I'm looking for road shoes for SPD cleats. My feet are a little wide. Recommendations/advice appreciated.

My feet are also wide and I'm also diabetic so shoes fitting properly are a priority. Sidi and Specialized make wide shoes but are a bit expensive. I have found Giro to fit as well as most Shimano. I personally would never buy shoes on-line. I need to try them on to be sure. Good luck.

Yes, but are there shoes for the road that accept SPD recessed cleats?

Wellgo Adapter Cleats

There are plenty of "adapter cleats" out there, some of which even have tread blocks so you're not walking on the cleat. You can run either type of cleat with a 3-bolt road shoe.

But if you have 2-bolt pedals, just buy two bolt shoes. Most mfrs. make identical Road and MTB versions of their shoes-- Giro does for sure, as do Diadora.

There's many, even Shimano makes them. But I can tell you from experience that trying to clip in with an SPD cleat on a flat soled road shoe sucks bad. It's very hard to engage the cleat, your shoe slides all over the pedal. MTB or road shoes with a tread are good because the tread actually helps guide the cleat in. You don't notice it does that until you try to do it without a tread. Not to mention that walking even a few feet sucks with that tiny little cleat sticking down. I recommend you don't waste your time.

It sucked so bad I bought the thingies in the pic below. It makes walking sligthly better, but it's no easier to clip in and I ended up destroying them in no time at all because they get torn up when you're sliding your shoe around trying to engage the cleat.

I have a pair of Mavic Touring shoes. They have the "look" of Road shoes but the sole is recessed enough that you're not walking on the cleats.
I use the same shoes for my Road and MTB bikes. I'm not a hard-core rider.....

Lazyass has this correct. There's no good reason to go to a hard soled road shoe for use with SPD cleats. There are ton's of low profile mt. style shoes using SPD,

I have been using the Specialized S-Works 6 XC on my road bike. The regular width (they also come in a wide width) is much wider than my old Sidis. The uppers and the super stiff carbon sole are the same as the road version.

If you are going to use SPD cleats, you might as well use MTB shoes. The difference in weight/aero is negligible and you can get equally stiff soles.
When I tour, I wear Sidi dominators with Shimano A520 pedals. The connection is maybe not as planted as my normal SPD-SL cleats but it's a lot easier to walk around.

Why anyone would wear road shoes (instead of mtb/SPD) is a mystery to me. I'd rather walk down stairs in ski boots than road shoes.

There's a lot of people who use spd recessed cleats on the road (2 bolt) but they use 2 bolt shoes.

Why are you thinking of trying to put 2 bolt cleats onto a 3 bolt shoe? It's basically the worst of both worlds...you lose the walkability of 2 bolt shoes, and you don't gain anything. I've say 50% or more of people biking on the road with clipless use 2 bolt pedals, cleats, and shoes. That's very common. Trying to wedge 2 bolt cleats onto a 3 bolt shoe is very uncommon.

There are many manufactures (such as Shimano) that make essentially the same shoe in 2-bolt and 3-bolt styles. The 2-bolt version usually has the advantage that you can walk around with them easier, but with none of the 'disadvantages' (eg flexibility) of a mountain shoe.

I ride with 2-bolt shoes primarily so I don't re-injure myself by slipping and falling when off the bike. On the bike, there might be a tiny weight penalty, but I would not notice.

I was never interested in the idea of cleats that weren't recessed. When I referred to road shoes in the OP, I was hoping there were shoes specifically designed for road use where the cleats would be fully recessed.

+1

As an example, Sidi Dominator two bolt MTB shoes and Genius three bolt road shoes are otherwise identical.


-Tim-

Sidi makes different versions of the same shoe. Sidi Wire for 3 bolt cleats and Sidi Drako for 2 bolt SPD. They both come in wide. Some Shimano shoes come with both 3 and 2-bolt holes.
If you only have a 3 bolt and want to use SPD and be able to walk in them, you can use the Sidi SPD adapter plate

I use the Sidi adapter plate for all of my 3-bolt shoes. I tried the Shimano SM SH-41 and did not like them. There is no room for adjustment.

The Shimano SM-SH-40 is only for adding stable walkability to SPD cleats that are exposed.

These use recessed cleats, but skip the mtn bike styling.

https://www.giro.com/us_en/products/...c-lx-r-24.html

They are just cycling shoes with different bolt patterns and tread designs. Marketing folks are brilliant in making people believe that SPD shoes with treads should not be used for the road.

I think 2 bolt or "mountain" shoes are what you're looking for then. I'd say > 50% of the people riding clipless on the road are riding 2 bolt clipless because they're easier to walk in, they're much better at avoiding getting jammed up if you step in dirt/mud, and they're easier to clip in and out of (2 sided pedals). Without any real drawbacks. A lot of times they're actually the same shoe just punch differently for different cleats and tread on the bottom.

"road" pedals is just a marketing term. They're harder to walk around in, they don't handle stepping in dirt/mud without jamming themselves up well, and most are one sided. (Speedplay are an exception being 2 sided). The only advantage they may have over "mountain" bikes is that they're might secure your foot on the pedal a bit better in situations where you're sprinting wildly all out flailing around. Otherwise they're the same as "mountain" pedals for road riding.

If you're looking to avoid the clicking and clacking, time atac's and crank brothers pedals have a reputation for being a hair more recessed than spd's.

All that being said...I've used almost every clipless system, went back to flats, and prefer flats. Clipless is a good system for what it's designed for (keeping your foot solidly attached to the pedal). But the "faster" idea is generally a myth- they've done studies on racers in the lab and they're not faster with clipless. There is an argument clipless is faster in niche but important-in-racing scenarios like all out sprinting...but I'm not racing. After trying out almost every clipless system I found flats made riding a lot more enjoyable for me. No more hassle with remembering to bring 2 pairs of shoes, no more hassles with changing shoes more than once (I often wear my flat bike shoes the rest of the day), no more walking into a restaurant slipping around on the floor. No more hassles with slippery floors or small mental concern I'll put the cleated shoe down on a slippery surface and go over (like painted lines on the road). With flats my feet feel a lot better and stopped getting hotspots (though that might not apply to everyone). On my first attempt I had a bit of an issue with my feet slipping around on flats, but I bought Five Ten flat bike shoes and they're as grippy as clipless when pushing down, forward, or back (they use a special kind of rubber that's stickier on metal pins).

Flat Shoes - https://www.adidasoutdoor.com/five-ten-freerider-mountain-bike-shoe/FT07.html?dwvar_FT07_color=Black&cgid=fiveten-men-bike-shoes
Flat Pedals - https://www.dmrbikes.com/Catalogue/P...lt-2/Vault-NEW

Clipless is a good system, but if your experience was like mine was you might also prefer flats with good pedals and good shoes. If you go with clipless, from your description, 2 bolt shoes is what you'd want.

OK so a related comment/question on this thread being a guy who, after years and years of riding, recently woke up to the wonder of clipless pedals. I picked up two pairs of used road shoes from Working Bikes in Chicago (one Lake, the other Pearl Izumi) and both had slots for the SPD cleats but no hardware in the shoe for SPD -- only for the road cleats. Both shoes had cutout flaps in the foot bed that seemed to say "well, I guess you are that guy who's going to bust in here and try to put in some SPD hardware, so we made a few initial cuts for you but good luck. Get creative!"

That is what I did for both pair, and it took some grinding and filing to get the SPD screw plates to fit in and work. This is the part that confused me -- the slots are there for SPD, the sort-of cut outs are there to access the sole from the inside, but it takes a bit of work to get the SPD cleats in place.

Is this how the shoes are designed, to allow for SPD cleats, just not in an easy way?

Thanks!
Graham

Thanks for posting the pics, yeah, that better illustrates it. "road" vs "mountain" is basically the same shoe just with different bolt-on points and tread.

a bit of an oxymoron, road shoes carbon /composite soles don't have recessed cleats ,
I have a pair of Shimano TO 92 shoes they dont look like a MTB shoe,
but they do have a recessed cleat TO is for Touring..

Hard sole Road Shoes took a SPD Cleats externally then a Pontoon flanked the cleat
and gave the stability needed for SPD Pedals and walking, Briefly ..

Last buyer of that combination (@LBS) was a participant of a Spinning Class..




...

I can say the Giro Republics work great, they clip in as easy as a MTB shoe. I have the reflective version. More road shoes should be like this.