General Cycling Discussion - Good shoes for flat pedals

Lately my left sole has been hurting for no apparant reason. I can't see any brusing or broken skin. I'm assuming its the pressure from riding 50+ km every day. The shoes I've been wearing have a nice grippy sole, but are soft and I suspect the pedal has been putting pressure onto my foot even through the shoes. Putting aside clipless (lots of reasons, but mainly they would be almost IMPOSSIBLE to get in size 11-12 in Korea) I need some recommendations on a nice grippy, fairly rigid shoe that I can walk in and ride on without causing pain.

I have some nike basketball boots that have a decent sole, and work fairly well but they are a bit clunky to ride a bike in. I don't need ankle support on a bike.

Skateboarding shoes work well.

Five-Ten brand shoes are often considered as the Gold Standard. I rock a pair of Five-Ten Freerider shoes myself.

And I'll give a shout for La Sportiva approach shoes. I used to have a set of those that was every bit as grippy as the Five-Tens.

You can buy Insoles with a 3/4 rigid arch support,
to improve stiffness of any shoe you can walk in.

I still like Birkenstocks :50:


Im using a Ergon Lg pedal , and I use the kind of shoes I can stand
being on a concrete floor at Work

Lately my left sole has been hurting for no apparant reason. I can't see any brusing or broken skin. I'm assuming its the pressure from riding 50+ km every day. The shoes I've been wearing have a nice grippy sole, but are soft and I suspect the pedal has been putting pressure onto my foot even through the shoes. Putting aside clipless (lots of reasons, but mainly they would be almost IMPOSSIBLE to get in size 11-12 in Korea) I need some recommendations on a nice grippy, fairly rigid shoe that I can walk in and ride on without causing pain.

I have some nike basketball boots that have a decent sole, and work fairly well but they are a bit clunky to ride a bike in. I don't need ankle support on a bike.

Shoes are the least understood of all the clothing items we wear. Shoes are supposed to support your whole body not just your feet. That said most people wear shoes long after they are worn out.

What is little known is that shoes wear out from the INSIDE OUT not outside in!! This is why your feet are hurting. Your shoes are worn out. Go buy a new pair of good hard soled leather shoes to fix your problem.

Check out Chrome brand shoes. They have a stiffer sole for folks that ride with platform pedals.

I've had good luck with old school mountain bike shoes, either the pre-clipless kind with lugged soles or newer ones without cleats. They're stiff enough to pedal, but allow walking, and the lugs will engage most pedals enough that you don't slip (I use loose-ish toe clips).
Full disclosure: I wear size 15 or 16 (51-52 European), and I bought four pairs from a shop that was going out of business years ago because I hadn't seen my size in bike shoes ever. I rode in running shoes for 15 years. Don't know what's available now, but 11-12 is a cinch by mail.

Skateboarding shoes work well.

Five-Ten brand shoes are often considered as the Gold Standard. I rock a pair of Five-Ten Freerider shoes myself.

And I'll give a shout for La Sportiva approach shoes. I used to have a set of those that was every bit as grippy as the Five-Tens.\\

ditto for the Five tens. get yourself some

I wear Vans leather skate shoes in summer and boots in the winter.

I wear Vans leather skate shoes in summer and boots in the winter.

I second that. I wore Vans sneakers soley when on my mountian bike over a clipless system so I could walk around common areas more often. The only problem I had with the Vans is flex. Over about 4 months they get very flexy and that can lead to foot pain. Vans are chaep enough to get on ebay and buy a new pair every 6 months so thats what I do. Of course it helps to have a more bmx style pedal with pins or teeth to get better grip. I use mine with crupi pedals.

I like lightweight hiking shoes.

hiking boots

sounds like you need a BIT of a stiffer-soled shoe so you may try to remedy that first. if you have access (and who doesn't with the internets) check out the chrome shoes. teva makes some cycling specific shoes, so does DZR. and specialized has that Primo mountain shoe which looks comfortable (or other various "mountain" styled shoe). you might also try looking for a pedal which offers more of a platform for support. perhaps your current pedals are too narrow or have unfriendly pressure points.

eric
fresno, ca.

by the way, which pedals are you using?

eric
fresno, ca.
(50 posts finally!)

From what I hear, the harder the sole the better...then again I see a lot of people on campus commute with running shoes or flip flops! ha!

bigger the pedal surface, the softer the shoe you can get away with.. but if you are going to be doing 20 or more miles
then the stiff Arch support helps..

So what do you consider 'flat pedals'? I was under the impression that with BMX style platform pedal with pins or screws the platform was large enough that you could wear just about anything - including flip-flops.

Not that I recommend riding in flip-flops, but surf sandals with an enclosed toe area have worked for me.

+1 for the Chrome shoes, if you can get them easily. I have a slip on pair and a low tie pair. Have ridden thousands of km with them, also nice off the bike. They wear well, but sometimes reva little warm

DOH! i just noticed this thread originated in May of 2012. No wonder the OP has not rejoined discussion.

eric
fresno, ca.

Perhaps you might want to ask what the best pedal is for flat shoes. Sounds to me like you might be using something similar to mks sylvans. I would suggest (especially because of your soft soled shoes) mks gr9 (http://www.retro-gression.com/product/mks-gr-9-pedals-silver), which were MADE for soft soled shoes.

Probably any fairly stiff mountain bike shoe would work well. Watch the bike catalogues and internet sites for a good sale.