Author Topic: Shoes for touring  (Read 8298 times)

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Offline read

Shoes for touring
« on: April 12, 2006, 01:18:03 pm »
Looking for shoe advice, Finally moving to clipless for upcoming transAM ride. Bought Performance pedals w/ look clips (still unused), and 1st pair of shoes unsuitable-also unused.

My main problem seems to be hot spots on the balls of feet after about 50 miles, would prefer something I can walk a little bit in, hopefully some leather parts.
Any suggestions welcome.

cyclesafe

  • Guest
Shoes for touring
« Reply #1 on: April 12, 2006, 05:30:22 pm »
Hot spots are caused by shoes that are too tight.  Try riding with the shoes you have, but tie them so they are looser in the spots you were having trouble with.

You don't say if the pedals you bought are road pedals or mountain pedals.  If they are road pedals, you will not likely be able to find shoes you can also walk in.  If they are mountain pedals, then any of the less expensive mountain shoes such as Shimano or Cannondale would be OK for riding and (just) OK for hiking.  It is best to go to the store to buy shoes that you plan to walk in.


Offline dknapp

Shoes for touring
« Reply #2 on: April 13, 2006, 06:08:15 pm »
I just got Shimano M020 (not too sure of model) on sale at Performance.  Combined with clipless on one side and platform on the other side pedals they work fine.  Only rides have been 30-milers but no hot spots and comfortable to walk in as well.  Clip does not crunch (very much) during walking.


Offline RussellSeaton

Shoes for touring
« Reply #3 on: April 14, 2006, 05:56:01 pm »
You want Shimano SPD or Time ATAC or Speedplay Frog or Crank Brothers Eggbeater cleats for touring.  Pretty much anything sold as a mountain bike pedal and mountain bike shoe.  Hot spots are caused by the minimal size of mountain bike cleats mentioned above.  Smaller the cleat the better for walking and running and mountain biking.  Worse for offering your foot a solid support to push against when pedaling.  The more expensive mountain bike shoes, generally, will have a very stiff sole to help, but not eliminate, the pressure caused by the small cleat.  But the stiffer the sole of the shoe, the more awkward it is to walk in.  Tradeoff.

Back when people cycled in sneakers and toe clips on quill pedals, it was very common to have hot foot caused by the edge of the quill pedal pushing through the soft sneaker sole.  Racer shoes with toe clips had stiff soles.  Some with a wooden sole, such as the old Duegi model.  No edge of the quill pedal causing hot spot.  But the toe strap when tightened caused your feet to go numb from loss of circulation.  Good riddance to toe clips.

No one using racing style pedals such as Look or Time with racing shoes complains about hot foot because the large surface area of the pedal/shoe interface dissipates the pedaling pressure to a comfortable level.  Only small pedals such as used in mountain biking have hot foot.

Your current pedals and shoes are a version of Look pedals and road racing style shoes.  I toured 4,000 miles in Europe in the summer of 1992 on Time Equipe pedals and racing shoes.  Much, much worse for walking than the pedals and shoes you have.  I would not recommend it though.

Return the shoes and pedals you currently have to Performance.  Then pick out a mountain bike style pedal.  I use SPD and think the official Shimano brand of SPD pedals are very good quality.  I won't use the generic SPD copy pedals sold by Performance/Nashbar/Wellgo/etc.  As for shoes, the stiffer the sole, the less chance of hot spot, but the worse they are for walking.  Take your pick.


Offline read

Shoes for touring
« Reply #4 on: April 14, 2006, 06:55:50 pm »
Thanks for everyone's advice.
Ended up with very comfy, stiff racing shoes from local a shop and the performance's "look" pedals

Seems like a good set up, $200 for everything.