There are many different shoes, but they all do the same thing. A robust sole and secure fastening system are the most important in all shoes.
The sole of the road cycling shoe now comes in different materials. They used to be made of leather, and you had to nail the shoe plate onto the sole, this was a very tricky exercise.
In those days, shoe plates were two metal bars that slotted onto the backplate of the pedal. With toe clips and straps, your foot was held tight.
The shoe plate had to be fitted correctly, or you could get big problems with your knees.
Now, of course, every-one uses clipless pedals that screw to the sole and are fully adjustable with a float system. So even if you are a bit off with you fitting, have a problem with your knees, or one leg is different from the other, this will allow for that and should save you a lot of pain and trouble.
Now the sole of the road cycling shoe is made of plastic or more expensively carbon. Plastic can be made to any shape and is fairly cheap to produce. Therefore it is the perfect material for the sole. Threaded recesses for the different kinds of shoe plates are set into the plastic, so you have to screw your plates straight on.
Carbon soles are now very popular. They also have the fittings for your shoe plates. However the main advantage is their strength and lightweight, but there is no “give” in the sole so it can cause sore feet. Some carbon soles now come with stiffness adjustability. The other problem with carbon is the price, it is not cheap, but it is now the choice of most professional cyclists.
The Upper Of The Road Cycling Shoe
The upper part of the road cycling shoe also used to be made of leather. Very comfortable, but it stretched, and also, they hurt your feet where the lacing rubbed on the top of your foot.
When clip-less pedals were invented, it was soon discovered that the top of the shoe had to be a lot stronger. as there were no clips and straps around the shoe, and the shoe itself had to take the strain of pulling up on the pedal. Now, most cycling shoe manufacturers use a mixture of plastic mesh for strength and ventilation and leather for comfort.
The fixing systems now are mostly the same on all different makes of shoes. An adjustable ratchet clip on the top of the shoe where lacing used to be, usually with two, three, or some times four clips, is now the norm.
Other systems are being used. They all do the same to hold your foot tightly in the shoe. Thereforeyou must try a few to see which is most comfortable for you.
DMT Flash Carbon Soled Cycling Shoes
“If you want to sprint like the Italian Super Star, Alessandro Petacchi, you need to do two things. Get a pair of DMT cycling Shoes and, more difficultly, train for many hours over many miles for a long time. Oh, and have a special sprinters ability!”
Giro Trans Road Shoes
The Prolight Giant trans are more expensive than other road shoes in the market. You should know that quality comes with a price, a saying that most of the time is correct. Perfect Giro shoes that perform almost as well as the top tier Prolight. They’re comfortable and very stiff, ensuring maximum pedaling efficiency.
