Get yourself some of the best road cycling shoes, and your riding immediately becomes both more comfortable and more efficient. While you can cycle in a pair of trainers, we’re going to assume for the sake of this article that you want to ride in dedicated cycling shoes. They are designed to be light and stiff for efficient pedalling, usually with mesh panels to keep your feet cool in the summer, and with a sole that's designed to be compatible with clipless pedals.
Best all-round top-end road shoes: Giant Surge Pro shoes
Best mid-range road shoes for year-round riding: Shimano RC7 (RC702) SPD-SL Shoes
Best performance road cycling shoes with laces: DMT KR SL Grey Road Shoes
Best high-end road racing shoes for summer: Shimano S-Phyre RC9 (RC903) Shoes
Best women's performance road cycling shoes: Liv Macha Pro Shoes
Best road cycling shoes for comfort: Crono CR1 Carbon Road Shoes
If you want top-of-the-range shoes with a roomier fit: Specialized S-Works Torch road shoes
Another great pair of lace-up performance road shoes: Giro Empire SLX road shoes
Best mid-priced women's road cycling shoes: Shimano RC5W SPD-SL Women’s Shoes
Best for commuting, touring and gravel: Giro Republic R Knit Road Cycling Shoes
Best value road cycling shoes: Bont Motion shoes
More road.cc recommended women's race shoes: Giro Regime Women’s Road Cycling Shoes
Most innovative road shoes: Fizik Vento Stabilita Carbon road shoe
Best value road shoe with a carbon sole: Boardman Carbon Cycle Shoes
Best for durability (and there are options for wide feet): Lake CX238 Carbon Road Shoe
Most stylish road shoes: Rapha Classic Shoes
Best heat-mouldable road shoes (at a great price): Bont Riot Buckle
Carbon fibre soles are common, and most manufacturers have some way of rating sole stiffness; these shoes are usually at or near the top of the scale. Although you can still get cycling shoes with leather uppers, most shoemakers now use synthetic materials. They're tough, durable and easy to care for.
Dials that you wind up to tighten your shoe, usually from BOA who came up with the concept, are now the dominant closure system, but you'll also find ratchet buckles, Velcro straps and laces on some cycling shoes.
Our list below consists of road cycling shoes only (check out our full cycling shoe reviews archive for a mix of genres) including unisex, women's and men's options. We review a lot of cycling shoes; and it appears the bike industry has been on a roll in recent years with regards to what they choose to send us, because there are a lot of high scores in our cycling shoe archives. That means we've had to make some brutal cuts to slim down our top picks, with surprising omissions such as the legendary Italian cycling shoe makers Sidi... there's always next year, if any missing brands/their PR companies want to send their wares to us for review!
That's quite enough waffling. Without further ado...
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The best cycling shoe is a shoe that fits. The best-in-category shoe isn't going to improve your riding if it hurts your feet. And regarding Bont: the soles aren't modable, the uppers are. For best results, mold to fit while using your favorite aftermarket insoles.
Just bought a pair of Bont riot buckle from Merlin cycles. £50. Nice shoe and an outstanding price!
Why is there not a three bolt commuting shoe available?
I always use three bolt 'road' shoes whilst commuting and my cleats and toe box get trashed with all the unclipping at lights and walking from bike storage to the building.
Shoes with chunky grips on the sole would be a good alternative but seem to only ever come in two bolt.
Another gripe, most better shoes can have their heel pads replaced but none seem to offer this for the toe pad. For me, the toe wears much faster than the heel.
Because of the size of SPD-SL and other three-bolt cleats makes it impractical, I assume; they're already not great for walking in due to the degree to which the cleat tips the foot backwards, imagine how much worse that would be if there were rubber bumpers under the ball of the foot thick enough to protect the cleat. Also, three-bolt cleats are much wider than SPDs so one imagines any rubber grips around the edge of the sole would obstruct the twist necessary for release.
Don't come at me with your thorough and reasoned logic when I'm griping!
I always commute with mtb shoes for the same reason. And why, exactly, are road cleats not available made out of more resistant material? Mine always wear out far too fast: fragile, breakable, shortlived. Though I suppose if they made them more durable they'd be in 3D printed titanium for several hundred pounds a cleat!!!
I've abandoned 3 bolt shoes. Unless you are competing, the disadvantages massively outweigh any advantages.
Now that there are plentiful designs of shoes from mud-plugging, lightweight gravel all of which you don't risk your body while popping into a cafe for a cuppa, there is little sense using unwalkable cleats.
I've used SPD-SL, Speedplay and boring old SPD and SPDs keep my feet on the pedals, allow me to pedal without being clipped in, don't rip my leg apart on the chainring or risk a fall if I miss, need virtually no maintenance, last for years.
Me too. SPD for me, every time.
By a spooky coincidence, yesterday I was rummaging around on top of the wardrobe and discovered a pair of 3-bolt shoes that I abandoned about ten years ago and had since forgotten.
I didn't explore any further; you never know what's hidden behind the inflatable doll.
I'm guessing the doll is stored inflated, ready for use as you surely can't hide much behind a deflated one.
I have 3-bolt SPD-SL on my race bike after trying a friend's setup. Great in TTs, not so good anywhere else.
Sometimes she's inflated, sometimes not. You know how moody those dolls can be.
It's proving a very long and painful process transitioning from what I perceive to be cool, correct, and fast to what is necessary and practical in the commuting environment!
I hear you. I hear you.
Likewise, why aren't there two-bolt road shoes available? (for those of us who like SPDs). Shimano used to sell excellent road shoes (the R088) which accepted two or three bolt cleats but, alas, not any more.
There are some more road-oriented 2 bolt options out there, but not many. I picked up a pair of Giro Republics (I think) to try as a more roadie style after only ever using MTB shoes, though I haven't actually got round to wearing them. Think Specialized do some entry-ish level 2 bolt road shoes too.
There are still some shoes with 2 and 3 bolt holes but I don't like the idea of using them with spds without any tread to keep them off the floor. Decathlon do a couple of road touring spd shoes (they've started calling them 'gravel' now it's fashionable). I've had some of these for a few years TRIBAN Road and Gravel Cycling Leather Lace-Up SPD Shoes GRVL 520 - Black
£69.99
https://www.decathlon.co.uk/p/_/R-p-192017
Great for cooler weather.
I have a pair of those and love 'em, when they go the Shimano XC range looks like a good replacement, pretty much road shoes but with two bolts and protective bumpers. Look pretty sharp to me!
Thanks - those Shimano XC do look good (and they come in a wide fitting, which is my other requirement)
Don't trust Shimano's definition of a wide fit especially if you're buying online - actually you should probably never buy shoes online and to be honest you should only shoes on in the afternoon when your feet are swollen!
Absolutely. I don't have wide feet, but Shimano wide, one size up (43, I wear 42s normally) are still a smidge cosy.
Having discovered a bit about shoe making, a lot of it is down to how shoe makers design the "lasts" and it seems every brand uses their own variation - which in turn vary by size.
Internationally, feet sizes are not consistent by nation, so it is not surprising that different manufacturers have such variations.
I always thought the main reason for using a two-bolt system was to pair it with a shoe you could walk in.
Probably because most people wouldn't buy a second pair. I had a pair once smooth road shoes with 2 bols cleats, every time I missed the pedal with the cleat I would lacerate my shins. Never a problem with proper 2 bols shoes with rubber grips around the cleat.
Suplest.
Looking at those prices...do they incorporate coke or crystal meth in the soles to supposedly make the user fly higher?
It seems the cycling shoe industry has taken the phrase 'dancing on the pedals' to new levels looking at some of these disco boots!
Struggling to see how the market has managed to normalise the pricing of road shoes at these levels. Top-notch, literally record-breaking running shoes are £275, and they definitely make a measurable difference to performance even for very non-elite types like me.
How people have managed to be convinced that £300+ is a rational amount to spend on a bit of kit which is not the most important equipment by any means is beyond me. I know every cyclist is a retired dentist on a £12k S-Works, but even so.
To be fair, most running shoes recommend you replace them every 300-500 miles. The sort of running buying high-end running shoes is probably running at least 20 miles per week. That means replacing shoes roughly every 4-6 months. I would hope any of the cycling shoes on this page would last much longer than that.
True - despite going through mountains of running shoes, I'd not considered that! (But my expensive running shoes only come out for actual races, so they're still just about surviving at over three years old).
For £300 you could buy several pairs of seemingly high specification cycling shoes from either Ali express or Amazon in a variety of colours to coordinate with your choice of kit. They're no doubt made in adjacent far-east factories. I'd be astonished if the price differential justifies the R&D, quality control or guarantee. A comparison would make for an interesting road.cc feature.
No Sidi...shocking
As mentioned in the intro, none made the grade from our reviews back catalogue! Was a little surprised myself tbh.
I bought my first pair of Sidis around 1980. At the time, spending $80 for a pair of cycling shoes seemed outrageous, but they came with bolted cleats and they were the first shoe in my experience to be made on a last that resembled a real foot.