In a short course flying mount situation, I don't think getting into a road shoe could ever be faster than a tri shoe.

Unless you care about individual seconds, I don't see any drawbacks to using road shoes especially for races beyond the sprint distance. Unless youre trying to win those sprint races, I say get road shoes.

Simply because I have a tri-specific shoe, I wear them in sprint/oly tris. It's kind of dumb, I'd rather use my road shoes because they get more use, are more broken in, and therefore more comfortable. I guess I try to justify having that other pair. I'm doing a couple halves next season and will wear road shoes for them, for 2.5 hours of riding I want the comfort and it I have with them. And with the BOA closure, even in sprints, a road shoe should be plenty fast. Slip it on in transition, run out, and tightening down is easy, quick, and can be done as you're clipping in and riding away. You should go with the shoe that fits better and gives you the better power transfer to the pedal.

If ventilation is an issue, you'll want to consider that in your decision. Some people aren't affected as much as others.

Athletes have different reasons for wearing different shoes. In general, triathlon shoes tend to be pretty heavy and with a bulky strap. Whatever time you "could" gain may be lost and then some in the aerodynamics of that strap over 112 miles. I am not sure if you ever saw my write-up and wind tunnel testing on the Giro SLX lace-ups, but I noticed two athletes in the top 10 were using them along with at least 2 others in the field. The reason I put could in quotes is because IMHO having no strap and elastic laces is just as fast or faster (with practice). In short the Giro SLX is light, sleek and aero (no straps or buckles), and comfortable. You can read about my modification to a stock pair of Giro Empire SLX to make them triathlon friendly here and there was a couple of ST threads as well including Giro SLX Laces and My Thomas Gerlach Inspired Short-Course Cycling Shoes. Some good discussions regarding shoes in those threads in general. Hope that helps.

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I was noticing in the Super League stuff...those guys are all in tri shoes, so there's something to it. If there wasn't, they'd be in road shoes for sure.

For the record, I've worn road shoes for LD tri and wouldn't change that for the world haha.

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It helps, Thomas, thanks. Forgot you had done this research. I was on the Giro site......any feedback on the Factor Techlace model? Is this a new model since your article.....seems to have a good combo of laces and boa for maybe easier entry?

Some athletes use the Techlace. Jesse Thomas switched, from the SLX to the Techlace. He uses them with rubber-band style laces.

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I use giro tech lace... they are great

I use road shoes for long distance too. I think Super League is a whole different discussion. Some of those formats they are in/out of their bike shoes 2-3 times. Also since it's draft legal an extra 2 seconds to get your shoes on might mean you miss out or have to bridge to the bike pack.

Oh, I totally get why they wear them. It's a whole different animal. I actually changed to some lace up Garneau LA84 or whatever they are with elastic laces, and they have been amazingly good. Easy to get out of and into, although I find with the aero cleat from Speedplay I can put them on, run with grip and confidence, and flying mount and ride off faster than shoes on the pedals plus lessen the chance of stepping on something and hurting the foot. In my instance, win win!

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DFRU - Detta Family Racing Unit...the kids like it and we all get out and after it...gotta keep the fam involved!

Super league is very different. It’s even different than ITU where they’re all wearing too shoes. Every split second counts in those races. I’m in the Thomas gerlach camp and use giro shoes without a tongue and elastic laces. Like them way better than my old tri shoes.

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Question, how is the ease of entry? Assume you rubber band to bike?

I put them on at T1... don't band to bike. The tri series I do the most hits you with a little 5-6+ % climb off the bat. The only issue I can think of is the tongue is not very wide in my opinion but I have not had an issue.

I cut the tongue out and I apply some aquafor to the inside of the upper and my foot slides right in.

i'm in need of replacing my road shoes and I've never had tri specific shoes. contemplating the same question...besides getting into them a bit easier, the only benefit i can think of with the tri shoes is the airflow/drying capabilities. otherwise, it seems more practical to use road shoes on the road bike and on the tri bike indoors than it would be using a tri shoe for everything.

I wear my Sidi Genius 5 road shoes (with buckle closure at the top) for every distance. I much prefer road shoes to tri shoes. I personally have always felt that tri shoes massively compromise my fit and feel of the shoe.