What mtb shoes should i buy

The magic of the Recon is largely in the materials. At the bottom, where your foot meets the pedal, Specialized uses its stiffest, lightest FACT carbon footplate.

An added bonus is the shoes don't get that much heavier when soaked with water, and they dry really fast on hot days. At all. Despite getting numerous other shoes to try, our tester keeps coming back to her Recons because she asserts they are her favorite off-road shoe ever. The Vento Overcurve X3 features a single Boa closure at the top of the shoe and an asymmetrical shape that wraps the shoe tight around our feet in a way that feels surprisingly natural for a shoe with a single dial.

The easy-to-clean Microtex upper—important if you feel the need to have white mountain bike shoes—is durable and has minimal seams. After a few rides, it broke in nicely. And once broken in, the shoes felt sublime. That reduces hot spots on long trail rides and feels good during cyclocross run-ups. As an added bonus, after a year of use, they are still, shockingly, white. Sidi is the undisputed King of Bling when it comes to cycling shoes, and function certainly matches form in the Tiger—its top-of-the-line carbon sole is as stiff as those on top-flight road shoes, with none of the flex that some brands build into the heal or toe.

The Double Tecno 3 Push System closure, with both dials on the tongue, is a noticeable improvement over the Drako 2 SRS and makes for a much more uniform and snug fit. However, each turn of the dial is a big adjustment, and we frequently found ourselves stuck in that space between one click harder being too tight and one click lighter being too loose.

The tongue has raised ridges on the upper edges that grip against inverse ridges on the inside of the shoe. They do such a good job of holding the tongue in place you have to pull them apart before removing your foot from the shoe.

The plastic heal cup guards against the usual bumps and scratches that come along with trail riding, and the synthetic upper is also surprisingly abrasion resistant—after more than a few brushes with large rocks our shoes are no worse for wear.

The upper also cleans up quite nicely after major mud baths. And since these shoes represent a significant investment, replaceable cleat plates and tread lugs go a long way toward keeping your shoes working like new through miles and miles of abuse. After a year of abuse: Like a pair of fine Italian kicks, these shoes have broken in nicely, and the upper that previously felt stiff is now as soft and supple as a well-worn baseball mitt.

Our only complaint is the paper-thin footbed leaves a lot to be desired. But longer rides have left us wishing we had a more comfy insert. Pearl Izumi has been refining its X-Alp mountain bike shoes for over a decade all of its mountain bike shoes get the X-Alp designation and this is the best one yet. The shoes are burlier than the sleekest XC models, but lighter than they look. At grams size 43 , a single shoe weighs less than some similar models from other brands.

And it comes in versions for men and women. It also happens to be designed for gravel riding, which you might have guessed from the name. The upper and tongue are constructed from one piece of thermoplastic polyurethane TPU , which tightens snugly around the midfoot with a Boa dial. The stiff Michelin rubber sole has large, grippy, mud-shedding tread, as well as a spike mount for messy conditions if you've ever missed your cleat when stepping back onto the pedal, only to slip when the pedal meets the slick carbon or plastic in the midsole, you'll appreciate the full-length rubber covering on these shoes.

Even with all this reinforcement, the shoe remains lightweight and comfortable. The GR2 even has toe and heel reinforcements, stud mounts, and a sole with fairly chunky and soft lugs. The laces slide easily through the eyelets so you can wear this shoe tight, and the pressure spreads evenly. Once you pull them taught and tie them, they stay put.

You will feel some give when pedaling hard, landing hard, or pumping through a big g-out. A crossbreed of the Privateer MTB shoe and the Empire road shoe, these shoes feature a simple, lace-up design and a comfortable, foot-conforming fit.

Compared to the ultra-stiff Empire road shoe, the Privateer is a bit more flexible, but power transfer still felt immediate during hard climbs. Rubber treads are nicely shaped for walking out of the pedals and offer enough grip for muddy off-bike adventuring.

The fit is true-to-size, although the forefoot might not agree with wide-footed riders. Buy them if you like lace-up shoes that feel natural from the first ride. The Giro Sica Techlace is a sharp-looking shoe with a high-tech closure system.

It employs one Boa dial, which tightens the upper in 1mm increments, as well as two Velcro tabs that cinch up the laces on the lower half. The soles are coated with a Vibram tread for excellent off-the-bike grip and durability, and the upper is generously perforated for ventilation.

The ventilation holes also help your socks dry faster if you happen to get them wet crossing a stream, and rubber reinforcements on the heel and toe box help protect your toes from rocks on the trail. Five Ten has become a dominant brand for flats. Its shoes can be seen at the Enduro World Series, in the bike park, and on your local trails. The Freerider Pro pretty much perfected the category. The Stealth S1 sole is stiff enough for riding and has enough flex for walking, plus it sticks to your pedals like glue.

The latest version of the Freerider Pro vents well, dries quickly, and has enough protection on the toe and around the heel.

The Stamp Lace is a new, gravity-oriented flat pedal shoe from Crank Brothers, the brand more commonly known for making pedals. These are superb flat-pedal shoes, with great grip, excellent pin security, and a good feel. The large external cleat, in combination with the stiff sole, means you tend to hobble rather than walk.

There are several different road clipless pedal systems. If you want to use Speedplay pedals, you need to buy shoes with Speedplay-specific soles or use the supplied adaptors. This is a wide-ranging category but what these cycling shoes have in common is that they usually have a recessed cleat. This means you can walk much further and much more comfortably than you can in road cycling shoes.

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. We know people who prefer leisure cycling shoes to road cycling shoes for sports cycling.

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.

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. 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 you bike and pedal comfortably without having to first change from your everyday footwear into dedicated cycling shoes.

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.

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. Overshoes also protect your shoes from rain and mud. Winter boots are another option. Some winter boots are designed for three-bolt road-style cleats, and others are designed for two-bolt mountain bike-style cleats. The Gaerne G.

Winter Road Gore-Tex cycling shoes , for example, incorporate Gore-Tex in the uppers to keep your feet dry. As with non-cycling shoes, sizing varies between brands. 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 shoes are specifically designed to be clipped to your pedals before you get on your bike. 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. 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.

The more you spend, the lighter your cycling shoes are likely to be. The weight difference can be g 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. Triathlon cycling shoes are similar to road shoes in some aspects but fundamentally different in others.

The main difference is that triathlon shoes are designed to be easily removable, even whilst riding to speed up transition. They are also likely to be softer lined so that you can wear then without socks if you wish. Mountain bike shoes are significantly different to road and triathlon shoes, both in function and appearance.

The first and most obvious difference is that mountain bike shoes have lugs and grips on the sole, which enable you to walk and run when you are forced to dismount to open gates or in muddy conditions. The second feature is that they have a different cleat system more on this below. A third difference is that these shoes tend to be made of tougher, water-resistant materials such as synthetic leather, to help keep out the trail muck.

Sizing and fit is often an area where questions arise for cycling shoes: How do sizes compare between brands? What do I do if I have the wrong size? Wiggle has tried to make this as easy as possible for you, on every page, there is a personalised size chart for the brand, such as the one shown to the left for Sidi shoes. This means that you can compare between brands as to what a EU45 for example is in Sidi shoes and dhb shoes.

If however, even after referencing our size charts, you decide the size you've ordered is not the best fit for you, you can return them to Wiggle as long as they are unused.