I bought these Bontrager multiport cycling shoes on close out at REI. That should’ve been my first red flag.
Wore them on a 5 mile practice commute ride through hilly urban terrain. My feet were flying off the pedals.
I am selling off of Adidas 5–10 which on the first ride, they just sawed through my socks and left me bleeding on both ankles. Very stiff shoes.
For now, I will stick to wearing my Merrill Moab hiking shoes because if anything goes wrong with the bike, I will definitely be walking back.
Footwear suggestions are welcome.
by Returning2Riding
7 Comments
Weird, I’ve been wearing my pair for about 3,000 miles over about 2 years and have been pretty happy with them. It looks like you’re wearing them on platform pedals without cleats, is that correct? Because even the worst shoes I’ve ever had have stayed put with on brand SPD cleats and pedals.
Those shoes are meant to be used with 2-bolt clipless pedals, like SPDs.
The only advantage that a platform-pedal biking shoe offers over your hiking shoes is a stiffer shank in the sole. If you aren’t feeling any toe or arch fatigue with your Merrells, I wouldn’t both replacing them. Well… that’s not the *only* advantage, but it’s a big enough part of it that you might not want to spring for another pair if it isn’t an issue.
Assuming you’re set on getting dedicated biking shoes: Both of the biking shoes you’re showing here are designed for clipless pedals; they’re designed for a totally different purpose, so they rarely stick well on flat pedals. I have a pair of five-ten Freerides, which are actually built for platform pedals, that stick to my pedals like aircraft epoxy and are supple enough that I can walk around in them all day. If you need a wide toebox, I’d look at five-ten; if you need a narrower one, Chrome has some decent mid-price options that double well as street shoes. I know a lot of people like Pearl Izumi and Ride Concepts, but my feet are too wide for either of those
They don’t suck, you’re just using them on the wrong pedals
You aren’t using the correct shoes for your pedals. These shoes are meant to be used with two-bolt cleats such as SPDs. And they require the correlating pedals to go with, not flat pedals.
If you want to use flat pedals, you will want something with a grippier sole and there are both cycling-specific platform pedal shoes that are meant to be used or you can use a regular street shoe (I prefer Adidas Sambas for non-cycling-specific shoes).
Yeah neither of those shoes are meant for flat pedals. If you wanna stick with flats get Adidas Sambas or Vans or something. You can get Five Tens meant for flats too. I personally use Chrome Kursk TR’s and they’ve served me well.
I like skateboarding shoes with MTB flats. The tread grips the pedal studs well and they’re still somewhat flexible.