AdkMtnMonster

Bike Forums: Where pudgy old men who spend thousands of dollars on bicycles, but only dozens of dollars on flat pedals and walking shoes are vastly overrepresented. Good times, good times.

DomaneS5

I have flats on my mountain bike. I either wear Salomon hiking shoes or Vans skating shoes, depending on the terrain.

Lvnbicycle

I finally got tired of either slipping of the pedals or very sore feet using running shoes. I have about a dozen pairs of clip on shoes but none of them worked on my Term folder or my GoCycle GS as they have flat folding pedals. They also have those holes in the sole which let water in. Wet socks are no fun. So I broke down and bought Bontrager Flatline Mountain bike shoes. Good support and they have enough grip to stay on pedals. Also no holes in the soles and stiff tread. Best purchase as they work and I can walk in them.

MDS61

I use these for my unicycle.

dsbrantjr

I wear Piloti driving shoes and my bikes have platform pedals, some with, some without, Power Grips straps. The soles are fairly narrow and stiff with good traction.

GregU

You are missing the point of the question, and the primary goal of not buying bike-specific shoes. Restated,

"I ride a bike sometimes. I have shoes that will spend 95% of their time being used not on a bike, and 5% of their time being used on a bike. I don't want a pair of shoes that only get used for riding on a bike.

Which shoes would I be happy wearing around the house and neighborhood walking around doing life things work best when being used on a bicycle."

What would Grant Petersen say?

joeconn4

My mountain bike, circa 1993 Specialized Stumpjumper with no shocks front or rear, has clips and straps... I still use an old pair of Nike Nguba cycling shoes. Amazing that they haven't fallen apart, coming up on almost 30 years old and gotta be well over 1000 rides. The soles are hard rubber, not completely 100% intact at this point of course, lots of wear all over and a few nubs have broken off. But they still feel good and give good grip on the clips and I don't need to crank down the straps to an uncomfortable level. Of course I'm not racing the bike any more but I do an occasional semi-technical ride that needs good reliability on the foot/pedal connection and no issues for the most part.

Next 5 or so years I'm going to need a new pair I figure, so I'm always on the lookout but it's hard to find what I want. This is my "all arounder" bike, I use it for single-track trail riding, for casual riding on the local paths and neighborhood streets with my girlfriend, for occasional commutes or to pop over to the market for a backpack of groceries, and I also use it to measure courses for running races. Have a set of wheels with knobby tires and another set with slicks, same wheelbuild so it's an easy/quick swap when I need to. Because of the course measuring I really need a shoe I can get off the bike and walk around easily on.

livedarklions

So your problem is other people don't spend enough on shoes and pedals? Why do you care?

genejockey 

Cycling shoes. I tried some Adidas Gazelles, but the sole's too thin.

M Rose

I ride mainly with a pair of Keen water sandals. They have a leather protected toe, very sticky grip to the pedals, and they are very comfortable for me. My Keens I wear daily from April until September/October.

For winter riding I just picked up a pair of Oboz hiking boots… they probably aren’t the best on a bike, it I’ll return to this thread later with my thoughts after a few weeks of riding in them…

If the Oboz don’t work out I have my eyes in a cycle specific clip in shoe that should fit my needs pretty well.

SurferRosa

Which ones?

Humanbeing757

For my vintage bikes with toe clips I use Adidas Gazelle skateboarding shoes. They have stiffer soles than general trainers and look somewhat like vintage cycling shoes.

For my road/gravel bikes with SPD pedals I use Shimano XC100:

And for my MTB I use Muddyfox Tour 100 (which are also SPD compatible). My MTB is set up with a slightly lower saddle to pedal height.

dsbrantjr

Older ones, like leather low-top sneakers with a rounded heel. Similar to the current Endurance model: https://piloti.com/products/endurance-slate

Dvdvija

I like wearing stiffer sole when riding platform pedals because my feet will feel less sore than softer sole

RH Clark

I don't begrudge a single person owning or using anything that they enjoy. My position is more about using what you have or can afford to your best advantage. Guess I should just stay home and not ride today because I don't have the right shoes, or jersey, or bibs, or whatever. LOL.

AdkMtnMonster

If that’s how you feel then that’s what you should do, boss. Don’t allow internet strangers to mold your life. Do whatever you want to do, but just do it.

livedarklions

I draw the line at road riding with no brakes, but yeah.

RH Clark

I do brother, and I want you to do the same. The one thing however that has surprised me the most and simultaneously disappointed me the most concerning cycling is just how elitist and exclusive it is concerning anyone with anything less than the "correct" whatever. I am happy to see anyone cycling, whether they are doing it "right" or not.

Yes, give people your best advice, but do it in such a way as to encourage rather than exclude.

AdkMtnMonster

It’s not “elitist and exclusive,” it’s categorical and demarcated by levels of fitness, interest, effort, time, mileage, speed, type of riding, surface, location, season, et cetera… When anyone on BF tries to toss out a little hand grenade question they’re going to get an explosive response of answers that come from all directions and experience levels. Just like in every other forum on the interwebz.

RH Clark

You just proved my point, so thanks. What is elitist is to think that you are at some greater cycling level than someone else based mostly on gear choice or Strava data, but if that's your game then I hope you enjoy it as much as the game I am playing.

What I found elitist was the comments that left the impression that anything other than expensive dedicated cycling shoes was unacceptable to the point of being laughable to the "real" cyclist.

AdkMtnMonster

Exactly right. That’s the joke. We’re talking about BICYCLES here, not billion dollar net worths, yachts and private islands. Bicycles. Relax. Live it up. Ride, or don’t. It won’t phase me, or really anyone on BF, if you do or don’t, and if you love it or hate it. I’d like to think that people on BF love riding bikes, but there’s a lot of aggression and very little humor. Don’t read too deeply into things. Try reading my posts like they’re all written in a very dry tone, with little emotion.

tkamd73 

Adidas Gazelles
Tim

livedarklions

This puzzles me. You're a perfectly reasonable poster about 2/3 of the time, but when you go off on one of your complaint rants about non-cycling gear posts, you aren't within miles of a "dry tone." I just don't think you get how hostile these rants sound.

Dismissive sarcasm really isn't a choice between humor and aggression, it's using humor as aggression. You're at your least funny when you're trying to use it.

Post 16 was the one that's pissing people off. It's not dry at all, and it's pretty much completely incompatible with all your "do whatever, it's all good" posts.

Koyote

We're so fortunate to have you here, so that you can tell us all what we are doing wrong. I thank you from the bottom of my heart.

AdkMtnMonster

Post #16? Yeah, I can see how no one at all liked it. Laugh at what you find funny, but don’t blame me because you’re not a couple of bright cats. For what it’s worth, Post #16 was some of my very highest quality brew, and I had to sit down for a while after I composed it. Thank God the tp shortage is a thing of the past!