Fifty Plus (50+) - Biking Sandals?

I'm retired, live in Florida and you can count the number of times a month that I wear shoes on the fingers of one hand with a couple of fingers left over (other than biking that is). Sandals and flip flops are pretty much it for me from March through October. Reason being they are more comfortable.

When I get back from a ride and peel the soaked socks from my steaming feet, it seems there must be a better way. Been researching biking sandals, seems the people who like them do so quite a bit.

Before I order, thought I would ask for some input from people who have actually worn the things. One negative that I discovered is that no one in my area (Pensacola, Fl) stocks them so I won't have the opportunity to fit them. Every time I've ordered shoes online (3 times), they didn't fit well.

The Shimano seems to be the only open toe design, the others are more like regular shoes. I tend to the Shimano for that reason.

PS: No relevance to my owl picture, just thought you might like it.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x229/TomD77/misc%20stuff/DSC2130-1.jpg

Keen cycling sandals are the most popular, go to a shoe store that sells Keen shoes and try their regular sandals for size, then order cycling sandals from REI.
http://www.rei.com/product/812175/keen-commuter-ii-bike-sandals-mens

I bet that owl has on sandals and so do I.

I've been riding on sandals (Shimano) for 10 years - the same shoes those 10 years - and love them. I use them all-year-round in Colorado.

They are cooler, your toes have more freedom.

Mine have fewer straps.

I too wear sandals from mid-March thru early October, but not on the bike. :)
I wore Lake cycling sandals (http://www.lakecycling.com/default.aspx?tabid=558&itemno=LXSDL_10&clr=BKGY) when bike commuting my last 2 summers of employment. Very comfy. :thumb: I usually wear size 45 cycling shoes so got size 45. A size 44 might have been a little better. The 45s seemed just a bit long.

I wear the Shimano sandals for most of my rides. I use wool socks in the cooler months, and go to shoes when the temps get below 50 or so.

I really like my Shimano sandals. I'll be wearing them tomorrow.

I don't have any sandal advice, but your owl picture is spectacular.:thumb:

Keen makes very good SPD compatible cycling sandals that are also very good to walk in. They also have a tough toe cap to protect your toes. I got mine through Zappos.

http://a1.zassets.com/images/z/1/0/4/1049405-p-DETAILED.jpg

I have Shimano and Keen sandals. I like them both but prefer the Keen. The soles of my feet seem to burn after a couple hours in the Shimano and I don't have that problem with the Keens. The Keen seem to have a softer insole than the Shimano.

+1 on the Keens.

I have the Keens also. The only comment I have is the webbing has some give and stretch, so I feel like I have to make a pretty exaggerated effort to unclip sometimes.

Thanks,
Roger

Think I'm leaning very heavily to the Shimano 66 because it is so open.

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x229/TomD77/post%20from/shimano.jpg

Just don't hit that owl with the Shimano sandals, or that beak will peel back your flesh like a can opener on an aluminum can. I didn't even know there were such things as biking sandals. I wear those mesh shoes meant to be worn in water or around water. I use rat-traps on my pedals.

Nashbar Sandals (http://www.nashbar.com/bikes/Product_10053_10052_169948_-1___) I have wide feet and these work for me. I know some people with wide feet find the Keens don't work. I got two pair when they were on sale for $19.99 - I wear them year round (I live in Hawaii after all). They are really good to walk in. I use them with the Crank Brothers Mallet which give a large platform which I think is more comfortable with a sole that is flexible enough to walk in easily. I find they are more comfortable to use when wearing sox but otherwise have no complaints.

Just don't hit that owl with the Shimano sandals, or that beak will peel back your flesh like a can opener on an aluminum can.

If the owl could cause damage, what about this?

http://i185.photobucket.com/albums/x229/TomD77/misc%20stuff/DSC2113t-1.jpg

Teva makes a great pair of sandals that I use, but then I don't clip in either.
208803

Try your cycling shoes without socks. Just did myself and I like it...............a lot.

For SPD sandals, I've had great luck with the Shimanos for years. If you have normal to narrow foot, you might consider the Keens too (I can't even get my wide-assed boats into those tho).

My wide feet/duck toes/high arch love my Keen SPDs. Other women's shoes are too narrow.

I wear them with thin cycling socks on warm/hot days, I wear them with wool-e-ators on cool days. I don't like the feel of wearing them without socks, but then I like wearing socks with my other non-bike sandals.

The closed rubber toes keep my feet warmer than my other bike shoes on colder days. They dry quickly and have decent traction for walking. It's pretty easy to crank a few times unclipped with the arch of the foot on the pedal.

My longest ride is 80 miles and my feet were not bothering me.

I prefer sloppy loose shoes without arch support. I do find cycling socks much more comfortable than regular athletic socks, probably due to the compression keeping my feet from swelling and the wicking material.

YMMV.

Sandals and flip flops are pretty much it for me from March through October.

March through October? What kind of Floridian are you? January through December is more like it. I took my boy to an OSU football game in November a year or so ago, and he couldn't believe that people in Ohio had to wear actual shoes that time of year. He learned a lesson wearing flip flops that day.

I'll echo the previous endorsement of Keen sandals. I bought mine from REI last year and found them to be really comfortable.

Most of my friends wear Keens cycling sandals, and the rest wear Shimano

Up here in the Seattle area I wear sandals year round. Prefer Keen

Keen cycling sandals are the most popular, go to a shoe store that sells Keen shoes and try their regular sandals for size, then order cycling sandals from REI.
http://www.rei.com/product/812175/keen-commuter-ii-bike-sandals-mens

I commute daily, and wear the Keen sandals for my commute. I find them comfortable both on and off the bike. I got mine at REI, and I remember that they were a different size from the other pairs of shoes that I have bought. One of the advantages of buying local is that you can be sure of the fit before you buy.

Keen Commuter !!, like their Newports, run a half size small (indeed, they openly admit this on their website). If you order through REI, return is certainly not a problem. I've got a pair and they're great.

I wear the Dockers Lookout and just love em. They are a little on the heavy side though. Forty bucks at Shoe Station at Burgess and Davis.

Update: Bought the Shimanos, primarily because of the more open design, especially open toe. Won't bother you with my foot problems but I needed that.

Rode with them the 1st time today and was delighted, where have these things been all my biking life? There can't be that much cooling area on the feet but I swear the ride was cooler. Took along a pair of socks in the bag in case my feet got chaffed or whatever but there wasn't even the beginnings of a problem after 2-1/4 hours.

The SPD clips are more recessed than with either of my pairs of shoes, just barely makes any click at all; the sandals are very usable as normal footwear. Very happy!

I wear LL Bean's explorer sandals, $59 but are sometimes on sale for less on their website. The toes aren't open, though. They are very similar to some of the photos above and aren't as pricey as the Keen's.

Do the Shimanos run large or small? My shoe size works out to a size 45, and the Shimanos come in sizes 44 and 46.

I ride in both the Shimanos and the Nashbar Ragsters and can't figure out why the sandals are so much heavier than cycling shoes which, in Florida, I only wear in the two colder months..

Do the Shimanos run large or small? My shoe size works out to a size 45, and the Shimanos come in sizes 44 and 46.

Best I can tell is they run spot on but with sandals I guess it is OK if it is a touch large so a 46 would be safe for you. On the other hand, I've got a pair of Pearl Izumi's in my normal 47 that I ordered online that are just too small. I thought they would be OK after 5-6 rides.

I have the Shimano sandals with the open toe and a pair of closed rubber toe sandals that are "Keen clones" from Walmart.

I use BMX platform pedals (or SP Frogs with the Shimanos).

More times than not I am in my Ozark Trail Wally World "Keen clones".

Priced less than $20 so I bought 2 boxes.

Love them!

Best I can tell is they run spot on but with sandals I guess it is OK if it is a touch large so a 46 would be safe for you. On the other hand, I've got a pair of Pearl Izumi's in my normal 47 that I ordered online that are just too small. I thought they would be OK after 5-6 rides.
Thanks. I'll definitely go with 46's. After looking at the chart a bit more, I see that 44's equate about to US size 9.5, which would be way too small.

Those of you that wear the Keens, didn't you find them to be much, much narrower than the non biking Keens? I tried on a pair and couldn't believe how narrow they were. The Newports non biking ones fit me perfectly. I don't know why they don't use the Newport sizing as a model.

J.

I just tried cycling sandals for the first time on the club ride last night. Stubbed my toe something awful and couldn't get into my cycling shoes (big toe looked like cherry tomato).

So, not wanting to miss a ride, I dug out the Six-Six-One cycling sandals I got for my wife three years ago (and she never touched, we both wear 43)), pried off the plastic/rubber seal, mounted SPD cleats, took the SPD-L's off my Ti GT and installed some old used (single sided) SPD's I had laying around.

Did the ride, but a few observations: Like the coolness (it was a warm evening!), but don't like the lack of complete support across the top of my foot, esp. when trying to climb at speed or sprint (or interval work).

Conclusion: For casual rides where speed and performance are not an issue, they're great. When hammering, use normal cycling shoes. Hope I can get my toe (and the rest of my foot) into my normal cycling shoes for a climb fest tomorrow.

Rick / OCRR

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