Road bike spd-sl shoes

I think my current Shimano mid range shoes are at least years old – maybe more and have seen better days. Plus the ratchet strap along the top won’t undo if you do it up fully tight as it hasn’t got enough room to press the button down when that tight. Very annoying / difficult to remove then. Think they are a Shimano R106.

So I’m thinking or picking up some new ones – prob budget £80-£130 max. I’m not going racing in them or anything – but looking around I think I’d like boa closures this time. I mostly use them on the turbo plus some commuting / occasional fitness rides on the road. On the latter I’m often cranking up a brutal hill near bath so properly stand up cranking in them.

Liking the look of the black fading to silver Shimano rc702’s and hopefully if I ordered the same size as I have now they’d fit ok. Not many places to go and try them on / but from anymore. Evans only seem to stock specialized or Bontrager (and I try to avoid them these days) or there’s the Spec Concept store / Mud Dock in Bristol.

Is there much more to it apart from picking colour and closure type? The rc702 has a ‘10’ rated sole stiffness which seems middling…

Ooo, Northwave Revolution 3 in silver also look nice although I’ve always found their size 43 too small and their 44 too loose – but looks like they now have a size 43.5 which may solve that issue. I had some really nice northwave typhoons in silver with a silver weave carbon sole ore my current Shimano shoes

DHB Dorika Carbons were good value a few years ago, I was happy to have laces with a decent elasticated loop to keep them out of the way of the drivetrain.
I don’t know if it’s been sorted now, but I think last year there was a serious QC issue, as regards a bad bolt plate.

Don’t know if it’s still in a sale (was 20% off when buying three items from a range a few weeks back), but the Boardman carbons were BOA closure.

I definitely don’t want laces on my road shoes – they’re annoying enough on my Fivetens.

Don’t like the look of the boardman shoes – but when I searched that it brought up Fizik Tempo R5’s which look nice.

So I reckon current shortlist is:

Shimano r702
Fizik Tempo R5
Northwave Revolution 3

Top 5 most important features of a road shoe:

– fit
– fit
– fit
– fit
– the other stuff

Try on the ones you can afford and get the ones that feel nicest.

Point taken – will have to order a few pairs and see what feels the most comfy. Shimano seem like the sensible choice as every pair of shoes I’ve ever had from them have been comfy

Decathlon do a carbon soles shoe at the lower end of that budget which seems to get decent reviews. Also some higher end stuff with big discounts, especially if you don’t mind less popular colours.

Any particular reason why you’re avoiding Bontrager? Intrigued, as I’ve got some.

for no other reason than I’m not really excited about the style of them

I’ll check out Decathlon and see what’s on there

If your feet are happy in Shimano then why not just get a carbon pair of them?

A couple of things to note:
– Carbon Shimano shoes are very stiff and have zero flex when walking.
– They will probably last 10 years, mine are 8 years and still look decent. So don’t go garish colours that will age badly.
– If I was in the market again for a new pair of carbon road shoes, I’d probably just buy the mounting bike equivalent ones, at least you can walk in them and use them on off-road.

Mtb shoes don’t typically work with 3 bolt spd-sl cleats though…

https://www.tweekscycles.com/shimano-xc702-spd-mountain-bike-shoes-2015502/

True but I’d rather have an XTR pedal to go with them, road ones are murder for a quick get away at the lights, especially with a slippery carbon sole.

I don’t think I want to ride my road bike with those massive chunky outsoles on there – plus those are 2 bolt cleat shoes and I have pedals for 3 bolt cleats

The RC7 ones are essentially the same shoe but with a stiffer sole and no tread. They can be had for less than £130.

Works out about £110 from Germany.

https://r2-bike.com/SHIMANO-road-shoe-SH-RC702-black_4

You’ll not go wrong with shimano, they make good shoes. Decide your budget and buy the highest level you can.

If you are going to walk a lot then I’d consider mtb shoes (touring) but for normal road riding where you waddle to the cafe mid ride carbon shoes are fine.

I was a shimano fan, all my shoes were theirs (mtb and road). I bought a cheap pair of planet X ones to commute in and found the fit and quality great. I now have 4 pairs! All have been great, I’d probably just buy there’s in future unless they do a big change in design. My full carbon road ones are a nice and light as anything I’ve had from Shimano costing twice as much.

Thanks for the link above.

I know what you’re saying about xc mtb pedals but I deliberately got rid of mine as I damaged to outside of my right foot in mtb shoes on those xc style pedals. Took over a year before it was back to normal.

On my mtb if I use clipless pedals (mostly for rocky uplift days) I use platform ones with skate style spd shoes – I feel more supported that way.

I was riding flats on my turbo and spd sl outside road riding whilst my foot was bad but now I’m back to full time spd-sl and it’s working well.

The Carnac bouradier looks ok but they’re £115 anyway so I may as well have the Shimano I think.

Fizik R5 Tempo with Velcro here – they seem to be on offer at £70ish

@ben_h

Is that the ‘power strap’ ones? I’m a little hesitant on pure Velcro closure as my Shimano road show Velcro (albeit they are old now) hasn’t been the best for a while. It’s the ratchet doing most of the closure.

Although I know you do a lot of mileage in all weathers – so they must be quite durable?

I would obviously prefer to pay £70-£80…

Fizik shoes used to have their cleat position very far forward compared to other makes, so if you run your cleats quite far back, they are an issue. I’ve heard the newer ones are better with the cleat position further back, but it is something that has put me off their shoes.

The rc702 has a ‘10’ rated sole stiffness which seems middling…

Weirdly the scale only goes up to 12 (which is what my S-Phyres are rated as) so 10 should be plenty stiff enough.

At least with Shimano you know they will fit ! I have 44 in Shimano MTB shoe and MW7 boots, but went 43 in the Road Boot RW5 as I’d be usually in thinner shocks and it’s not as padded as the MW7. Both boots were bought on-line.

Keep an eye out on sales too, as I picked up a new pair of carbon boa road shoes for £70, rather than £170 – went 43.5 as the toe was reportedly narrower.

@shred – I’ll have to check my shoes – I think they’re reasonably far back as I’m used to riding mtb on flats for the most part.

I don’t think I need / want a full race stiff sole so maybe 10 is about right on the Shimano scale. I’m not going to be walking anywhere in them – other than underground car park at work to the locker room pretty much.

Go with what you know! If Shimano fit your foot shape and you have good experience with them then just get the best you can afford. Life is too short to risk uncomfortable feet, especially when you can’t easily go and try on 6 pairs in a shop.

I went from Shimano RC 701 in a wide fit to dhbs Aeron Carbon Road Shoe. The fit of the DHB is good, similar to a wide shimano. surprisingly stiff soles. they are £70 quid at the moment. well worth putting on your list.

I’ve looked at the dhb and boardman shoes and just a bit underwhelmed with what they look like. I know that’s probably a bit petty but I don’t love road riding so I at least want to love the look of the kit 🤣

There’s nothing wrong with wanting road kit to look right!

I’d go so far as to say it’s very important, especially if you spend half your ride in a cafe

I don’t road ride to cafes tbh – I’m either on the turbo in the garage, commuting to work or doing a quick 1-2 hour lap round local roads – probably going to do the latter tomorrow – want to try lansdown lane on the side of lansdown hill and see if I can beat my pb up it

@joebristol

I only use my road shoes on bone dry rides or the turbo trainer – “gravel” versions of the same Powerstrap shoe for me on MTB and commuter / tourer, on SPD non-SLs – so I can’t speak to their durability in rain!

I’m the same as you Joe, never really stop. If I do it’s just a quick feed and water stop on a bench somewhere. Get it done!

I’ve always used Specialized shoes. Had SPD-SLs on the road bike for years but replaced it last year with a fast gravel bike (good for road too). I switched to decent XTR pedals and some s-works recon shoes. Super stiff and don’t feel any less efficient than SPD-SLs, at least for my level of riding. Old SPD-SL pedals and shoes are now on the trainer in the garage (replacing even older ones!)

Nice pair of carbon soled sidis on the classifieds 😁

Giro? Seem to often see sale ones popping up

Well I’ve just taken a gamble on these Specialized Torch 1.0

From Rutland where certain colours are 50% off and then another 10% came off on checkout(?), I picked Red and it came out at £45.

I’d love some nice stiff carbon soles, but for the price these are Worth a whirl and seem pretty enough.

There do seem to be quite a few specialized shoes in the sale. Before committing to ordering the Shimano ones I think I’ll pop down to the specialized concept store for a look at what they’ve got.

Just to circle back, I didn’t make it to the specialized store in the end.

I ordered size 43 and 44 in Shimano R702 (black ones that fade into silver – look lush) / size 43 and 44 in Northwave Revolution 3 (silver ones) / size 43 and 44 in Fizik R5 over curves (black).

The Fizik look and feel cheaper than the other 2 – tightened down nicely but with weight on them they feel like they’ll hotspot for me on the outer edges of both feet.

I really wanted the Shimano shoes to fit but the 43 were a bit tight on my big toe and the 44 were odd – but baggy on the instep. Bugger!

Northwave Rev 3’s – both the 43 and 44 fitted. Decided as shoes often stretch the 43 are the better option so keeping these. Suspect they might have the stiffest sole of the 3 shoes as they have a bare / gloss carbon insert in the fore-mid foot area.

Can’t wait to give them a go now / just ordered some new cleats so I can keep the old shoes usable for horrid weather so I don’t ruin my new ones in the rain

It’s the back silver ones I’ve gone with. Have to say the Fizik ones do don’t feel in the same league as the other 2 shoes. Some of the perforated dots weren’t cleanly pressed through etc

Nice choice.

Just getting used to BOA as I’ve a bargain set of Gaerne carbon road shoes after having had my Spesh Pro Carbons for over 18 years.

I prefer carbon soles for road shoes, deffo not for MTB SPD. Fit is important as is geting the cleat right, so plan a first ride with options to get off and adjust. I managed about a mile before I got off and adjusted the cleats.

My Shimano set up has been loads easier, even two MTB sets and a road shoe. Similar sole and cleat drillings.