Do I need road shoes?

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Comments

  • pblakeney
    pblakeney Posts: 25,889
    PBlakeney wrote:
    Good to know that all the money I've blown over the years (many) on top of the range Sidi road shoes has been wasted. I blame all those pro riders making me think they were the right tools for the job.
    That is rather dependent on the job at hand. No matter how far or how fast I am riding chances are that I will stop and walk around a bit at some point so carbon soled SPDs are perfect. For me. YMMV.

    If I want to walk I'll take the dogs. When I'm on a bike I ride it. A cafe stop and walk of a few yards is the most I'll do.

    Have I wandered onto the What Hiking Forum by mistake?
    YMMV.
    The above may be fact, or fiction, I may be serious, I may be jesting.
    I am not sure. You have no chance.
    Veronese68 wrote:
    PB is the most sensible person on here.
  • Based on my own sample of n=1, I'm convinced road pedals can provide a "gain at the margins".

    I recently changed from Crank Bros Candy pedals with recessed cleats to SPD-SL with road shoes. I perceived a about 5W with my power meter when riding up my local favourite hills or doing my turbo sessions. I was using Bont Riot shoes in both cases (Riot MTB and Riot Road).

    I doubt I would have noticed the difference without a power meter. And I moved from one extreme to another - the shoes on the Candys had a lot of torsional movement and they had a really huge stack height. SPDs are a bit more secure than Candys, so changes might be less pronounced.

    Anyway, now I have two pairs of shoes and pedals depending on whether I want to take my bike on a tour or for my sportives.
  • First.Aspect
    First.Aspect Posts: 14,676
    Imposter wrote:

    You can't tell the difference between SPD shoes but you have a power meter?

    You only think your feet and pedalling are worth £70 but you spend multiples of that on a power meter.

    Not quite sure what point you are trying to make here. There are studies which show that people wearing trainers and pedalling on flats can make just as much power as someone in cycle shoes and clipped in.
    Agreed. Fundamentally, assuming we aren't comparing winter boots to Bont vapours here, unless you are looking at your feet, it really is hard to discern the difference between any two pairs of moderately stiff shoes.

    Kind of like the difference between a Pinarello and a Boardman. One is cheap and fast, the other is expensive and must be better because its Italian and has a different badge, even though the difference in your speed is undetectable by science.

  • Hold my aching sides.

    You can't tell the difference between SPD shoes but you have a power meter?

    You only think your feet and pedalling are worth £70 but you spend multiples of that on a power meter.

    As if I'm going to take comment from you on spending money on cycling related things :roll:

    Maybe try both systems instead of just talking out of your arse?
  • slowbike
    slowbike Posts: 8,498

    Hold my aching sides.

    You can't tell the difference between SPD shoes but you have a power meter?

    You only think your feet and pedalling are worth £70 but you spend multiples of that on a power meter.

    As if I'm going to take comment from you on spending money on cycling related things :roll:

    Maybe try both systems instead of just talking out of your ars*?

    and you spent just that on an inner tube .... jeeze man - you need to drop at least a ton on an inner tube - what's the point of having a bike costing £k's when you put on a couple of quids worth of inner tube ...

    and socks ... don't get me started on socks!!

  • Hold my aching sides.

    You can't tell the difference between SPD shoes but you have a power meter?

    You only think your feet and pedalling are worth £70 but you spend multiples of that on a power meter.

    As if I'm going to take comment from you on spending money on cycling related things :roll:

    Maybe try both systems instead of just talking out of your ars*?

    Yeah, that's right WTF do I know? I've been riding bikes since I was a lad. 50 years of it. At varying levels. I've raced MTB and on the road. I've TT'd and done dozens of sportives in UK and Europe. I know absolutely nothing. Except I do. It's called experience. As the old saying goes you can't buy experience.

    Here's a tip. Do a FTP test with your SPDs on and do another with decent road shoes on and get back to me.

    I won't be commenting again on this thread. No point, you fellas know it all.
  • imposter2.0
    imposter2.0 Posts: 12,028
    Yeah, that's right WTF do I know? I've been riding bikes since I was a lad. 50 years of it. At varying levels. I've raced MTB and on the road. I've TT'd and done dozens of sportives in UK and Europe. I know absolutely nothing. Except I do. It's called experience. As the old saying goes you can't buy experience.

    It's called an 'appeal to authority' and actually means fck all.
    Here's a tip. Do a FTP test with your SPDs on and do another with decent road shoes on and get back to me.

    Have a scan of this study and get back to us on that.. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/18418807
    I won't be commenting again on this thread. No point, you fellas know it all.

    You're not the only person with experience on this forum. Grow up.
  • Road shoes. Go try some on.