Stiff shoes for SPD pedals...

Valy
Valy Posts: 1,321
edited December 2012 in Road buying advice
Hi all,

Just a bit of background beforehand: I have Specialized BG Pro shoes and used them with Speedplay pedals very happily for 1 and a bit years. Never found them lacking in stiffness and comfort was good too. Then a little problem developed with getting a bit of lateral rocking with Speedplays somehow. Turned out the cleat was not fully flat against the left shoe. Having tried and failed to amend it with shims etc I put SPs to one side for a bit and got some 105 pedals only to not being able to get the cleat far forward enough, otherwise I could live with them.

In the end I decided to get m780 XT pedals to use with my BG Sport MTB shoes. That works pretty well apart from missing a fair bit of stiffness.

What I want is to get some stiffer MTB shoes as I just want to have the simplicity of SPD cleats for a bit and of course they allow me to get the cleat forward far enough.

I've spotted these guys and they have a "stiffness index of 9" vs the 11 on my road shoes and are within the budget.

I'm just wondering if anyone had experiences of using road shoes vs stiffer mtb ones and if you have anything to share/recommend in terms of what to realistically expect? I'm thinking the above shoes will be less stiff due to the sole and the smaller cleat, BUT how noticeable is it really?

Comments

  • daviesee
    daviesee Posts: 6,386
    At your price range, I would go for these, or similar. Because I did.
    http://www.bike-discount.de/shop/a26825 ... tAodH0sAlA
    Although I got mine elsewhere for slightly less but then it was 8 years ago. :wink:
    8 years ago and still in excellent knick. Think about that. Must be some kind of recommendation.
    None of the above should be taken seriously, and certainly not personally.
  • prawny
    prawny Posts: 5,451
    Yeah Sidis ftw
    Saracen Tenet 3 - 2015 - Dead - Replaced with a Hack Frame
    Voodoo Bizango - 2014 - Dead - Hit by a car
    Vitus Sentier VRS - 2017
  • Bobbinogs
    Bobbinogs Posts: 4,841
    I don't have road shoes but I do have a pair each of the two Spesh shoes noted. The carbon soled Experts really are noticeably stiffer than the Sport version, cannot see how a rating of 11 (compared to the 9) can be any stiffer in fact!

    I like the Spesh shoes but do need to have my cleats right at the top of the scale but I guess that don't matter (let's face it, as long as they are right then I won't need to change them).
  • andrew_s
    andrew_s Posts: 2,511
    Bobbinogs wrote:
    The carbon soled Experts really are noticeably stiffer than the Sport version, cannot see how a rating of 11 (compared to the 9) can be any stiffer in fact!
    The blurb on the Experts says that there's a bit of flex at the toe to make walking a bit better, so that's probably the difference.
    It won't make any difference on the bike
  • Valy
    Valy Posts: 1,321
    Went with the spesh shoes in the end as I know the sizing and fit. Sidi fit is maybe a touch compact for me, or may have needed a slightly bigger size. (tried 46 high end road shoes a while back)

    Will try to update once I get them, but bobbinogs what you say sounds promising! :D