Road shoes

Cotterend

I'm looking for advice on road shoes. I began road cycling five years ago, and struggled with cramp in my feet once I started covering distances. Four years ago I was persuaded by my LBS to replace Mavic Energy Composite shoes with Mavis Energy Full Carbon to fix the problem. He told me the very rigid sole would help. They seemed horribly expensive, but he was right, the cramps were very much reduced.

Now, one of the shoes has fallen to bits, sadly. I've gone back to the old composites, and I can feel the flex in the sole, and I'm getting cramp again. Clearly, then, I need a very stiff shoe.

The trouble is, when I look on Wiggle or Bobshop, every shoe is described as stiff, whether it is £50 or £300, and there seems to be no measure of that stiffness. I live a long way from any good bike shop now, I can only buy online, but I don't know where to start and it soon gets expensive posting shoes back, always with the risk that I've had do a few km in them to judge them and they may not be accepted back.

So, does anyone know what shoes now would be equivalent stiffness to the full carbon Mavics of four years ago, or which shoes now are stiff while not costing a fortune?

amrushton

You are looking for a full carbon sole but unfortunately they don't come cheap but look at maybe sale shoes at Chain Reaction or Planet X. High end Shimano/Sidi/Giro/Gaerne/Fizik all worth a look as well as Bontrager or Specialized.

http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Bont/R ... lsrc=aw.ds

https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/buyers-g ... oes.html/9

are two things on google. Those Bont are good for the money

dannyjames1

For a while I have been using 'Exustar' mountain shoes on my road bike. The soles are extremely rigid and one will struggle to flex them by hand. I think these might be a PX own brand now rebranded as 'Agu or Egu'. In general though, their products tend to be good. Worth some consideration.

Cotterend

amrushton wrote:

You are looking for a full carbon sole but unfortunately they don't come cheap but look at maybe sale shoes at Chain Reaction or Planet X. High end Shimano/Sidi/Giro/Gaerne/Fizik all worth a look as well as Bontrager or Specialized.

http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/item/Bont/R ... lsrc=aw.ds

https://roadcyclinguk.com/gear/buyers-g ... oes.html/9

are two things on google. Those Bont are good for the money

The Bonts look pretty good at the price, but the advice in the article rings true. How can you expect to improve shoe fit by moulding it yourself? Surely, it's not simply about being the same shape as your foot, is it? Shouldn't there be load bearing areas where the foot is good at load bearing, and relief where the foot should not be loaded? It seems a bit too simplistic for my liking.

Has anyone moulded Bonts and made a better shoe than came out of the box? Is the shoe out of the box good without moulding?

hsiaolc

Try the Shimano R171. Best shoe I've ever had.

Very stiff and extremely comfortable. Never hot spot. Not sure about the cramping though and not sure how that's related to the stiffness of the soles.

theraggyone

I got these from merlin to replace my shimano shoes, absolutely love them

https://www.merlincycles.com/flr-f-xx-c ... 88201.html

MisterMuncher

I suppose the obvious answer is new carbon Mavics. I'm in a similar bind as my Spiuks are probably on their last summer. Obvious replacement is the current equivalent model, but they are a touch spendy. Been looking around for other things, but my LBSs aren't great in this area.

Considering you got 4 years out of the last pair, they're probably better value than something cheaper.

giropaul

My experience is that different makes favour different fits. Often, Italian makes are narrower than US makes, but often wider fit versions are available if you search. The fit also varies across the price range for a manufacturer.
E.g. I use Shimano Dynafit wide fitting carbon soles. The cheaper-end Shimano in the same size don't fit as well.
Which is a long-winded way of saying that if Mavic Carbon suit you, buy the same again, you will only waste money on trying something different .
I'd also recommend that once you have a pair that are ideal, buy more and keep them for the future.
I'd also suggest custom foot beds if you have any foot issues, they can transform your foot comfort.

vinnymarsden

I had Spiuk shoes and they were okay…but felt rather clunky/heavy… upgraded to Sidi Wire carbons.. the difference is night and day..the Spiuks are still my training/crap weather shoe..but the Wires are just so comfy..as long as you don't ratchet them up too tight, they feel so good. As with most cycling shoes tho, the insole is useless, so i put a yellow Superfeet pair in…would never swap from Sidis now..expensive, but worth it, rather than making mistake after costly mistake..rather like finding a saddle

northpole

I have Spesh S Works shoes which I rate very highly - they are extremely stiff and very lightweight & comfortable (for me). I also have Sidi Ergo 3's which are not as lightweight but they feel every bit as stiff and I suspect will last an awful lot longer than the S Works due to a more robust build quality. To be fair, they are built to slightly different briefs and this is reflected in my comments. I rate them both very highly. Perhaps worth noting that I find the Spesh are size 45 whilst Sidi need to be size 46 for equivalent fit.

Peter

Cotterend

I'm still agonising here, many thanks for all your advice Looking at the Shimano R171 SPD-SL and the FLR F-XX Carbon, which both seem a good price, does anyone know how they fit, ie, narrow, standard or wide? I like the road-walking grips of the FLR, I cannot see what grips are on the R171.

bendertherobot

The R171 are about 8 I think on Shimano's stiffness index. It goes up to 11

You'd be hard pushed to notice any difference with a stiffer shoe. They size up quite large, IMO, certainly slightly wider, longer and bigger in the toe box than a Sidi. I take a 45 in most shoes and a 45 here.

singleton

If the Mavics fit and solve the problem then I'd be nclined to get some more - even if they are expensive.

For other carbon, I recently got some Shimano R170 for about £80 and have been very pleased with them.

bobones

Giro Factor are nice very nice shoes: white and black
or red and white.

stueys

Take a look at spesh s-works (I think the current version is great), giro or bont. All have carbon soles and are very stiff, the sworks has a heel grip which I think is unsurpassed in the amount of grip and support it offers but it verges on uncomfortable so worth trying before buying.

iron-clover

I got lucky with e-bay for my current road shoes- although in both cases they were supposed to be 'racing' shoes only so it didn't matter if they didn't fit well and I had to keep looking as I had my old faithful shoes for everyday.

The first pair I got were Scott HMX shoes from a few years ago which after a couple of years have now become my everyday shoes after my old faithful ones fell apart. To keep the stack height the same between 'everyday and racing' shoes I needed another pair of thin soled shoes. I got a year old pair of Spesh s-works shoes a couple of months ago for a little less than what you can get a decent fibreglass sole shoe. They became my racing shoes!

I would agree the s-works are narrower than the Scotts and are so stiff they make even walking to the shed an experience, but I wouldn't say they're uncomfortable- but I've only ever done up to 60miles at a time with them.

I got lucky with the fitting of each of them, but you might not be so lucky. If you are lucky then there are great deals to be had if you're patient.

daniel_b

It's not expensive to send shoes back to wiggle, crc or wheelies, it's totally free if you live in the uk.

What Mavic size do you take?

Cotterend

Daniel B wrote:

It's not expensive to send shoes back to wiggle, crc or wheelies, it's totally free if you live in the uk.

What Mavic size do you take?

Mavic 43. They were a tad too small.

It's not expensive to send things back, its more the casting in the dark, and trying a single pair of shoes in isolation of the rest that is hard. I'm fairly new to all this, so I don't know what to expect of shoes when I try them on. When buying fashion shoes online, I order loads, thinking to send most back. I usually end up keeping most instead! Carbon road shoes are too expensive to this with!

964cup

IME Mavics are quite narrow, so you probably have a wide (hah!) choice of shoes available to you. I would keep an eye out for Sidi Wires or the Genius (5 or, better, 6.6) both of which are often heavily discounted for some reason. I have had excellent service out of mine. I'm just in the process of switching to the Giro Empire SLX, which is astonishingly light, but true comfort is so far proving a bit elusive. I'd look to pay about £150 for a shoe with an RRP of £250-300, if I were you. Cheaper than that, and they won't be good enough.

daniel_b

Mavic do maxi fit shoes, I needed 45 1/3 in normal fit, but could take 44 2/3 in maxi size.
If you can't find any on uk sites, could be worth a look at bikediscount.de, about a year ago I bought some Zxellium Maxi's from them.
Check it's still the case, but if the value of a return was more than something like 50 euros, you could still return it for free. Nuts!

Cotterend

I ordered SIDI Genius 5-fit, and I am well pleased with them. It was clear that the sizing would be odd so I researched this first using several sizing guides found on the internet, and came out 3 European sizes larger than my usual shoe size, 1 1/2 sizes larger than my Mavics had been. They are possibly half a size over, but this errs on the safe side: the straps pull them in nicely and I could always choose thicker socks if I felt the need to.

The shoes are light, well ventilated, comfortable and appear to be well made. The carbon soles are very rigid.

Thank you all for your advice

HD101

Highly recommend Sidi's - have had a couple of pairs now, cheaper ones and currently the Wires. Great fit and really comfortable.

Cotterend

I bought SIDI in the end, and now, well over a year later, I'm still delighted with them. 2 sizes above normal worked out just fine. With a very stiff sole, the foot cramps are almost a thing of the past, just a touch now and again.

Louise