Bicycle shoes and sandals

Why bother a page about bicycle shoes and sandals? Using the right pedals and shoes makes cycling a much more enjoyable activity. Some people want to old fashioned flat pedals. Other feel toe clips pedals are the ones you can use best. My preference are SPD shoes and sandals.

The choices for good shoes is essential, especially if you going on the road for a longer time. A shoe you can use for both walking and cycling is preferable. I have been using shoes in my first journey but once I started cycling in the tropics I changed to sandals with SPD.

I am using Shimano PD-M324 Multi-Purpose MTB Pedals which are very convenient as one side is for SPD, the other is for normal shoes (although I admit I seldom use that).

There are as many pedals as you can imagine. Racers want different pedals then touring cyclists. Best advice here, choose a solid type of pedal, spend a few extra dollars on the pedal as you do not want the pedal to break off at the first little hill you climb.

Here is more about cycling pedals

For bicycle shoes it is more or less the same story. I don't like the hyper light cycling shoes. If I wear shoes, they need to be comfortable and I need to be able to walk on it, even hikes. As I don't want to be limited in my movements I want a solid yet comfortable and warm shoe.

For that I choose the Shimano SH-M038 MTB Shoe in brown colour. However when I started to cycle in Asia in the tropical heat I started using sandals. Contrary to some believes that sandals do not give stability with cycling, the Shimano sandals are very good.

My new Shimano SH-SP66 SPD cycling sandals are a little more robust. I have just replaced my second pair after almost 3 years of service.

Of course the sandals can be clipped. I am using SPD which makes cycling easy. Even in the mountains, I used the above sandals with overshoes in Sichuan China, when I cycled up to over 4000 meter altitude.

The benefit of using sandals over shoes is that once you start traveling in warmer climate, your feet get better ventilation. And you don't have to carry extra shoes. Since I am using sandals, I do not carry any other footwear except the easy to pack overshoes.

Left: My old sandals, after wearing them for more the a year and a half day in, day out, used with hiking, at the beach etc. No longer in use.
Right: These sandals I have been using for almost 3 years

That said, most people prefer to use shoes. The choice is yours!

Compared to bicycle shoes, sandals are a bit more expensive as there is less demand. However, you will find very decent priced shoes and sandals in EBay.

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