I am looking for some new road shoes and don’t want to spend more than £150, are carbon sole road shoes worth the extra, and are there any good deals anywhere, been googling like mad but there may be an LBS with an offer I don’t know about.

Just by using road shoes and something like a Look Keo pedal and cleat you are halving the shoe and pedal weight over SPDs.

I wouldn’t bother with carbon, the weight saving over plain plastic must be tiny and you could save more weight by necking a couple of pints of Old Peculier the evening before a ride, which will give you a good clean out in the morning.

Decathlon do a carbon soled set for £80 ish, seemed pretty good when I was in the other day,

Specialized shoes are proper nice.

decathlon ones

these would be they…..

So carbon is a bit overrated then, I do like the look of Specialized shoes and didn’t like the Shimano or Northwave ones I’ve tried.

Not heard of those bTwin ones at that Decathlon shop, nice pic of the girls in the bikinis though 😆 Furious clicking to decathlon now entails 😉

i have a pair of Lake carbon soled shoes. They are miles stiffer than plastic ones and really translates in to comfort and usable power, especially when climbing. Also mine are Speedplay specific and only came in carbon soled version.

The boa lacing system is the only way to go IMO as its gives consistent and incrementle adjustability. I have done several hundred miles in mine including the etape du tour the other week and they have been perfect.

some right bargains to be had on ebay.. mine are the CX330C’s which you can get for £120. Non carbon version are only £90 but still boa lacing.

@ dorsetjim did you need a size bigger than your normal shoe size, as I found this to be the case with all the road shoes I’ve tried!

carbon on road shoes isn’t really for weight saving, its for ‘power transfer’ and comfort.

And its massively noticable. Used to have some expensive Lake MTB shoes (about 160 retail) and they were very stiff for walking in, and felt stiff on the bike, but using them for road, after about 40/50miles my feet would be curling up and aching.

Swapped to some much cheaper ‘Exustar’ (formally Exus) carbon shoes (SR220/221?) from ebay for about £30, someone had bought them, not fitted so sold for a lot less than new. but generally about £70-80 for anew pair. And their great! Daft as hell for walking in, but very well ventilated, dry quickly, most perfect fitting bike shoe I have ever worn (most shoes are normally always too narrow for me, making top of foot ache after a while) and they take very kind of road/mtb cleat going (which Lake/Spesh/Sidi shoe’s often do not have, you have to choose at time of purchase).

Anyway, for MTB, no, the carbon sole gets wrecked from walking on gravel/rocks within a few minutes, not damaged, but look scruffy on the underside now, for even amateur road and touring, yes!

carbon on road shoes isn’t really for weight saving, its for ‘power transfer’ and comfort.

And its massively noticable.

I don’t notice any difference whatsoever in that department between my Sidi and Shimano road shoes

I got some carbon soled shoes (Giro) this season, for a massive bargain. I noticed a huge difference and my ‘old’ shoes won’t be getting used again, except for commuting.

I got some carbon soled shoes (Giro) this season, for a massive bargain. I noticed a huge difference and my ‘old’ shoes won’t be getting used again, except for commuting.

Where from?

This is probably a load of rubbish and me being silly but ho hum. I was collected by a lady in a 4×4 last month, she knocked me off and rolled over the left hand side of my bike and also my left foot as i was on the floor. Now apart from a sprained ankle and heavy bruising thats still causing me problems now i got away lightly. Looking at the shoes i was wearing, a pair of carbon soled spesh road shoes, myself and various other armchair experts are pretty certain they helped to protect me from a lot worse. The shoes are trashed and as i said probably talking hairy ones, but I will be replacing them with exactly the same thing, just in case.

Just worth a mention as I’ve recently bought some (but not actually ridden them yet!)

Bont A-Three shoes – fully heat mouldable with a fibreglass sole but because of the way they’re built (more like a bathtub than a flat sole with a shoe on top) they’re silly stiff – certainly stiffer than any other carbon shoes I’ve ever had.

http://www.sigmasport.co.uk/p/22495/bont-a-three-shoe-2012/

And only £100. EDIT – ah, they were £100, they’ve now gone back up to £125 – still good value for what they are though.

http://www.bont.com/cycling/products/Road/a-three/
http://www.bikeradar.com/news/article/gear-round-up-bont-a-three-road-shoes-34397/

Try and find a model a few years old that fits the bill and Google them. I’ve got a pair of Spec Expert 2010’s with a carbon sole that were dirt cheap after a fair amount of googling.

crc have them now!
http://www.chainreactioncycles.com/Models.aspx?ModelID=20615

Cheaper from abroad though

I guess like mountain boots you get different grades of stiffness for different uses too?

dont fanny about, get some proper disco slippers

I have these – they’re lovely.

Mate has Bonts Vapour – they seem nice as do the normal Sidi ergo things – Planet x had a big sidi sale on recently they may have some left.

Liked the idea of the Lake shoes with the Boa sysyem so ordered them from Sprockets at 14:55 just had an email to say they’ve been shipped 15:15 😯 can’t argue with that 😀

I have Just ordered a set of Bont MTB shoes.

Will let you know what they are like.

Good i hope at the price they are

I have the 1st gen shimano carbon road shoes. They are lighter but no stiffer than the plastic soled version they replaced.

I wouldn’t buy any shoe without trying on, fit is crucial.

thought I’d add that I’ve used my bonts now and I’m very happy with them – for a start my feet weren’t killing at the end of a ride. That said, as seems the norm I’ll be re moulding them as the arches aren’t quite right yet.

They’re really stiff too – noticeably so.

So has anyone tried the Deal extreme carbon soled road shoes only £40 quidish ??