie pedals.

However, what I do use is Crank Bros Quattros. It's their road pedal, comes with a 3 bolt adaptor for fitting to road shoes, but uses the same cleats and mechanism as their MTB pedals, meaning that clipping in is a lot easier and MTB shoes can be used (though I had to cut away a few bits of rubber from the sole of mine).

prawny

Cool, I only have 1 road bike (so far) and I don't do much walking when I'm on that so I give some proper road shoes a go. When I get some euro exotica I'll put some proper pedals on that.

I just thought as well in the dark with metal cleats I can drag a foot and scare the bus stop folks :twisted:

whyamihere

Doing that would work better with Ti cleats. Very nice sparks.

prawny

Hmm ti you say 8)

I tried your route the other day, bloody hell it's quick! :shock:

whyamihere

prawny wrote:

Hmm ti you say 8)

I tried your route the other day, bloody hell it's quick! :shock:

I'm going to ride 6-8 laps of it tomorrow. That should be an interesting training ride...

prawny

I'll be goin down the chester road about 7:30 and the other way at 5:30 I'll keep an eye out. I saw about 5 others on monday crazy!

steveevo

Back to shoes, I got a pair of these last week, bloody marvelous

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/p/cycle/7/Pearl ... 360029380/

Roastie

prawny wrote:

Would it be horrendously bad form of me to use some lower end road shoes with mtb spd pedals?

I fancy the foot vents of roadie shoes but I want to keep the same pedals on mtb and road so I can used my MTB shoes on both.

Whatcha reckon?

My missus had this setup on her Cannondale before it got nicked. She liked it a lot and it worked well. The shoes were Shimano IIRC.

daviesee

Hi,

My answer is Shimano A520 SPD pedals and Sidi SPD MB shoes on my road bike.

The soles are stiff enough for performance and have enough grip for relatively comfortable walking. A perfect compromise.

A compromise is a compromise though.
Flats & soft soles would be more comfortable for walking.
Race shoes would be even stiffer with better performance (maybe - I am guessing).

I am happy :P

simon_e

daviesee wrote:

My answer is Shimano A520 SPD pedals and Sidi SPD MB shoes on my road bike.

I looked at A520s for commuting/general riding but decided to stick with double-sided SPDs after a few negative opinions on here.

I have Shimano MT40 shoes and M520 SPD pedals. They work fine for me, the shoes are stiff enough for power transfer, yet comfortable and fine for walking in when required. I have wondered about trying dedicated road shoes but the cost and having two sets of incompatible shoes & pedals put me off. Unless you're going against the clock I doubt you'd see any benefit. I'd say put your money into some stiffer SPD shoes that fit you well.