You can cycle in a pair of trainers, but dedicated cycling shoes will be more efficient, more comfortable and just better all round if you’re riding any significant distance. To help you choose the right kicks for your needs, we've put together a complete guide to choosing the best cycling shoes.

• The stiff soles and mechanical connection to the pedals of cycling shoes improve comfort and efficiency

• Cycling shoes with external cleats are for racing and other sporty riding; choose shoes with a cleat recess if you want to be able to walk in them

• Pay more, get less: pricier cycling shoes are usually lighter thanks to use of spendy high-tech materials

• You can choose from laces, Velcro straps, ratchet buckles and wire dials to keep your cycling shoes on your feet

Cycling shoes are designed to be light and stiff for efficient pedalling, often with mesh panels to keep your feet cool in the summer and with a sole that’s designed to be compatible with a clipless pedal cleat.

Clipless pedals were introduced about 30 years ago, an idea borrowed from the world of skiing. A small metal or plastic cleat is attached to the sole of the shoe with two, three or four bolts, and engages with the specific pedal when you push down on it. This allows you to transfer power better and keeps your foot in the optimum position in terms of ergonomics.

These Giro Regime shoes are typical high-end modern cycling shoes with carbon fibre soles and dials to adjust the lace tension

When you want to unclip from the pedal, you twist your foot to disengage. Being attached to your bike might seem scary at first but it’s very simple to unclip and get your foot on the ground when necessary.

Typical clipless pedals for road cycling, like the Shimano R7000, have a clamp at the back to engage the cleat

The term ‘clipless pedals’ can be confusing because you ‘clip in’ to them. It derives from the fact that these are pedals without toeclips and straps, a more traditional way of securing your feet when riding.

The steel toeclip bolts on the front of the pedal to locate your foot; the strap keeps it in place

If you’re put off by the prospect of a clipless system, toeclips and straps are still available. You can even buy cycling shoes, some retro inspired, designed for toeclips.

If you want to make the step into clipless pedals, you first need to choose the right ycling shoes. They’re available in a huge range of styles for different demands. You need to decide which type is most suitable for you. Just because you ride on the road, you don’t need to use road cycling shoes, so read on to find out how to make your decision.

More: The best cheap cycling shoes

Women's cycling shoes

Giant's women's brand Liv has a decent range of women's shoes

Women tend to have narrower heels than men, and need cycling shoes that are shallower, that is, have less height between the sole and the upper. There's a wide range of cycling shoes for women, starting from about £50, though there isn't quite the range of choices men are offered, especially at the high end.

Women also tend to have smaller feet than men, so some manufacturers offer women's cycling shoes in smaller sizes. Sidi's Genius 5 Fit shoes are available in a size 35 for women, for example, but only go down to 36 in men's; Bontrager offers a size 36 in its Meraj Women's cycling shoe, while the smallest size in the men's equivalent, the Velocis is 38 in one colour scheme and 40 in others.

Road cycling shoes

The first type of cycling shoes you’ll encounter are road cycling shoes. These come with stiff nylon, composite or carbon-fibre soles with no rubber outsole over the top, so the cleats sits externally. They are designed for efficiency, getting the maximum amount of your power through to the pedals to propel you forward.

Three threaded inserts for use with Look-style three-bolt cleats

The soles typically have three threaded holes to accept cleats from Shimano, Look, and Time, or a four-bolt drilling that’s compatible with Speedplay’s pedal system.

These cycling shoes aren’t designed for walking far. The large external cleat, in combination with the stiff sole, means you tend to hobble rather than walk. You’ll manage to get from your house to the garage to collect your bike, and you’ll be able to nip into a café for a mid-ride coffee, but that’s about the extent of it. You don’t want to get stranded with a puncture and have to push your bike home with these on your feet.

Soft plastic pads at the heel and toes make walking slightly easier and protect the sole from wear

Just because you ride on the road, you don’t necessarily need road cycling shoes. If you’re likely to continue wearing your cycling shoes when you get off the bike – at the office, for example, or for shopping – cycling shoes with cleats that are recessed into the soles will be more suitable (see below).

A recess for a mountain bike-style two-bolt cleat makes for much easier walking

There are several different road clipless pedal systems. The pedals and cleats aren’t interchangeable. In other words, you need to use Look Kéo cleats with Look Kéo pedals, and so on.

Look Keo Cleats

Shimano SPD SL cleat

Time RXS cleats

Time Xpresso cleats

Speedplay cleats — usually covered by the rubber outer of the modern 'walkable' cleats

All of these cleats attach to your shoes with three bolts except the Speedplays.

A few shoe makers offer soles with the four threaded inserts necessary to directly fit Speedplay cleats

If you want to use Speedplay pedals, you need to use the supplied adapers or buy shoes with Speedplay-specific soles.

More: Performance Road Cycling Shoes Buyer's Guide

Mountain biking, Commuting, Touring, Leisure & gravel

This is a wide-ranging category but what these cycling shoes have in common is that they usually have a recessed cleat. In other words, the cleat is sunk into the shoe’s outsole so that it doesn’t touch the ground when you’re off the bike. This means you can walk much further and much more comfortably than you can in road cycling shoes.

Specialized S-Works Recon Lace Gravel Shoes: high-end, stiff walkable shoes for all surfaces

These cleats are attached by two bolts. Some shoes can take either a three-bolt cleat or a two-bolt cleat, but most are compatible with one or the other.

A leisure cycling shoe has a more flexible sole than a road cycling shoe, sacrificing outright efficiency for more comfort. These shoes are often styled very differently from racing shoes, frequently resembling trainers or hiking shoes. Many won’t look out of place when you’re a long way from a bike.

The more flexible sole and the recessed cleat makes a leisure cycling shoe a suitable option for commuting and casual riding with pub and café stops too.

We know people who prefer leisure cycling shoes to road cycling shoes for sports cycling. If you’re put off by the very stiff carbon soles of road cycling shoes, these are certainly a valid alternative.

They also make very good all-round shoes because they can be used in a Sunday sportive and then for the commute to the office on Monday morning.

Since gravel riding often involves a mix of riding and walking, these shoes have become popular for that too, leading to the creation of stiff-soled but still walkable shoes.

Shimano's double-sided PD M540 pedals are popular and tough as old boots

A benefit of most pedals for two-bolt systems is that they’re double-sided. This makes for easier clipping in at the traffic lights. You can get pedals with a large plastic or metal cage surrounding the cleat retention mechanism for a wider, more supportive platform.

Deore XT Trekking pedals are Shimano's latest dual-purpose design for both civilian shoes and cycling shoes

You can also buy pedals that have a cleat retention mechanism on one side and a regular flat pedal on the other. These allow you to jump on your bike and pedal comfortably without having to first change from your everyday footwear into dedicated cycling shoes.

Shimano SPD two-bolt cleats for use with the company's own pedals and countless clones

The most popular two-bolt pedal/cleat system is Shimano’s SPD. The pedals and cleats are much smaller than for road-specific systems but they work in essentially the same way: you press down to snap the cleat into the pedal and twist your heel to the side to unclip.

Sidi Jarin shoes for high-performance off-road riding

Mountain bike and cyclocross shoes share the same two-bolt recessed cleat design as leisure cycling shoes (above) but they have aggressive tread and sometimes studs to provide grip when you’re walking or running through mud. Most have more flexible soles than road cycling shoes, again, so you can walk or run in them more easily.

Some mountain bike shoes designed primarily for racing do have very stiff carbon soles. In this case, efficient power transfer is a more important consideration than comfortable walking.

There’s no reason why you can’t use these cycling shoes with the relevant pedals on a road bike. You’ll see a lot of city cyclists, especially couriers, using the likes of Sidi mountain bike shoes on road bikes because the sole makes them a lot more practical when they get off the bike.

Winter boots

Lake MXZ304 Winter Boots have grippy Vibram soles and masses of insulation and water-proofing

The ventilation that’s such a welcome feature of cycling shoes in the summer can just lead to cold feet in the winter so most cyclists resort to neoprene overshoes when the temperature drops. Overshoes also protect your shoes from rain and mud.

Winter boots are another option. As you’d expect, these are cycle-specific boots specifically designed to keep your feet warm and dry – or at least drier than they’d otherwise be.

Some winter boots are designed for three-bolt (road-style) cleats, and others are designed for two-bolt (mountain bike-style) cleats.

The Northwave Celsius R Arctic GTX shoes for example, incorporate Gore-Tex in the uppers to keep your feet dry. They take three-bolt cleats with the holes for the bolts not going right through the insole, so water can’t get through there.

Fit

Getting a comfortable shoe is absolutely essentially so it’s worth heading to a well-stocked bike shop to try on several pairs of different cycling shoes before you buy. Remember to wear the same thin socks that you’re likely to wear on the bike. As with non-cycling shoes, sizing varies between brands.

Some brands, such as Shimano, cater for different foot widths with a ‘wide’ version of their shoes, while shoes from Sidi, for example, tend to suit narrower feet.

The last few years have seen the development of heat mouldable shoes. The likes of Lake, Shimano and Bont now produce shoes that you can heat up in an oven and then mould to your feet, offering a degree of customisation to improve comfort and efficiency.

Triathlon cycling shoes

Triathlon shoes are specifically designed to be clipped to your pedals before you get on your bike. After the swim leg of a triathlon, you get on the bike and start pedalling and only put your feet inside the shoes once you’re up to speed.

Towards the end of the bike leg, you remove your feet from the shoes before getting off the bike, leaving them hanging on the pedals.

Sidi T-5 Air triathlon shoes have broad straps and big heel loops to aid a fast entry

Triathlon cycling shoes come with heel loops to help you get your feet inside on the fly, and with large straps that are easy to do up and undo while you’re moving.

Triathlon cycling shoes also have lots of ventilation because your feet are still likely to be wet from the swim when you put them on. Many triathletes use triathlon shoes for general road riding. Triathlon shoes come with holes for three-bolt or four-bolt (Speedplay) cleats

Why pay more?

The more you spend, the lighter your cycling shoes are likely to be. The weight difference can be 350g or more between entry-level shoes and the most expensive.

Expensive shoes usually come with carbon-fibre soles. These are lighter than nylon soles and stiffer for a given weight.

Gaerne's Carbon G.STL Road Shoes are classic ultra-stiff racing slippers

Stiffness is important for efficiently transferring your power to the pedals. If you’re racing, you’ll want a stiff cycling shoe, but if you’re not racing you might want to choose a shoe with more flexibility.

Dial closures — seen here on Quoc Mono 2 shoes — have almost taken over on high-end shoes

Cheaper cycling shoes tend to have simple Velcro straps but if you pay more you’ll often get a different closure system. From micro-ratcheting buckles to rotary dials to a combination of buckles, ratchets and Velcro, every brand has their favoured approach for holding the shoe in place securely.

Higher end cycling shoes tend to have uppers made from materials that are lighter, more breathable and more supple than you’ll find at the entry level. This can have a big impact on a cycling shoe’s comfort.

Features

Soles

None more black carbon fibre soles on DMT KR1 Black Road Shoes

Soles are usually made from nylon or, for a lighter weight, carbon-fibre. Road cycling shoes have soles that are very stiff for efficient pedalling while mountain bike and leisure cycling shoes tend to be more flexible and have a tread for grip when walking. You need to get shoes with the correct drilling (number/position of holes) for the pedal/cleat system you want to use.

Closure system

Once ubiquitous, ratchet buckles likes these on Bont Riot shoes are now relatively rare

Manufacturers use various systems to secure cycling shoes on your feet: Velcro straps, ratcheting buckles and wire laces that are tensioned with dials, such as those from Boa.

Ratchet dials that pull a thin steel wire to snug your shoes round your feet are extremely popular

Lace-up cycling shoes have become popular again thanks to Giro's Empire shoes which brought back the idea — with a little help from Bradley Wiggins. Laces make it easy to fine-tune the tension over the top of your foot, at the expense of a bit more faff putting them on in the first place.

Giro's Privateer gravel shoes use laces for a snug, versatile closure

Uppers

Natural leather — as seen here on Lake CX238 shoes — is still a popular material for shoes but synthetics are more common

Uppers can be leather or synthetic. They’re usually designed to be lightweight, and often feature mesh panels. Sweaty feet can be uncomfortable, especially on a long ride, and these panels are designed to avoid that.

Footbed

Sole footbeds 

Some cycling shoes come with a footbed (insole) that can be adjusted to provide better arch-support as you ride.If you need to fine-tune the fit of your shoes you can get aftermarket footbeds too.

Non-slip heel lining

Sidi takes it a step further with an adjustable heel retainer on the Shot 2 shoes

Some manufacturers use a non-slip lining inside the heel to stop your foot lifting as you pedal.

Heel/toe bumpers

Replaceable heel bumper on Sidi Shot 2 Road Shoe

Heel and toe bumpers can help keep the soles of road cycling shoes in good condition. It’s useful if these can be replaced when they wear out.

Reflective features

Reflective areas on shoes can help drivers spot you at night

Reflective features on shoes can really catch the eye because your feet are in almost constant motion when you’re on the bike.

Now check out all the cycling shoes we've reviewed on road.cc.