Hey Chaps,

I’ve been riding flats for ages now, I used to ride SPD shoes when I was XC racing, but it’s been a while.

Trying to SPD shoes for big hill days, how much heel lift should I expect? They’re obviously stiffer shoes, but should I still assume some heel lift?

Cheers
Ricks

Flats for me,

Tried spuds after years of refusing to believe they added benefits, big expense for specific shoe/pedal, sold them after a month.

Tosh

Complete non-answer but it depends.

I wouldn’t want to do extended hike-a-bike or much pushing with XC shoes, I think my achilles tendons would never forgive me.

Might want to take a look at the Shimano AM9 shoes, they have a bit of a flex in the toe.

When you say heel lift, do you mean your heel moving up and down within the shoe? If so, then there should be none in a good fitting XC style shoe, a lot of good ones – Shimano & Northwave for example – have an anti heel lift type material in there.

Yeah, heel lift as in when walking I can feel the heel of the shoe moving against my heel.

I’ve got a few pairs to try on here, various makes. Some have a brilliant fit around the foot and heel, but the toe box is too short. Some have a brilliant toe box, but the shoe is too baggy and high volume.

I’ve been really easy with flats, not bought a pair that haven’t fit out of the box.

Tried some Five Ten Kestrels in 8.5 and 9, the 8?5 is perfect fit – but they have internal stitching around the toe, which runs my toes. The 9 are too big, but the toe box is spot on. Grr.

I’ve got size 14 feet and basically just take whatever I can get. While my feet are undeniably big, my heels and ankles aren’t, so I just put up with the inevitable heel lift, which quickly wrecks the heel cup when I’m doing hike-a-bike.

However, I always buy one set of shoes ahead to avoid getting caught out in a size 14 drought if my current pair fail unexpectedly (been there before). The next set I have waiting to go are a set of ‘Asian Fit’ Bont shoes which allegedly have a wider toe box and narrower heel fit. Might be worth trying a pair.

Shouldn’t be much at all if they fit properly. For big days with hike a bike there are lots of options with decent tread rather than old skool XC hard plastic “mud spike” style soles.

at least 5:10, Specialized, Mavic and Shimano but there are others. I had a pair of Shimano M£7’s that looked like they’d be perfect but terrible fit on the heel so hopeless for walking in (for me at least).

Specialized 2fo cliplite work for me (spec seem to have a wide toe box and narrow enough heel for my feet)

Yeah, I’ve got here some 5:10 Kestrel, Shimano ME5, Shimano AM5, Mavic XA pro, Giro Cylinder, Giro Terraduro, Northwave plus….

The best fit is the AM5, but I’m really not keen on the laces, so may well try an AM9 and see if they’re a good fit.

The Specialized were top of the list, but can’t find them anywhere at a decent price !

None ideally. But it really depends on your feet and the fit. It took me years to find a shoe that fit my feet and everyone will recommend something different. Now i’m comfortable wearing them for hours, riding and during stops at a cafe walking about a bit.

If its your first time using them give them a bit of time to get use to. You might hate them at first but once use to you’ll wonder why you haven’t been using them all along.

I recently got myself a pair of Shimano ME7, as a change from my full on XC race style shoe.
I must say they are excellent, very comfortable and you can walk in them. I did add in an insole as the back is high.
Very comfortable.