Road or Mountian bike shoes

[coyote]

Hi,
I've been having problems with my feet going numb. I tried everything...moving the cleats, checking the saddle, loosening the shoes, tightening the shoes. They are Shimano M90 or something like that. I got them cheap at Performance. I thought I would try a wider pedal...spd type but before I put more money out, I went and talked to the lbs guy. He says I need stiffer soles...road shoes. I tried some Specialized on and they fit (really wide feet). I'm just having a hard time with the thought of not being able to walk around with my bike shoes on and having to have some other footwear to change into. So, now to finally get to the punch line...I'm wonder if the fiberglass/combo mountian bike shoes are stiff enough? What do you all think?

[DeniseGoldberg]

You may need stiffer soles, but that doesn't mean that you need road shoes. I wear Sidi Dominators (yes, mountain bike shoes, and I don't mountain bike...). They are a very stiff-soled mountain bike shoe. I'm sure there are others out there too.

--- Denise

[VeloVT]

I don't know anything about the differences in stiffness between road and mountain shoes, so I won't comment on that. And I've never had numbness/tingling/going to sleep issues, so I can't help there unfortunately (bf has had numbness in both hands and feet, and PT was able to help alot with hands but hardly at all with feet).

However, walking around in road shoes is NOT THAT BAD. I have both road shoes (for road bike) and mtn shoes (for CX/commuter). I can easily walk half a mile in either, walk up and down stairs, on gravel, pavement, etc. (Road cleats can do damage to wood floors though, so you have to be careful about that). my feet don't hurt more after walking around in road cleats, and while running is awkward , I don't find them slippery or difficult either (I have Sidi's with look-style Shimano road cleats). So, while others may disagree, I'd suggest that you don't need to worry about walking all that much.

(Mostly it just looks funny . I forget I'm wearing them until someone comments on how difficult it looks to walk in them. It's no more difficult that walking in, say, cowboy boots, which also make you change your gait -- and either bike shoes or cowboy boots are a good deal more comfortable than any of my pointy-toed stiletto-ey shoes).

Good luck!!! Let us know if you are able to find a solution to your foot issues (bf will be happy to hear about it!).

[VeloVT]

Also -- I'm not sure I'd take lbs guy's line about your foot pain being caused by inadequately stiff shoes without some scrutiny.

BF is riding the top of the line Specialized road shoe (the S-Works???? the one with the cool BOA closure system) and has had similar problems. While I don't know relatively speaking how stiff his shoe is, neither PT nor bike shop guys have yet suggested that it might not be stiff enough.

That's not to say that your problems COULDN"T be caused by shoes that aren't stiff enough -- but I think it's pretty common in bike shops for the guys to try to convince you that you need someting stiffer or lighter, because stiffer and lighter are always better -- and whether or not that is true in a given situation, it IS almost always the case that stiffer and lighter = more expensive...

[CorsairMac]

here's my .02 for what it's worth:

I also have problems with my feet going numb/falling asleep in both my road shoes and my mountain bike shoes. The main thing I'm noticed - if I lighten the load on my feet the numbness goes away. In other words - use my hip flexors, back muscles, stomache muscles etc etc when pedaling more than pushing with my feet. Before I spent any more money on shoes - my suggestion would be to pay closer attention to how you're pedalling and see if you're pushing with your feet - especially on the downstroke. If yes, try using other muscles on the downstroke and see if that doesn't help the foot problems.

As for walking in road shoes, I bought some clip covers to help make walking in them easier and to save the clips. It didn't bother me one way or t'other to walk in road shoes although that being said: I prefer to walk in my mountain bike shoes just because it doesn't change my gait.

[coyote]

hmmm, I do not like hearing that others are having this problem and not finding solutions....I do not want to be one of those folks. I have been really conscious of my pedaling. I have been actively engaging my other leg muscles to pedal. Its pretty powerful that way. I pretty much expect some numbness and that the numbness will be relieved by changing my pedaling (pulling up for one). In one foot I have that opportunity and it works. The other is a no joy situation from the get go. After about a half hour I want to rip my foot off the pedal. I've been pondering this all night and came to the realization that the stiffer soul may not solve to problem. I may need a wider pedal base too. So I've decided to go for the road shoes. I'm going to have the spd clip on road shoe setup so I'm glad to hear it is not that big of deal. I tried a Specialized shoe yesterday and I hope to try some Sidi and Diodra (sp?) this weekend. I'm thinking I would like to try to go for the Sidi but I really want to try them on first and see how they fit. I've found a pair on Nashbar that are $85 which seems to be a good deal.

Thanks to all of you for your input. Its going to be a couple of weeks before I can get the shoes, but I'll let you all know how it goes. I suspecting that the shoes may help but may not solve the problems. I just do not know where to go with this but I have to do something.

[koala]

Check your socks -- I was getting numb toes with every shoe I tried. Stiff soles did nothing to alleviate this issue. Instead, I found that some of my socks were too small, & my toes were curled instead of being straight & relaxed. Roomier socks fixed this problem right away.