My quest for a road shoe you can walk on is over! I've been looking for a pair of comfortable and stiff - in short, performance - cycling shoes in the what manufacturers would call MTB class.
I've always thought this was a bit short-sighted. What about commuters, audaxers, people who own more than one bike but only want one pair of shoes,... the list continues. Clearly the best choice is a shoe with a recessed cleat.
With a shoe with a stiff carbon sole that you can tighten up properly to fit your foot snugly, there isn't actually that much difference between a road shoe and an MTB shoe, except of course that you can walk on the latter without looking like a duck. Or that you don't break/wear out your cleat if you need to walk every now and again.
Don't get me wrong, there's a time and a place for road shoes, but commuting, in my opinion, isn't that time and place. Especially not if you can find SPD shoes with a weight and performance that is pretty much identical to road shoes.
Anyway, on to the shoes! You've probably guessed that I like these. They fit, they're comfortable, I can do them up tight for when I want performance, I can do loosen them off a tad if my feet start swelling, they're stiff, I don't get hot foot, pretty much perfect really. I could not find anything I didn't like about these shoes.
It's worth noting that Specialized tend to be quite wide, as opposed to Sidi, for example, which I've found a bit too narrow. I've you've got wider feet and Sidi or similar are uncomfortable, these might be perfect.
It's also worth noting that Specialized tend to come up a size smaller. My normal foot size is EUR43, but in Specialized I know I need a EUR44.
Verdict
The perfect performance commuter/audax shoe
road.cc test report
Make and model: Specialized BG Expert MTB shoe
Rate the product for quality of construction:
8/10
Rate the product for performance:
10/10
Rate the product for durability:
9/10
Rate the product for weight, if applicable:
9/10
Rate the product for comfort, if applicable:
10/10
Rate the product for value:
9/10
Did you enjoy using the product? Yes
Would you consider buying the product? Definitely
Would you recommend the product to a friend? Yes
Age: 32 Height: 1.78m Weight: 76kg
I usually ride: All of them! My best bike is: Cervelo Dual
I've been riding for: Over 20 years I ride: Every day I would class myself as: Expert
I regularly do the following types of riding: time trialling, commuting, touring, club rides, fixed/singlespeed, Audax
The small frame, the aggressive posture, lots of standover height.
As i've said before, the police should be sued for a lot of money when someone they have knowingly ignored has gone on to commit a serious crime....
'Bad parking' blocks firefighters multiple times on same emergency call-out...
Cambridgeshire boy, 13, crashes Audi into garden wall after taking it from home...
Good stuff. Now do it on cycleway C9 through Hammersmith to Chiswick.
It's technically allowed but it's not known as "London's Orbital Car Park" for nothing.
You're defending bombing hospitals and refugee camps and starving children.
Used car salesman is a complete attention-seeking plank....
I don't know if they're any better, but they's certainly become more boring.
At risk of being cynical, and stereotyping the police, it's so they don't have to leave the comfort of their panda cars and pursue on foot when...