My gym has Wattbikes, which is both a reward and punishment. I find it easier to smash out an interval sessions or just hope on one of these torture devices instead of brave the dark and icy roads/trails midweek. Until now ive been using my gym trainers for this but the flex in the sole has gotten to me as i can feel my foot wrap around the pedal. Any recommendations for good, cheap-as-chips road shoe?

They might also see the light of day come spring if i get a new road bike and cycle to work

What pedals do these machines have? Can you use proper road shoes with road cleats?

One that fits (yes that means going into a shop and actually paying shop prices).

I’ve got shimano R171’s, which are nice, but nowhere near as nice as Fizik, but fizik are nowhere near the same shape as my feet unfortunately which was a very expensive mistake.

Also, are they road pedals, or SPD’s. If the latter, just get a pair of XC shoes which have some rubber on the sole.

I’d be very surprised if you needed road shoes, every spin bike i’ve ever seen has used SPD (therefore mountain bike) pedals

Watt bikes generally have SPD one side, road cleats the other (assuming SPD-SL) with the flat/cage pedal clipped into the SPD-SL side.

What pedals do these machines have? Can you use proper road shoes with road cleats?

With these bikes you can pull off the plastic pedal cage and the pedal body (Wellgo E148) has SPD on one side and road cleat on the other

One that fits

the plan is to go to my local Evans/Halford for fit and size then find a similar pair cheaper online

That’s very good of you. It’s no wonder the high street’s in turmoil.

Why not ask evans to price match?

Bit of a poor show to use a shop to try out your purchases tbh. Even if it is halfords/evans. That said..It’s fat mick’s store, so sympathy for them is limited.

Thank you for your judgement, do you have any recommendations?

Ideally i’d buy from one of my LBS’s but neither of them stock footwear

nowhere near as nice as Fizik, but fizik are nowhere near the same shape as my feet unfortunately which was a very expensive mistake.

Made the same mistake. Shimano are a bit wide for my feet, Giro laces fit me best. For a gym bike, I’d look at Shimano SPD options. It will make walking around the gym a lot easier. Wattbikes typically have SPD fittings, but any cycling shoe will be stiffer than trainers.

Halfords are pretty good on price for Shimano but choice is limited.. I wouldn’t spend more than £60 for a first pair of cycling shoes.

Whichever Shimano or Specialized shoe fits your budget, I prefer the latter but they’re both fine. The 1 proviso is that if you have very wide feet then ignore that and buy a pair of Lake shoes.

The easiest way is to order 4-5 pairs you want to try to your nearest Evans on your credit card, try them on and get refunded on the ones you don’t want.

But really it’s 99.9% about the fit. It doesn’t matter if a reviewer marked them down for being less stiff than X, or not as ventilated as Y, if X and Y don’t fit your feet then they’re useless. Hence I have R171’s, they lack ventilation in summer, lack insulation in winter, are fragile (I’ve cracked the sole walking in them), velcro is mehhh, and the ratchet isn’t as nice as the SIDI ones or BOA, and they were £170 I think. But shimano wide fit are the only ones that suit me, and they only do one top end shoe, and one really basic one in that size.

Ideally i’d buy from one of my LBS’s but neither of them stock footwear

Wonder why.

Decathlon have some good cheap options

DHB Dorika Carbons were £60 not long ago, now £75, been happy with my camo pair since late spring.

Check the cleats. I’ve been looking at the Wattbikes at the National Cycling Centre (not dared to jump on yet) and the pedals are SPD (MTB) one side and Keo (road) compatible on the other.

As Slowoldman says, Wattbike are Spd and Keo. But from a shoe perspective Keo and Spd SL are the same three bolt system.
I use Giro Rumble in the gym, these are Spd (two bolt). Getting the crage off the pedals is a right faff, so it’s easier to just turn up and use the Spd pedals. The staff put the cage back on every night so every time I turned up in my road shoes with Keo cleats it’s was a pain.
The giro rumble also have the recessed cleats so it’s nice and easy to walk around in.

https://www.evanscycles.com/giro-rumble-vr-mtb-shoe-EV227847?colour=5000