Originally Posted by bemoore

So, I searched for more videos of summer riding in the Netherlands, and made some observations:

- Off a bike, the footwear in the US and the Netherlands is pretty much the same.

- On a bike, the footwear in the Netherlands is pretty much the same as it is off a bike, in sharp contrast to the US, where cycling specific fully enclosed shoes are the rule year round.

Is this just another case of something that's safer there due to the infrastructure and "cycling culture", or are we just a bunch of wimps here? Is it a problem of the perception, or reality of safety here vs there?

For fast rec rides, I still plan on wearing something with cleats, but I'm not opposed to the idea of flip flops on slow rides to work or the corner store.