Flats – What you people wearing on your plates of meat ?

I wear some cheapy AirWalks I found for about £12… old stock I think. I never buy expensive shoes for cycling as they always get completely trashed after about a year or so. I don’t care about waterproofness, I just wear a pair of SealSkinz and buy shoes one size too big.

-j

I use 5.10s or skater shoes,5.10s are much better though. Sealskinz socks are good for dry feet with flattie pedals,i find a thin pair of ‘office’ socks inside them stops any dampness/sweat from touching my feet before it’s had time to work it’s way through the sealskin sock.

Flatties and 5.10 and Sealskinz are a pretty good mix imo

element skate shoes have quite stiff soles which is nice.

airwalks always felt a bit wobbly and you can feel the pins though the soles.

gnargnar, your begining to sound like one of those people who spends too much on a full susser and feel the need to justify it to one and sunday every 5 minutes.

If you want to experience too much grip buy some burgtec’s!

thisisnotaspoon

gnargnar, your begining to sound like one of those people who spends too much on a full susser and feel the need to justify it to one and sunday every 5 minutes.

Damnit. Now how can I not respond to this? If someone asks “what’s the best show for flats” then it is pretty clear what the answer is.

The only problem seems to be cost, which I find strange. The same people who baulk at the idea of speding £70 for a pair of shoes to ride in probably think nothing of spending fifty or sixty quid on shorts or 150 quid on a jacket….or indeed many thousands for a bike in the first place.

5 10s are an investment – like a good pair of hiking boots, they’ll last for years and perform exceptionally well.

Excluding your arse, you only have four contact points with the bike, so for me shoe choice is important especially considering how much better 5 10s are than virtually any other shoe. It seems to me a lot of people on stw are dipping their toe into the murky waters of flat pedal lake for the first time. I’d like them to be sure which shoe to buy and not (as I see it) waste their money on lesser products and diminish their experience of riding flats. Is that sufficient justification for you? Am I allowed to continue posting now?

CRC are still doing marzocchi shoes for £65 btw.

try the 5.10 Guide Tenne rather than the Hill Models, flatter sole, lgith shoe and stiffer sole, more grip and better for pedalling. Of course they don’t have ‘bike’ cred….

Waffle sole vans here.

*Flat pedal rider since forever*

no need to take quite so much offence!

in your oppinion the best flat shoe is the 5.10, in mine its the element townsend, neither of us is wrong, its an oppinion. I just dont feel the need to voice it 5 times in the same thread whenever it’s disagree’d with.

As for cost, why not get some good skate shoes from TKMax for say £30 (beware, not all skate shoes are created equal, look for good solid flat stiff soles for cycling otherwise the pins will poke through into your feet!). Be wary of airwalk (had some good ons and some rubbish). Stick with Vans, etnies and element and you’ll not go far wrong. Its like anything, buy one pair then next time you’ll have a better idea of what too look out for.

And give them some time to break in, the grip usualy gets better with use, i usualy wear a pair in for a long walk scuffing my feet to soften the rubber a bit.

Then when they’r worn down completely, £35 for some re-soles in stealth C4? Still comes to less than a pair of 5.10’s.

BTW, not all 5.10’s look like spazz boots!

are they the case for or against?

the bottom one is almost acceptable.

Having never been a fan of 5.10’s purely because they look so horrendous, I would say these newer ones are definitely ‘for’!

It seems to me a lot of people on stw are dipping their toe into the murky waters of flat pedal lake for the first time. I’d like them to be sure which shoe to buy and not (as I see it) waste their money on lesser products and diminish their experience of riding flats.

If you’re switching to flats from SPDs you’ll find it hard to keep your feet on the pedals all the time, even with 5:10s, as it takes time to get used to them and alter your technique. I have some 5:10s and like them a lot, but any old skate shoe will do the trick as long as you’ve got good technique.

TK Maxx it is then. Thanks for all your replys ladies and gents

vans rowley xl3 the vegan ones are the best shoes i’ve had
i’m riding canvas vans originals now. £15 from the office. coupled with sealskins when its wet and long pedal pins.

i dont like stiff soles.

I use Guide Tennies and like them,i asked my dad if i could have his which he bought as crag approach shoes,and used them for climbing in before i realised they’d work on flat pedals.

I thought of it all by myself. 😉

An old pair of Nike Air 95. Stiff sole, ace grip, and waterproof in all but the worst conditions.

Cnergy, why TK Maxx.

I did a quick scan of replys and more are for 5 10s than anything else.
The people who were advocating other alternatives had generally not tried 5 10s, while many of the 5 10 advocates had used other shoes (I used Vans for years).

As someone else pointed out people spend far more on other aspects of their riding gear, why don’t people want to spend a little bit extra to get the best shoes for the job. as someone else said, your feet are two of only four contact points on the bike when you’re really going for it.

Would you buy two sets of superstar brake pads instead of one set of OEM pads? then buy skate shoes instead of 5 10s.

Not this thread again! 5:10s are ok, but their not ‘better’ than a decent skate shoe. If you can’t stay stuck to a skate shoe a pair of 5:10s isn’t going to magically fix the problem. I’ve used both, and I’m not sure I’ll buy 5:10s again.

I went to Vancouver for a year, rode in vans as I’d always done, They lasted about 3 months, bought 5 10’s and rode the rest of the year with them, they have come back with me and I have done about 6 months riding back in the UK. They are still not looking anywhere near like they will need to be replaced soon.

Hmmmn,my post above maybe came across as more sarky than intended.

5.10 shoes are great,for rock or for alu ladder rungs or for flat pedals.

Tim