For a good while now, I’ve commuted (8.25 miles each way on road) with an old pair of spds and spd shoes. The shoes recently died. What should I do now?

Just buy some more spd shoes

or, get road shoes and matching pedals?

If you’re on a road bike, and you have a dedicated pair of shoes then yes, get road shoes and pedals. If you have to walk a long way at either end of your commute, or have an inordinate number of traffic lights I’d stick with SPDs though.

What can you afford? 😛

Probably a pair of DHB shoes for as little as possible from Wiggle and cheap pattern Shimano mountain cleats.

@ Redwoods, when has “what can I afford?” ever featured in bicycle related decisions?

Like you, I have an 8 mile each way road commute & have just switched to road shoes/pedals for this.
(shim 105 pedals & dhb carbon soled disco slippers)
It’s noticeably better when you’re pedalling.

They do make you walk like you’ve been anally violated though.

Cheers barn. That’s the sort of thing I wanted to know. Justification for more bike shopping! Redwoods will be pleased!!!!

Not with you looking like you’ve been anally-violated I won’t.

for 8 miles I would not bother with pucker road shoes and pedals..

I use these:

Shimano RT51 – roadish in looks but you can use 2 bolt spd cleat and that means you can walk in them..

Specialized do something similar:
http://www.evanscycles.com/products/specialized/bg-sport-touring-shoe-ec025555

+1 rootes. I have the RT80’s for commuting duty.
I prefer the double sided MTB style spd’s in town traffic. The RT series are good because they don’t have the big MTB offroad lugs but the cleat is still recessed, they are very easy to walk in.

I’d go for some of these:

http://www.decathlon.co.uk/EN/shimano-mt-32-shoe-117154147/

Do people not find the shoe a bit flexible and causes hot spots if you use the hike-a-bike style shoes?

Is the stiffness (or lack of) not a problem?

i like these….

Do people not find the shoe a bit flexible and causes hot spots if you use the hike-a-bike style shoes?

Is the stiffness (or lack of) not a problem?

Over 8 miles? No way. It would have to be significantly further than that to cause problems I would think.

I must just have odd feet. (Actually, I do have very odd feet). Even with the same shoes and pedals, I find my feet go numb much quicker when riding on the road. The saddle position, crank length is identical on all the bikes as well.

Have you tried upgrading the insole to something more supportive, like a spesh BG insole or a Superfeet one?

Superfeet green worked wonders in my snowboard boots. BG insoles seem good in my proper roadie shoes.

If you’re having issues on such short distances then may be worth considering.

for the numb feet thing i found riding on pedals with a bit more platform a big help,

eg crank bros acid or probably the new shimano trail pedals weight is spread more evenly accross the foot

I’ve gone to town on the shoes. Superfeet, in the shoe wedges and cleat wedges set up by video analysis. I do have spazzy feet though. Just wondered if road pedals would give the bigger platform effect. (and the chance to buy new bike stuff).

If you’ve tried all that and are still having problems then I say give road pedals a go, got to be worth a try.

I have Look Keo but if I was buying again I’d have shimano SPD-SL.

@ Onzadog.

Am also a foot spaz.
No issues off-road but after 30+ miles on road and I used to get numb feet, despite trying Spesh, Sidi & Shimano shoes over the years – all with varying in-soles/cleat positions.

Got the SPD-SL and road shoes – job done.
Would much preferred to have kept with 2-bolts: one system for all bikes, but on tarmac, the road bits do work.

I commute anything between 18 to 40 miles a day depending on appointments etc. with a fair amount of walking and going to meetings/on site in my clobber
Find that double sided pedals with a bit of a platform are best used in conjunction with a trail/touring shoe such as the shimano mt 32 – when its cooler i wear it with black humvee trousers and a black ‘urban’ cycling jacket and find its quite an acceptable combo for meetings

I used my RT51 with single side Time Atac they are quite stiff – used reg on a 60mile round trip commute..

nice to be able to walk up and down the perilous stairs to the basement without a road cleat sticking out..

also used them for Lejog on my brompton – 110miles a day – never had a hot spot. I do have Specialized wedges and footbeds in them.

you will often get more position issues on a road bike than your MTB as your position is much more static on the road.

The Shimano RT shoes are meant to be used with the matching touring single sided pedals as the outer part on these matches up with the shoe sole to give more support – also works with single sided time atac pedals..

if you were happy with two bolt spd, just get some more spd shoes (perhaps stiffer touring or mtb ones) and carry on.