Vegan Bodybuilding & Fitness

I'm looking for cycling shoes and clip-in pedals, not only for efficiency but even more so because riding in tennis shoes with toe-clip pedals is killing my feet once I pass about 15 miles. I'm trying to stay under $100 for the shoes and I'd like to stay well under $200 for shoes and pedals combined.

I tried on a pair of Specialized shoes the other day and they seemed to fit well. HOWEVER, according to their website the upper contains leather, so they're out. I'd like a pair, vegan of course, that aren't a pain in the ass to walk in. Both of the folks I've talked to at local bike shops recommended that I get mountain bike shoes and pedals. The Specialized ones I looked at were identical in construction to their low-end road shoes other than the bottom, so they would have been well-suited except for the leather issue. Recommendations, anyone? And what should I do if there aren't any vegan shoes locally? I don't want to buy something online and then find out they don't fit!

Are they okay to walk in when you're off the bike?

Some, like the Shimano SPD system, offer shoes with thick soles that have the cleat recessed - so you can walk in them more or less normally (they're still stiff-soled so don't expect to be hiking in them!). These shoes are a lot heavier than a dedicated road shoe, but for shorter distance commuting, using your bike to go to the grocery store, etc, they can be really useful.

My tri bike came with LOOK pedals so that's what I've always used, and I love them, but there have been times when I wish I had the option of throwing on a pair of recessed-cleat shoes.

Are they enough heavier that it would really affect performance that much on a long ride? If so, maybe I'll just get road shoes and throw a pair of tennis shoes in my backpack when I'm running errands.

What about comfort? Would the weight of the shoe factor into that on a long ride, or does that pretty much not matter?

Also, I'm wondering about sizing. I wear a 9 1/2 running shoe, and it looks like the size 43s are comparable to a US 9 and the 44s are comparable to a 10. I've heard from some folks at cycling shops that I should go a little smaller than a regular shoe, but others have said I might even want to go a little larger than my usual shoes, so there's no chance of my feet falling asleep (as tended to happen when I cycled a lot many years back and my shoes were half a size small). As long as I can make the size 44s snug enough that my foot doesn't slide around, that's what I think I should get, and the size 44s I've tried on locally seem to be fine as far as that goes. However, nobody has Shimanos locally, so I'm wondering if they run any bigger or smaller than anyone else's. Sorry, I have lots and lots of questions!

Jeff

Usually MTB shoes allow you to walk around freely without messing up the cleats.
I have Crank Brothers Candy pedals and I couldn't be happier. I ride fixed, and the power difference is extremely noticeable. I will never go back. Climbing sucks with my ratio on a fixed, first day out with my new pedals and it was a good 20% easier to climb up hills.

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I'm not sure I follow you. Sorry, I've been an off and on biker so some of the terminology is not familiar to me. Fixed what? Gear ratio? Are you climbing hills on a track bike? The power difference in what is noticeable? Your new pedals vs. your old ones, or road bike shoes vs. mountain bike shoes?

How far would you have to walk in road shoes to mess up the cleats?

Yeah, he's talking about a "fixie", a fixed-gear bike. And he meant that, with clipless pedals, he noticed how much extra power he gets (everyone should - it makes a significant difference).

For my LOOK cleats, they just gradually wear down from engaging/disengaging and walking. The more walking you do on hard surfaces, the sooner they wear down and need replacing. SPDs are much smaller, but it's still essentially impossible to walk around normally in road bike shoes, hehe.

MTB shoes (mountain bike shoes, the kind commonly available with recessed cleats) vary in their weight, as do road shoes, but equivalent price-point MTB and road shoes would be very different weights. You can look up any online bike store and look at prices and weights of their various shoes. If you're planning long road rides, you might find that the extra weight on your feet makes it a bit tougher. But realize that there are lots of "weight weenies" as they call them in the biking world! If you don't care about riding a steel vs. aluminum vs. carbon fiber framed bike, then don't worry about the weight of the shoes. People on bike forums often get obsessed about decreasing the weight of their bikes. For commuting, I use a really old but trusty Bianchi that looks quite awful (I like to think it's a theft deterrent ). It's a steel framed bike, heavy enough that I wouldn't care if I was using MTB or road shoes with it because they won't make that much of a difference anyway with such a heavy bike. For training and racing, I have a Softride TT Classic, which is a speed demon and MTB shoes would proportionally make a bigger difference.

The point is - if you're not worried about minimizing the weight of your bike (and you're using it for commuting/fun as opposed to racing), don't buy into the weight hype about shoes. If being able to walk around normally, go into a store, etc, is something you value when biking, then absolutely go for it. Dedicated road shoes would only be worth it if you're really going for speed, getting a nice lightweight bike, doing big climbs and long distances, etc.

Thanks, that helps a lot. I have an aluminum bike--I don't think you can even get a steel-framed road bike any more, can you?--so my guess is that the difference in shoe weights is nowhere near the difference it makes that I have a reasonably lightweight frame. And of course the 30 pounds of body fat I'd like to get rid of weighs more than both put together, so I would assume losing that is more important as far as handling big climbs and long distances than going for the lightest shoe--or getting a carbon frame, if I really felt like dropping another thousand bucks.

I typically ride 25-30 miles, although I've done as much as 50 (a few years ago) and I'll certainly be looking to do longer rides again now that I'm back into biking again. I've been roughing it with toe clips and tennis shoes while I look at cycling shoes. My feet are killing me any time I get over about 15 miles!

Jeff

Glad to help!

And no, you can't get a steel-framed bike new. I just traded in my old mountain bike for my bianchi, because I needed something for commuting that I wouldn't be paranoid about getting stolen.

You're right though - 30 lbs of extra body fat is certainly more than a few extra hundred grams on your feet. Some people will argue that shoe and pedal weight are rotational mass, and therefore contribute more proportionally, but still - just call them weight weenies and move on . A lot of people get caught up in the hype and marketing revolving around professional racing. When every second counts, every gram counts. When you're cycling as part of your lifestyle, I'd say the convenience of recessed cleats is worth every gram of weight. I'm considering getting a pair of SPD pedals and MTB shoes for my commuting bike, but I've been procrastinating because it's cheaper to just keep using my same LOOK shoes that I use for my tri bike. But for those times when I want to run down to the grocery store for the 1-2 items I forgot, I really wish I had that convenience.

Thanks!