The Wheels of Chance

Shoes, shoes, shoes…..in my experience cyclists have almost as much of a fetish for shoes as Carrie Bradshaw. For Jimmy Choos substitute Dromarti and for Manolo Blahnik read Sidi. Are they stiff enough, light enough and how do they feel after 50 miles of pedalling? It’s an understandable obsession as riding in shoes that pinch your feet or produce hot spots is torture. The shoes I ride in must also be good for walking as I do some touring and my usual ride will involve some time off the bike in a bar or restaurant; I hate the clip clop of full on road shoes.

I recently bough a pair of MO76 Shimano MTB shoes and they are perfect for touring, commuting and club type rides. Shimano shoes always seem to run a size small for me. I wear a size 45 normal shoe, but found that the size 46 MO76s were right for me. They are lighter than the sneeker style shoes that some recreational cyclists wear, yet still have good grip and a well recessed SPD cleat for comfortable walking. The cleat is fully recessed so you can walk without sounding like a tap dancer. They are also rigid enough to make you feel efficient on the bike and the 3 velcro straps give good tightness adjustment. They come in a black and silver colour scheme with a black mesh section on the top of the shoe that gives good ventilation so they are best suited to riding in moderate to warm weather. I the rain and in the winter months I put a pair of XXL booties over them, being MTB shoes you have to get a big bootie to go over them. The body of the shoe is black and silver leather and the sole is a tough rubber material.

These shoes are widely available from most high street and online retailers for between $80 and $90. Overall these are a fantastic and practical pair of shoes. They won’t do it for the racers out there, but for most mortal cyclist they tick all the boxes, good off road, good on the road and good on the sidewalk too

The Exustar Commuting shoe is a traditionally styled cycling shoe with a soft leather upper and a rubber sole with a recessed SPD cleat. They are available from http://www.wiggle.co.uk for $130. The sole is quite narrow so they are a bit “tippy” from side to side when walking until you get used to them, but the cleat is well recessed and the sole provides good grip. The sizing is generous, particularly in the toe box. I bought the size 46, one up form my street shoe size, however, the 45 would probably have been a better fit, so I put an extra insole in the shoes to make the fit good. The shoes are fastened with laces, which is a nod towards tradition over function, and they don’t feel as rigid as the MO76. But the main thing about the Exustars is the way they look and feel. I use them around town, but would not recommend them for long rides or multi day tours. There is room for improvement in fit and the sole in these shoes, but I give Exustar credit for offering a traditionally style walkable shoe with a recessed cleat.

Here are the MO76 and Exustar Commuter shoes side by side. Both shoes are size 46. The Exustar looks smaller, yet they were a size too big for me, while the MO76 shoes fit me perfectly. I put this down to the lack of padding on the Exustars and you can also see their large toe box. Comparing the soles you can see the much larger walking area of the MO76. Obviously these shoes are vary different, but they both shoes have a place in my closet, the Exustars for style and the MO76 for function.