Hello and thanks for clicking,

I’ve been doing some road miles on my tricross recently as prep for a sportive in May. Until now i’ve been using my shimano MTB shoes and clip pedals but they start to create these ‘hot spots’ on the sole of my feet and numbness and cramping. This hasn’t been an issue on MTB, i think, as there’s always dabs happening and the lower gearing means the force per rev is less, or something.

Anyway, i want to get road shoes and pedals and ask what would you recommend? Anything cheap but good is my kinda deal.

Thanks in advance…

Look keo easy and a pair of shimano shoes will be cheap enough, and will be fine

Most hot spots are nowt to do with your pedals/cleat/shoe interface. its the way your feet sit in the shoe, a correctly fitting support insole will sort this. Like specialized footbeds or superfeet.
Road pedal wise i prefer shimano over look, as the look cleat always used to creak and drive you nuts. sidi, spesh, shimano and mavic all do great road shoes. lots of good deals on sidi and mavic at the mo.

I have Look Keo and some Bontrager shoes. Very happy. If you just want to try, decathlon in France (so I would assume also the UK) sell some decent looking road shoes really cheaply.

thanks all

If on a budget I’d say just invest in a carbon soled MTB shoe and keep your current pedals. I don’t really agree with anc above, I’ve used the same Spesh insoles in s-works road shoes (on Speedplays), BG Expert road shoes (on Speedplays), BG sport road shoes (on Speedplays), Sidi Dragon 2 MTB shoes (on XT SPDs) and BG Sport MTB shoes on XT pedals. I had noticeable hot-spots on a long MTB ride with the BG Sport MTB + SPD combo and the occasional hot spots with the BG Sport road shoes on Speedplay combo. They are the only shoes I have with a non-carbon sole.

No doubt though a carbon sole isn’t the whole story, I agree insole, pedal type, cleat position and shoe fit all come into it as well. Still, based on my experience, I’d try a carbon soled MTB shoe first if I were the OP.

I have these in black;Specialized BG Sport Road

Plus these; Shimano SPD pedals

For use on my Ribble Road bike.

Slightly LOC,

After using Tri specific shoes (for road) i’ll not go back to multi-buckle faffing, they really are POP to don/doff. Shimano ultegra pedals, prob get the lot of flebay for cheap.

this kind of thing

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Carbon-Tri-Shoe-Tr02-Like-Tr50-Tr51-Euro-42-/220985704490?pt=UK_Sporting_Goods_Athletic_Shoes_ET&hash=item3373c6402a

and

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Shimano-Ultegra-PD-6700-SPD-SL-Road-Pedals-/330707455296?pt=UK_sportsleisure_cycling_bikeparts_SR&hash=item4cffb34d40

Ultegra SPDs (cheap of ebay as mentioned above) and DHB shoes (from wiggle). I’ve used this combo for a couple of century rides and had no discomfort.