Road cycling shoes?

[amacal1]

Looking for anyone who's had any good experiences with some shoes, preferably road shoes I'll be putting RC7 clips for powertap pedals. I did a quick search of the forum and not much came up. A couple of people posted some Darevie shoes and one for Santic. The santic piqued my interest because I have a bib by Santic that I'm quite pleased with, but I see most of their prices are really high, as high as western brands, except for one shoe they sell.

I'm considering these, just based on the brand.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804626982042.html

I'm considering these because I like the low-key branding, the look, and the streamlined single BOA fit.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807136310263.html

Anyone else have any recommendations?

[GSoroos]

I have these: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806406774206.html

Not ridden yet, but initial thoughts are that they seem very well made, fit perfect for my size, the dials work great and the soles are what I expect from carbon – very stiff.

Waiting on cleats to come in to mount and ride.

[amacal1]

I have these: https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256806406774206.html

Not ridden yet, but initial thoughts are that they seem very well made, fit perfect for my size, the dials work great and the soles are what I expect from carbon – very stiff.

Waiting on cleats to come in to mount and ride.

That particular color isn't my favorite, but otherwise that shoe looks pretty nice and it's a good price.


I just pulled the trigger on that pair of Xternity shoes I linked to.

[BeeMC]

Currently riding these: https://a.aliexpress.com/_mMBsLMx

Very stiff sole, feels similar to a S Phyre pair I have. Boa system is obviously cheaper than S phyre but works very well. Highly recommend them for the price.

[paldo]

Trace Velo on Youtube have some positive reviews on the Sidebike brand.

[jfcb]

I've ridden the red/white sidebike shoes in the past (about 5 years ago) https://aliexpi.com/D8Eb
They were quiet comfortable, but not in comparison with S-PHYRE or S-works in terms of stiffness. Looking at the newer models, I see they have the same stiffness index of 14, but I would guess they improved in the meantime?
In any case, they had a good fit and where not to narrow as I would have expected from asian shoes.
The question remains if you want to take the gamble investing 100ish USD/EUR in shoes that might not fit you well.

[JonMS]

Best looking SPD shoes on Ali right no IMO

https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256805983618808.html
My first pair of actual SPD-SL road shoes. Absolutely love these things and the carbon sole is great.

[Pedaldancer]

Looking for anyone who's had any good experiences with some shoes, preferably road shoes I'll be putting RC7 clips for powertap pedals. I did a quick search of the forum and not much came up. A couple of people posted some Darevie shoes and one for Santic. The santic piqued my interest because I have a bib by Santic that I'm quite pleased with, but I see most of their prices are really high, as high as western brands, except for one shoe they sell.

I'm considering these, just based on the brand.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256804626982042.html

I'm considering these because I like the low-key branding, the look, and the streamlined single BOA fit.
https://www.aliexpress.us/item/3256807136310263.html

Anyone else have any recommendations?

I have these Santics since 2 years.
Although they don't have a carbon sole, they are quite stiff. The inner sole is some very hard material.

They are quite nice. The toe box is rounded and not too narrow. For me that's a good thing for cycling. Nothing more painful than a squeezed toe.


You need to consider that the fixation points can't be shifted, as .e.g. on Shimano shoes. So you can "only" shift it with the cleat oblong holes. A lot of shoes don't have this double sliding option.. but just if this is important to you.

For the sizing the shop contact sent me photos with measurements of the inner sole length. If you have a fitting shoe, you can measure it also.
For me the result is the same size as for Shimano and Northwave. Which is 41 for all of them.

[amacal1]

I have these Santics since 2 years.
Although they don't have a carbon sole, they are quite stiff. The inner sole is some very hard material.

They are quite nice. The toe box is rounded and not too narrow. For me that's a good thing for cycling. Nothing more painful than a squeezed toe.


You need to consider that the fixation points can't be shifted, as .e.g. on Shimano shoes. So you can "only" shift it with the cleat oblong holes. A lot of shoes don't have this double sliding option.. but just if this is important to you.

For the sizing the shop contact sent me photos with measurements of the inner sole length. If you have a fitting shoe, you can measure it also.
For me the result is the same size as for Shimano and Northwave. Which is 41 for all of them.

Nice. Kinda making me regret not ordering the Santics. I'll see how the ones I ordered fare, and maybe consider those if they don't work out. Thanks!

[splashkit]

Also interested in a pair of shoes, anyone knows a place to get full custom ie L W and full carbon moldable

[amacal1]

I have these Santics since 2 years.
Although they don't have a carbon sole, they are quite stiff. The inner sole is some very hard material.
They are quite nice. The toe box is rounded and not too narrow. For me that's a good thing for cycling. Nothing more painful than a squeezed toe.
You need to consider that the fixation points can't be shifted, as .e.g. on Shimano shoes. So you can "only" shift it with the cleat oblong holes. A lot of shoes don't have this double sliding option.. but just if this is important to you.

Okay, it's official. I kinda regret not getting these Santics. The Xternity shoes I bought were about $25 less and I like the aesthetics more, but they aren't that comfortable, aren't stiff at all, and I'm not certain how long they'll hold up. In fairness, they were VERY cheap. And, they do look VERY good, lol. And, they haven't broken or torn (yet). I think the problem is relying on the single BOA for securing the entire shoe. It must be overly tightened to get it even moderately snug, and the stress seems to re-distribute while riding to create un-even pressure on the top of my foot. Also, it just isn't that stiff.

[Pedaldancer]

Okay, it's official. I kinda regret not getting these Santics. The Xternity shoes I bought were about $25 less and I like the aesthetics more, but they aren't that comfortable, aren't stiff at all, and I'm not certain how long they'll hold up. In fairness, they were VERY cheap. And, they do look VERY good, lol. And, they haven't broken or torn (yet). I think the problem is relying on the single BOA for securing the entire shoe. It must be overly tightened to get it even moderately snug, and the stress seems to re-distribute while riding to create un-even pressure on the top of my foot. Also, it just isn't that stiff.

Life is to short for bad shoes.
You can still order them. 

[dapatcho]

Does anyone have any experiences or recommendations for cheap/entry level shoes? Getting into (road) cycling this summer and have not had much luck finding things second hand locally.

[Pedaldancer]

Does anyone have any experiences or recommendations for cheap/entry level shoes? Getting into (road) cycling this summer and have not had much luck finding things second hand locally.

If you go for AliExpress.. you really should have a very good idea of what you need, what could fit your feet. Which you can't have as you don't have the experience.
For my first shoes I guess I had to try 6 different pairs.. and in the end they still turned out to be not optimal and I gave them away to a friend.

You can get good deals when looking at end of season sales.

[SillyMochi]

I have these Santics since 2 years.

Don't know about the shoe's performance but loving the matching shoes and socks! 

So far, I only bought some cheap winter cycling shoes for about 32 USD. They perform as well as you would expect from a 32 dollar shoe. Though walking in them is quite nice compared to my Shimano's 

For my summer road cycling, I'm using Shimano RC702. Night and day compared to the cheap AE shoes. Which was to be expected. During winter I don't care too much about performance. Just wanna be warm. Got those Shimano's locally for around 160 USD on a sale. For Gravel I have Shimano XC502 which I also picked up in a sale for around 90 USD.

Since the price difference to AE "performance" shoes isn't all that much, it wasn't appealing to me to try them - literally: fit is very important and if you can't return them (easily) I wouldn't order. Except if I had the exakt same model already and know they fit me.