tea_kettle

Hello, I'm thinking of going for a small 4400k trip to the east coast. How heavy should my shoes weigh ideally? I have strap in peddles, so no clip ons. The more weighty the shoe the more stress on the knee's when going up hill right?

The weather will be around -1 to -10'C nights, and up to 20'C plus days (14'F nights, 68'F days).

Here are some pics.

FBinNY 

I have no idea why you think the shoe's weight affects your knees when riding.

Buy shoes with soles stiff enough that you don't feel like the pedal is cutting through after hours on the bike, and flexible enough that walking isn't uncomfortable.

Before I started using cycling shoes and carrying a light pair of walking shoes, I used to bring my most comfortable loafers to a shoemaker and have him laminate a 2" wide plate full width across the sole so it centered over where the rear pedal plate sat. This spread the load nicely and made them great for riding, yet preserved the flex forward of the ball for walking.

But start with abandoning any strange notions, and if you do have knee pain, look at factors like foot toe-in/toe-out, or roll, your pedaling style, and possibly organic issues with the knee itself.

Carbonfiberboy 

If you're riding with toe clips, the main thing is that the upper be stiff enough so that your feet won't suffer abuse or have the circulation cut off by the straps, and the sole be stiff enough not to cause foot pain. None of the stuff in your photos looks suitable to me.

valygrl

don't plan your bike shoes around night time temperatures unless you are riding at night. I agree with ^^ none of those shoes are OK. What shoes do you ride in now?

I think this belongs in the touring forum.

Seattle Forrest

Bear with me for a second. I've never been on a proper bike tour, but I do a lot of multi-day hiking, where I carry my tent and everything else in my backpack and go up into the mountains. It gets cold at night. My feet and shoulders are the first things to get chilly when I camp. I learned that I could carry a lighter sleeping bag and sleep in my jacket, as long as I had something to keep my feet warm. Down booties. I got a pair from Feathered Friends (made here in Seattle) and they're wonderful.

Something like that would let you ride in shoes that will be comfortable on the bike for all the hours and miles you have ahead of you, and keep you nice and toasty through the cold nights.

Machka 

I can't see them very well, but the images you've posted look like rubber boots. If that is the case, rubber boots are not ideal cycling shoes.

If you're concerned about cold feet, get ahold of some Lake Mountain Bike Boots.
COLD ? tagged "Regular" ? Lake Cycling


Otherwise, I use Lake Mountain Bike shoes and bring a lightweight pair of booties to go over them.


Whatever you choose, should have stiff soles, and if you're going with toe clips, they should be quite solid around the toe area.

FBinNY 

I'm with Machka here. Get some decent supportive shoes for daytime riding and walking, and an improvised insulated overshoe for night time cold.

I dive and use a pair of neoprene dive boots for winter riding, but they're nowhere near stiff enough for even a short hill climb, so I wear my cleated cycling shoes, sans cleat, inside. Obviously the dive boots need to be oversized to account for the cycling shoe, but that's no issue.

The beauty of neoprene dive boots, is they're pretty water proof, but most important maintain insulation even in the wettest conditions.

bartolomei

Rubber boots (?) or ones that do not embrace the lower leg well may cause the inflammation of the periosteum in the shin bone (aka shin splints).
Periosteum Structure, Function; Periostitis, Periosteal Reaction | EHealthStar