I had been curious about these shoes after seeing several mentions of them here. I have been experimenting with shoes that work with toeclips, without going full Italian-leather etc. So an eBay search brought these ones up and I scored them at a reasonable price...$25 for a shoe that works in clips and can be comfortably walked in. I don't mind the generic gym-shoe look either.

So far it's a mixed result though. I am only putting in miles in my basement and the shoes seem to do well in clips, the soles are reasonably stiff so that's good. Walking is a different matter; unlikely regular 'trainers,' these have a slightly elevated heel, and it's fairly narrow, so for anyone with pronation they are not quite solid under the heel.

Also the fit is odd. These are marked 9-9 1/2 which is usually my size, but there's lots of room in the toebox, and my heels are loose and the sides gap around my ankles. Hard to believe I'd go down a full size but maybe...

Please chime in with your experiences with this (apparently) once ubiquitous shoe. Or if you have a pair of 8 1/2s...

BTW anyone used Cannondale or Avocet touring shoes from 'back in the day' and have any thoughts?