Hi everyone,
I've ready several posts from riders who (like me) are frustrated with the slippery soles on their road shoes. Riding in Manhattan, I deal with a lot of stopping and starting at red lights, double parked cars and just about every other road hazard you can imagine. Rather than buy a pair of mountain bike shoes, I decided to first try fixing the primary downside of my road shoes - the slick bottoms.

I walked around Home Depot for about 15 minutes looking for some sort of rubber that could easily be cut and molded to the bottom of my shoes. I decided to go with a standard bath mat, applied with a good strong adhesive. The project cost about $8 and so far I'm very happy with it. I'm able to clip in and out with no trouble whatsoever and the soles have much more grip for times when I need to pedal before flipping the pedal and clipping in.

Wanted to share this incase anyone else was contemplating a similar fix. Would also love to hear if anyone has done something similar and how everything worked out. I'll try to post again in a few days once I've ridden a bit more in them.

Even better:

Liquid rubber. Comes in a can, similar to what tennis balls used to come in. You can paint it on, or dip the object into it as desired for a nice uniform coating. At Home Depot in the paint department.

You already use SPDs, so why not just use MTB shoes?
The good ones are simply road shoes with some extra rubber on the sole.

Skateboard grip tape would have been alot easier.

I thought about mountain bike shoes.... but I'm considering a switch to more road-centric pedals soon and mountain bike shoes would leave me out of luck. I'm really happy with my road shoes. I've broken them in, they're in excellent condition, and they fit perfectly.... so why not slap a bath mat on the bottom instead of buying new shoes?

I like the liquid rubber idea..... have you tried that? Wondering how well it would hold up over time with walking and rubbing on the pedals?

My problem wasn't so much slipping when walking, but slipping when pedaling.... so the pontoons wouldn't help as much.

My primary problem was slipping while on the pedal, usually when I'm starting from a red light with cabs and buses honking behind me. I don't always have time to flip the pedal over and clip in before having to get across an intersection. The rubber on the bottom allows me to start pedaling with my right leg clipped in and keep my left leg safely planted on the pedal until I'm moving and can find the clip.

yeah that's what i was thinking too.

but i love diy ish nonetheless, so nice work OP!

For the type of riding you do you should be using a mountain shoe/pedal combo on your road bike.

Agreed.

Honestly, (dons 4 layer NHRA fire suit) I don't see why anyone that is not a racer wears road shoes. I ride with some people that ride 30 miles a week total that wear road shoes. Watching them slip and duck walk in the coffee shop is just painful.

FLAMETHROWER!!!!!!!


BURN, SUCKER, BURN!!!!!!!



just sayin.....

Update: I've done a little more riding in the shoes and so far the rubber sole is firmly attached and well worth the $8 + a little effort. I'm now able to securely plant the midsole on the pedal and push for a few revolutions before clipping in. Not quite as easy as simply buying mountain bike shoes, but the price was right and who doesn't love a good DIY....

Not bad. The Sidi Genius 5's have a rubber sole on the heel and Shimano Ultegra cleats also have rubber on the bottom of the cleats. I think most road shoes are going that route but still, very inventive!

Tried the stuff they sell for stair tread anti slip - did not work - poor adhesive.

The more often you stand to sprint or climb, the more they're worth it.

You should have temporary taped the rubber to the shoes with the suction cups down. Would have made a great picture.

At first glance, this appeared to be a pair of lady's shoes viewed top-down, e.g.

I ended up just getting a pair of Lake CX120s and have been pretty happy. In the winter I use their mountain-bike road shoes and although slightly heft work equally as well.


I guess they're considered cheap shoes as far as bike shoes go but they work.


Although I'm looking forward to it finally warming up in Central Park....at least it stays light much later now.

I hear you! The park was gorgeous yesterday. Today wasn't quite as nice, but 1000x better than the 20 degree winter days with ice patches on the streets.

Fail.

This is combo I use. The Ultegra cleats are soooo much better than the Look Delta cleat for walking. However, the Look system sure was easier to clip in/out of.

Just found this thread searching for a way to make the mid sole of my pi mtb vagabonds less slippery. I think I'll try the liquid rubber out first. Thanks for the tip!

I put one thin strip of duct tape down the center of my shoes from just behind the cleat to the rubber heel piece. It has made a huge difference.

You're not my Orgo lab TA are you?

As per others have already mentioned, if you are going to use SPDs, why use a road shoe? It makes much more sense to get a mountain bike shoe with a stiff sole. The method you have described here would be somewhat more difficult to pull off with road cleats.

Also, I see you have the A520 pedals on your bike. I used those for a while, but IMHO, they offer no real advantage over standard dual-sided SPD pedals. For the purposes of commuting where you need to clip and unclip often, it is much more practical to go with a mountain bike shoe + M520.

In addition, someone correct me if I'm wrong but I don't think that the SH70/71 cleats (pictured above) work well with the modern MTB SPD pedals. The A520 has the same clasp mechanism as the M520.

Cheers.