Still More Bike Stuff
Shimano SH-MT40 Mountain Bike ShoesToday Danielle and I headed out to some bike shops attempting to find other places which would have the Electra Townie she wants. We didn’t have much luck, but did end up at REI, where a bunch of stuff was on clearance. I ended up getting that pair of bike shoes seen there for $54.93.
See, I normally wear boots. For the last 12 years or so, my standard shoes have been issue US military combat boots. They are comfortable, wear very well, and (now) are rather padded with cloth uppers and Gore-Tex lining. While I’ve been wearing them for biking, they really aren’t the best choice, so I had hoped to get some running or trail shoes. When at REI I decided to try on some bike shoes and ended up deciding to (eventually) purchase a pair of these Keen bike sandals. While wandering around and getting ready to leave I ended up coming across these Shimano SH-MT40 shoes in a size which fits me (12.5, of all things) at a rather nice discount.
It’s a bit odd to me to be wearing normal shoes, especially biking ones, but they seem pretty nice. They are snugly comfortable width-wise with the (expectedly) very solid sole, with mounting for cleats. I’m tempted to get some manner of pedal / cleat setup for it, but I’m not quite sure what I want yet. Shimano makes a nice looking platform / clip in combination pedal which I think would work well for my type of casual use. There’s also the reasonably priced Crank Bros. Eggbeaters at the other end of the spectrum, but I’m not sure about those either. If any of you have suggestions, I’d love to hear them.
I also ended up picking up a pair of Ergon GP1-L handgrips. After playing with these a few months back I’d been wanting them, and as expected they are really comfortable. I went for a short ride around the neighborhood after installing them and it’s just simply a lot more comfortable than using normal soft rubber grips. Here is a photo of those grips on my bike, without the endcaps fitted.
nice shoes.
did they happen to have an women’s versions on sale? or even smaller men’s sizes? I’d really like to get some but every time I’ve looked there they were way out of my range.
Yep, there were both… I don’t really remember what sizes overall, but I remember there being maybe six or eight pairs of similar women’s shoes.
hmm
it seems my credit card and I might need to make an unplanned stop today.
I have eggbeaters and Time Atacs. I like the Atac pedals better
I was also thinking of something like these. Ever tried those out?
They look quite nice, I need some new summer shoes.
Thanks. I’m surprised I take such a large size, but they seem to fit well enough. I almost took them out for a ride tonight, but it was through slush and puddles, and I didn’t want to damage them yet.
I have a pair exactly like that, only rather muddier.
Wow, neat. How do you like them?
Do you use them with cleats / special pedals?
They’re pretty nice, yeah. Fairly easy to clean. I use them with SPD cleats/pedals which are great so long as you have pedals with the clip on both sides, but they do take a bit of getting used to at first.
Do you happen to know which model of pedals you have? I’ve been looking at some nice, cheap M520s which are rather cheap locally.
They could actually be those M520s – I’ll have a look tomorrow but can’t promise I’ll be able to tell you since the box was thrown away some time ago.
If they are similar, I imagine they are probably those. Shimano doesn’t make too many varieties of the same thing, it seems.
I think I’m going to give the bike a go without special pedals first using just the shoes, then maybe consider the new pedals… I just don’t know if I can afford the $50 right now, as I’ve already put a lot of money into the bike.
That, and I want to still wear boots while biking in the snow, which won’t be possible with new pedals.