Road Bike Shoes or MTB Shoes

blue07794

I require a good set up but dont want the cleats sticking out of the shoes as i wish to be able to walk without breaking my neck

So i am thinking i need a MTB set of shoes and pedals or is there road shoes that offer this option at a reasonable price........any advice welcome

night_porter

There are several road shoes that will accept SPD cleats but they will stick out from the bottom because there is no rubber surrounding the cleats.

However Shimano do make MTB versions of some of their road shoes i.e. RO77 - MO77, RO87 - MO87. The RO is for Road and MO is for MTB.

Just use a pair of these and they look and perform the same as the road shoes but have the extra rubber to walk on when off of the bike.

I have used both of the 77 models and can vouch that they are exactly the same shoes but with a little extra rubber on the MTB ones.

briantrumpet

I've got these:
http://road.cc/content/review/16381-shimano-rt81-shoes
and they do the job very nicely. Last ride was 115 miles on Friday, and no discomfort.

merak

Road shoes do have stiffer soles (composite or carbon) which makes them better at transmitting power to the pedals, but for someone getting their first pair the difference is tiny.

unixnerd

Night_porter is 100% correct, Shimano mtb shoes and SPD cleats. MTB shoes keep the weather out a lot better too, road shoes have mesh on the top generally.

briantrumpet

merak wrote:

Road shoes do have stiffer soles (composite or carbon) which makes them better at transmitting power to the pedals

The power transfer thing is a myth (welcome to the marvellous world of marketing hype), and the Shimanos (amongst others) have nicely stiff soles. Road shoes won't make you go any faster, and you'll walk like a duck with piles when you get off your bike.

unixnerd

Road shoes won't make you go any faster, and you'll walk like a duck with piles when you get off your bike.

+1. I recently bought some new SPD-SL shoes as my old SPDs were getting a bit worn out (8+ years old) and whilst they feel a bit more direct it's no big thing. The cleats were harder to setup too, not sure why.

briantrumpet

unixnerd wrote:

Road shoes won't make you go any faster, and you'll walk like a duck with piles when you get off your bike.

+1. I recently bought some new SPD-SL shoes as my old SPDs were getting a bit worn out (8+ years old) and whilst they feel a bit more direct it's no big thing. The cleats were harder to setup too, not sure why.

And I gather the plastic cleats on SPD-SLs wear out fairly quickly (in a matter of months, Ive seen on some accounts).

I wouldn't deny that the psychological effect of the non-floaty connection with SPD-SL pedals might make a difference to how people pedal, but 'better power transfer' can only be a true claim if significant amounts of energy applied on SPDs are converted to heat or light, or some other form of energy.

merak

briantrumpet wrote:

merak wrote:

Road shoes do have stiffer soles (composite or carbon) which makes them better at transmitting power to the pedals

The power transfer thing is a myth (welcome to the marvellous world of marketing hype), and the Shimanos (amongst others) have nicely stiff soles. Road shoes won't make you go any faster, and you'll walk like a duck with piles when you get off your bike.

That's why all the road pros wear road shoes I suppose.

MTB shoes are not as stiff as road shoes, they weigh more and if you want to put energy into flexing the soles of your shoes be my guest (having spent two grand to buy a bike that's stiff at the bottom bracket). I agree (and said) that the difference is tiny for a beginner, but there is a difference.

briantrumpet

merak wrote:

MTB shoes are not as stiff as road shoes

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sidi-eagle-6-ca ... hoes-2011/

Stiff carbon soles aren't limited to SPD-SL shoes. Not that I'm going to spend £210 on a pair of shoes.

I'd be happy to stand corrected if anyone can direct me to a scientific study that proves that SPD-SL pedals/shoes have 'better power transfer' than the equivalent SPDs, but until I see that, I'll stick with the conservation of energy principle and ignore the marketing hype.

cougie

Stiff shoes are good for comfort - when the pros started using the road SPD's they were getting hot spots as the pressure wasnt spread over the sole of the shoe. Now with the stiffer carbon shoes - it is better.

But as you want to walk around - I'd go for something like Time Atacs and any cheapish MTB shoe. I've used that combination for 80 mile rides and its fine - just not as good as my carbon road shoes with look pedals.

trooperk

Got the perfect solution for you,use road shoes but use these cleats with outriggers.
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/shimano-spd-road-cleats/

merak

briantrumpet wrote:

merak wrote:

MTB shoes are not as stiff as road shoes

http://www.wiggle.co.uk/sidi-eagle-6-ca ... hoes-2011/

Stiff carbon soles aren't limited to SPD-SL shoes. Not that I'm going to spend £210 on a pair of shoes.

Fair enough, but most mtb shoes have less stiff soles than this because people want to walk and run reasonably comfortably in them.

I'd be happy to stand corrected if anyone can direct me to a scientific study that proves that SPD-SL pedals/shoes have 'better power transfer' than the equivalent SPDs, but until I see that, I'll stick with the conservation of energy principle and ignore the marketing hype.

And I'll stand corrected if you show me a single pro cyclist riding mtb shoes in a road race. Clearly they've all been taken in by the marketing hype - but of course you haven't. And I'll stick by the fact that real materials used for soles of shoes that are not stiff are also not perfectly elastic but viscoelastic and dissipate some energy through bendiing as a consequence of the hysteresis in the stress-strain curve.