MTB vs Road Shoes??

I have just bought a road bike (a Cannondale) and I was wondering whether my (Shimano) MTB shoes would be good enough for some road miles??

Or should I buy a separate pair of road shoes??

powinc

 

I'm in the same predicament (sp?) I have nike ACG mtb shoes...they seem to work fine on the roadbike... but I'm also thinking about switching to speedplay pedals, and I don't know if they are compatible.. Cycling shoes are so darn spendy though..

 

Using MTB shoes for road pedals depends on two things: 1) bolt pattern on the shoe sole, and 2) clearance within the lugs (teeth) along the edges of the sole. Many MTB shoes have an SPD bolt pattern. Depending on the shoe, it's possible to use a narrow SPD road cleat (like Speedplay) with some "dental work" on the offending lugs with a Dremel tool.

Conversely, it's possible to use a MTB cleat and light MTB shoes, e.g., Speedplay Frog and Louis Garneau shoes, on a road bike if you need to "live" in the MTB shoes, like on a weekend bike and hike tour. I do this in Japan, where I need to walk comfortably when not riding the bike.

 

I use MTB pedals on my road bike, and it works ok. Part of the reason is tht I love those Shimano cycling sandals with spd cleats. I get some funny looks from the hard core roadies, but then all "serious" cyclists look strange to 99 percent of the population. I wonder what most people think when a cyclist wanders into a convenience store wearing black lycra shorts (complete with codpiece), a shirt with multi-colored beer logos, bug-eyed sunglasses, gloves with the fingers cut off, a plastic hard hat and shoes that make more clatter than a barn full of horses.

 

Nothing wrong with using MTB pedals and shoes on a road bike. In terms of everyday practicality, MTB style clipless systems beat road pedals hands-down.

The main reason I moved to a road-style pedal on my roadie is because I really liked the more stable pedal feeling that a wider cleat platform gives, especially when climbing out of the saddle.

If the stiff sole that's typical of a "road racing" style shoe is what you're after, don't forget you can get stiff-sole competition MTB shoes too. In fact, most of the time they are 99% the same as the road counterparts from the same company, except that the tread and cleat bolt pattern are different.