basket ball shoes, works for me
 

Got some AND1 basketball shoes and these work good on a bike and here's why.

You might disagree that they are not for riding, but here's what makes it work for me.

Soles are not too thick. I would even ride barefoot if it wouldn't hurt because of how I could grab the pedal with my toes.

I already can do this if the sole is not too thick

They also have some grip but not too much and shoes with aggressive lugs simply don't stay on the pedal straight.

Also they have some ankle support which helps keep my foot steady.

Does anyone ride in this?.

I know most of you would want something more firm but I also got these on sale at Walmart for just 11.38$!

Ride what you want to ride in. There are reasons for cycling shoes but if none of them apply to you then basketball shoes it is.

Basketball, not basket ball.:)

I wore chuck taylors long ago when I first started riding, until I found more appropriate cycling footwear. Stiffer sole = better.

Have you tried Five Tens? my son swears by them. I actually ride in very stiff soled tennis court shoes. Excellent grip, stiff, and inexpensive.

I ride casually in my adidas Sambas, but as mileage and effort went up my knees started bugging me. A pair of real cycling shoes cured my sore knees. Distance and effort really make a difference in my cycling shoe choice.

Personally, I would be annoyed by high tops for riding. Sambas are great casual riding shoes. Just make sure to securely tie and tuck those laces. Actually any of the classic low tops: Sambas, Stan Smiths, Beckenbauers, Countrys.

Ride what is comfortable for you. I like Chrome Kursk shoes, tough sneakers with a good sole ?

+1.
/thread

Nike SBs work for me (SB = Skateboard). If I chose BBall shoes, they'd be Kobe lows.

I rock Five Tens, which are probably similar to basketball shoes. Flat soles. Metal-pinned pedals. No slippage.

My composite toe work shoe works for me. I use pinned platforms and can't find a good stiff soled shoe for reasonable price and in at least a 3E width, so my work shoes work for me. I want a pair of hiking shoes so I can double dip and use them for hiking, but $120 for shoes just isn't reasonable. There aren't cheap shoes out there any more and 3E or wider just don't exist.

I got my Rocket7s for only $1450

I wear Merrells on two bikes with spiked platform pedals.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...aaP5100015.jpg

bike shoes
 

Like the OP I am very interested in NOT spending any more on cycling shoes than I have to. Being in the 5-10 mile a ride fan club I am not training for the Olympics like so many folks seem to be. I was riding in my cheap Shoe Fair Velcro tab walking shoes for some time till I noticed that my old MKS pedals were cutting into the sole of my shoes. That is when I started wearing my old Clarks walking shoes with all leather uppers and very stiff replacement half soles on my rides.

I ride with toe clips and my old shoes sometimes hung up on the straps causing me a couple falls. The leather Clarks by contrast have never got caught on the straps. The stiff half sole does wonders for my foot comfort while pedaling.

I think with a little effort and ingenuity you could get yourself a decent pair of bike shoes for fairly small money . Go to goodwill and find a pair of your size dress shoes and take them to a cobbler and have a very stiff sole glued on.

For casual shoes, I liked the Adidas gum soled indoor soccer shoes.

I do like my dedicated cycling shoes (minus cleats) for their stiff sole on long rides, but unless I am going further than 25 or so miles I am just fine in regular shoes.

My "cycling shoes" are the shoes I happen to be wearing at the time I wind up getting on my bike.

So yeah. Basketball shoes? Go for it!

(And if a game breaks out, well, you'll be way ahead of most of the other cyclists out there.)

I wear inexpensive skateboard shoes with a flat some what stiff sole.

I read a couple of articles that say stiff soles don't do much if you have a platform pedal. Which is fine because I mostly ride in these - the Onitsuka Tiger's - one of the coolest sneakers on the planet:

http://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/019...723b455cd1.jpg

I prefer to keep my shoes fairly specific to what I am doing. Riding? Cycling shoes for sure. If I am playing a game of hoops, then basketball shoes are needed. Can't really imagine not riding in cycling stuff especially since I have been doing it for a while.

or you could skip the sketchy hassle of modifying something that may not work well and just buy some inexpensive casual cycling shoes...a quick google search shows some as cheap as $40.

sierratradingpost Cycling Shoes average savings of 47% at Sierra Trading Post

In addition to being cheap I also have big feet which measure from 13 -14 wide or extra wide depending on the shoes. Usually the sale shoes aren't going to fit me and buying something like shoes over the internet is a hassle if you have to return them. Also almost all the shoes linked to above have velcro straps which get caught in my toe clips.

If you are riding in bassetball shoes or something like that, it means you are not a cyclist, only that you ride a bike.
Buying your bassetball shoes at wallmart confirms this. I can't believe people defend this as efficient riding (lets not call it cycling).
Its amazing how many non efficient riders there are [on this forum]. :twitchy:
But go ahead if it makes you happy! :D

I tried a pair of Five Tens at REI Friday night. They fit great. Very unusual for me to find shoes that fit so well -- my feet are extremely narrow, like ice skates. The soles felt much stiffer than the hiking shoes I usually wear, but were still comfortable to walk in.

Cycling = "the sport or activity of riding a bicycle."

Cyclist = "a person who rides a bicycle."

(From the dictionary) 😊

I scored a pair of Nike Flex Experience Rn 4 Prem Running Shoe's for $30 on clearance at Kohl's. Narrow shoe which helps me get my shoe out of my toe clips plus the color matches my bike. lol I'm looking for a deal on clip-less pedals and shoes. I just started cycling this summer and I didn't realize cycling is expensive.

It doesn't have to be.

I started with a Walmart bike. lol I'm a slickdealer 24/7 so I'm all about saving $. lol It's pricey when you first start cycling if you want quality things to last. imo I guess that's a subjective though.

I discovered a half-dozen years ago, after I bought a nice-looking pair of narrow tennis shoes for my toe clip bike, that long rides would give me plantar faciitis.
Part of my pedaling energy was going into straining my arch instead of moving me forward.

Next set of shoes were Chrome Kursk with stiff shanks, which eliminated arch strain. (good google shoppping found Navy blue for $35 - apparently an undesirable color, but a great buy)
They were tough to get in and out past the toe straps because of a style choice in the shoe design - a fat rubber strap around the toe box, ala Keds.

Reminiscing about my great Avocet touring shoes from 1978, which I never took off until they wore through,
and just for this bike, I finally broke down ordered a pair of Hibbel leather touring shoes from Mamnick in UK.
It honestly was about the function and not the form. Delighted with their slippery ingress and egress past the toe straps.
They were my birthday present to me, and my choice for this bike.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...aaP1010001.jpg

btw, arch strain is something I don't get on my thin, spiked platform pedals - my Merrells are running shoes, and my Merrell sandals stick equally well.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v7...aaP5100015.jpg