road vs. road touring vs. triathlon clipless shoes

[jeff_o]

hi mates. looking to buy a pair of clipless as my old one gave up. it was my very first LOOK shoes and i dunno much how shoes have improved/varied over the years.

was looking at ebay/cellbikes and saw they have road, road touring and triathlon shoes. i dunno if they are really different as it's just a shoe?

[rustychisel]

Mostly it's about what you do when you're not on the bike.

Road shoes, lightest, stiffest sole, exposed cleats. Functional yet specific. For cycling, don't try and do the shopping in them.

Triathlon shoes: preferred for pulling on in a hurry, have fewer and broader straps to facilitate speed of changeover, usually no buckles.

Touring shoes: usually less stiff, heavier. Often with a recessed sole panel so you can walk in them as well as cycle. Some kinds combine the needs effectively, others not so much.

[jeff_o]

Mostly it's about what you do when you're not on the bike.

Road shoes, lightest, stiffest sole, exposed cleats. Functional yet specific. For cycling, don't try and do the shopping in them.

Triathlon shoes: preferred for pulling on in a hurry, have fewer and broader straps to facilitate speed of changeover, usually no buckles.

Touring shoes: usually less stiff, heavier. Often with a recessed sole panel so you can walk in them as well as cycle. Some kinds combine the needs effectively, others not so much.

cool. it makes perfect sense.

[jeff_o]

hey i saw this in ebay and it says women's 43. i thought the sizing is universal like there's no such thing as men's or women's as long as the sizing ranges from a unversal 30+ to 40+?

It doesn't look like a women's shoe either.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT

[sblack]

Touring shoes: usually less stiff, heavier. Often with a recessed sole panel so you can walk in them as well as cycle. Some kinds combine the needs effectively, others not so much.

As well as being recessed the cleat in a Touring shoe is likely to take a MTB style SPD cleat, meaning you need different pedals to the road and triathalon shoes.

hey i saw this in ebay and it says women's 43. i thought the sizing is universal like there's no such thing as men's or women's as long as the sizing ranges from a unversal 30+ to 40+?

It doesn't look like a women's shoe either.

http://cgi.ebay.com.au/ws/eBayISAPI.dll ... K:MEWAX:IT

Some women's specific shoes are shaped differently to the men's shoe so while they may technically be the same size the fit could be quite different. Of course the same can be said of the same size shoe in different brands and to a lesser degree different models within the same brand as well.

[notwal]

Touring shoes: usually less stiff, heavier. Often with a recessed sole panel so you can walk in them as well as cycle. Some kinds combine the needs effectively, others not so much.

As well as being recessed the cleat in a Touring shoe is likely to take a MTB style SPD cleat, meaning you need different pedals to the road and triathalon shoes.

You can put SPD cleats on lots of road shoes and there are some neat little SPD road pedals too. Ritchy make some.

[Xplora]

I've got the MTB MT42 shoes from Shimano, but I would like to try the RT81s, its basically a road shoe with some rubber on the bottom to create a recess to stop you falling over unclipped, the specs are essentially pure road bike with a slightly heavier sole. Can take SPDs as well.

[jillybean]

Triathlon shoes: preferred for pulling on in a hurry, have fewer and broader straps to facilitate speed of changeover, usually no buckles.

Also usually designed to be worn without sock, + have the straps opening away from the bike frame (when the shoes are clipped in) so they are less likely to be caught up in the chain/chainrings when exiting/entering transition.

[Bentnose]

My last two pairs of road shoes have been Carnac tri shoes, one single strap and quite comfortable, bought them both because they were cheap, the last pair cost me $50. The first set had the strap pulling to the outside and I used them for years without any issues. The second set had the straps pulling to the inside and I hate them, I constantly get the end of the strap catching on the crank and opening up. I wouldn't buy tri shoes again as this now seems to be the way most tri shoes are made, also realised it better to buy shoes you like than ones because they are cheap, I'm not a big fan of the MTB shoes I got for free of a mate either.