SPD sandals
 

I think I died and went to heaven. These are the only shoes I ever need to wear for the rest of my life. OK, I won't wear them in the winter.

I've been walking in them for months now. I just put the cleats on them last week. I like SPD type pedals better than toe clips. Now I can jump on any bike I own because they have either SPD or toe clips.

The recess for the cleat isn't quite deep enough, so I'm going to try to deepen it by painting some Shoe Goo on the tread behind the recess. Oddly, I don't scratch my wood floors with my sandals, nor do I grind the pavement when it's made of asphalt, but I always grind when it's concrete. Why is that? It's as if the tread of the shoes compresses more only when I'm on concrete.

What brand of SPD sandals?

I found that the Shimano sandals are wide enough for my feet while the Keen ones are way too narrow.

They're Nashbar brand. Ugly but functional and comfy. My 17 year old never stops giving me grief about them, but that's her job, right?

I also have a very hard time finding shoes wide enough for me. It's not that my feet are super wide, it's that they're wide farther forward than normal feet. I have the duckiest feet of anyone.

Next time, I'll try the Shimano sandals, since it's now a proven concept, so to speak.

Subscribed. ;)

I saw some Shimano sandals at a local shop; almost bought them right away, too. They'd be nicer than my Rockports for summer riding for any length of time. Plus, the boat-wide Rockports are a challenge to keep steady on CB Quattro pedals.. :D

I wear my sandals year round, colder just add more socks, warmer remove socks. As for concrete my guess is that you are really smashing lose pebbles against the hard surface, I agree very annoying.

Shimano SPD sandals are good, I have used both versions: the older version with two Velcro straps and the newer version with three. With the old version I used to get blisters and tender painful areas especially under the big toes and on the balls behind the big toe-to-foot-joint. I found that with thick socks on, the pain would become less. The newer version is definitely more comfy and did not give me any pain.

However after two years of using clipless pedals, I have gone back to platforms and flexible shoes/sandals – primarily because I find this better in rush hour heavy traffic. I also find the Shimano sandals with rigid soles difficult to walk on – a bit like walking in military boots! So unfortunately my SPD sandals are now gathering dust! I should eBay them or something. I have donated the pedals to a friend.

Sandals in the winter? Uh, I'll try, but it sounds terribly painful, even with wool socks.

These Nashbars don't inhibit walking whatsoever. They were weird at first: they feel very curved at the bottom, so I roll my foot. But I got used to it, and they are as comfortable as any shoe made exclusively for walking, which I could never say about any cycling shoe, and I've had many types.

I started with toe clips at age 14 in 1975, and clipping into SPD's is easier, so I never feel hampered at all by them, even in heavy traffic, and I'm talking the mean streets of Manhattan.

Sandals in the winter: I'll note a lot of people have problems riding below 40 deg just because they try to wear too many socks inside their regularly sized shoe, the shoe compresses the socks and you don't get any extra insulation. The solution is to get larger sized shoes or let the straps out on your Sandals. I will also note I have down booties I wear for when its near or below freezing (but it doesn't get much colder then 20 deg here.)

Oddly enough I find the Shimano sandals too narrow at the top, and I've been itching to try the Keen ones, given that I find my Keen non-biking sandals the best things since Tevas. I've not tried them in the winter though.

Give it a try. It's amazing how well sandals and wool socks perform. We get the idea that with the cold "more is better", but there is something about the increased dryness and uncompressed socks that allows one to wear sandals in winter. . .up to a point. Of course, there's a level of wet and cold that can overpower them. . .shoes too, for that matter.

Keen FTW

Thanks for mentioning Keen. Never heard of them. They look excellent. My Nashbars are cheap, but I'll keep them for as long as they serve me.

Has anyone compared Shimano with Keen?

Not compared the Shimano with Keen, but I do have the Keen and the Nashbar one's. I like the Keen one's better as they feel more secure and they have the toe cover, but they are quite a bit more narrow than the Nashbar model. I have a pretty regular sized foot and they seem a little tight on me. My wife has wide feed and she can't use them at all.

I tried on the Keens at REI and found they were too narrow for me. I could not even get into them while the Shimanos fit fine. Per other posts I have read the Keen bike sandals are considerably narrower than their non biking sandals.

In bike shoes I need the Sidi Mega wide size too as the regular width is uncomfortably narrow. For some reason most bike shoe makers seem to think that bicyclists all have narrow feet apparently.

Thanks for the warning about the Keens. They would definitely not work for me. Someone said, earlier on in this thread, that Shimanos are good for wide feet.

I also appreciate the comments about width. I should be able to pick up a pair of the Shimanos this weekend.