I am looking to buy a new pair of cycling shoes and would like your opinion. 1. Should I buy a tri-specific cycling shoe, or a road shoe. Are there benefits to buying a road shoe? 2. Price, would you buy a 300 shoe or save some money and buy a shoe half the price? Which shoe do you recommend. Thanks in advance
As long as they keep making them i’ll never switch from my specialized tri shoe, its simply amazing.
If you do tris, I would go with a tri shoe. Generally much easier to get in / out of when approaching/leaving transition. Can’t imagine wanting to ride for any distance on top of a road shoe with all those straps.
I think my shoes were in the 150-200 range. Carbon soled, have lasted me 3 full seasons. No complaints other than that they have been discontinued…
Jodi
Why not buy both? Use road shoes on your road bike and tri shoes on your tri bike. And FWIW I really like my Sidi shoes, road and tri. Comfort and fit are more important to me than cost.
Buy yourself some specialized trivents and you’ll never want another shoe.
We’re finding increasingly large changes in the way cycling shoes fit from brand to brand and from model year to model year within the same brand. As a result, trying your new shoes on at the local retailer is going to be pretty important.
Another poster made mention that cycling shoes do last a long time but triathlon shoes get gross pretty fast, especially if you do Ironman distance events. The tri shoes I’ve had to replace have had to be replaced more out of hygene concerns than wearing them out.
I generally wear road shoes with socks when I’m training and then a slightly smaller pair of tri-specific shoes worn without socks when racing. One note though- at the full Ironman distance I do wear road shoes with socks- they just fit more precisely and are more comfortable.
Tri shoes work fine for road and tri riding, road shoes work fine for road riding but are a bit inconvenient for tri racing. So if buying one pair, buy tri shoes.
Others have recommended the Specialized TriVents. They are nice shoes, but Specialized body geometry stuff and the angles built into their shoes don’t work for everybody. I personally have the Shimano tri shoes, they were about $180, carbon-sole, and I love them. Shimano has put a lot of time and money into their shoe line in the past few years and makes a nice range of road and tri shoes. I think they now have 3 or 4 tri shoes, mine weren’t the cheapest ones, but weren’t the most expensive custom-molded one either, I love them.
Tom, thanks for your reply. Thats what I was wondering, I am doing IMCDA and was thinking a road shoe might be more comfortable over the distance. Is there any better performance value to a shoe that has more adjustments? Do you have a opinion about the specialized pro road shoe $285?
Buy yourself some specialized trivents and you’ll never want another shoe.
WORD!!!
I am looking to buy a new pair of cycling shoes and would like your opinion. 1. Should I buy a tri-specific cycling shoe, or a road shoe. Are there benefits to buying a road shoe? 2. Price, would you buy a 300 shoe or save some money and buy a shoe half the price? Which shoe do you recommend. Thanks in advance
I’ve been using Sidi shoes for years; great fit (at least for my foot). I have their Tri shoe and recently bought a pair of the road shoes. The main difference is that the road shoes have the ratchet buckle. Its advantage is that it doesn’t loosen up over time the way velcro does, but it’s waaay too slow getting into to race tris with (plus you can’t pedal with your feet on top of the shoes entering/exiting transition without the ratchet digging into your arch). If you can get one pair of shoes, get a tri shoe (lots of sales these days). I’d go for a good pair, since they last for years (I get about 5 years/pair, though I have the velcro redone by a cobbler once).
If your doing Tri’s, get a tri shoe. I love my SIDI’s I had the T-1 and recently upgraded to the T2-6. You can find great deals right now on the 2008’s