Shoes that fit toe clips are hard to obtain in the states. I've been haunting eBay and flea markets and now have three pairs of vintage shoes that I'm using, Detto, Patrick and Avocet. The Dettos seem to work the best, but are the worst looking.
In modern shoes, the Diadora Voyager is decent. It does have a thicker sole than traditional touring shoes to accomodate the SPD mounting plate, but it lacks the annoying sole lugs and knobs of most mountain style shoes. It works better with the nylon "mountain" size toe clips. WIth steel clips, you need thin socks to prevent the clip from pressing on the top of the shoe, and even then you may have to bend the toe clip to give good clearance. The shoe comes with laces and two velco straps. The front strap snags toe clips automatically when trying to insert your foot. A few minutes work with a knife removes the front strap, and then the shoe slides into the clip pretty well.
There are several other shoes out there with SPD style soles that are fairly flat bottomed and should function adequately with clips. Maybe this is a new market trend for spinning classes or some such?
Tom Adams, Shrewsbury NJ
>From: "Douglas Morrell" <dmorrell@nomise.com>
>To: <classicrendezvous@bikelist.org>
>Subject: [CR]Shoes for a classic ride
>Date: Mon, 19 Jul 2004 11:09:32 -0500
>
>OK, it may seem like a mundane question. My Avocet touring shoes are
>almost as old as my bike. I think this will be the last season for them.
>I've been to some of the better shops locally and they all quickly
>dismiss the idea of riding with toe clips and straps and instead try to
>push me into clip-less. I'm really just looking for a decent touring
>shoe that fits nicely within my Campy pedals and Brooks clips (I don't
>use cleats). New shoes seem to have wide and thick rubber soles that
>either rub the crank arm or get hung up on the quill. My feet are
>D-width.
>
>
>
>Surely you're not all riding with 30 year old shoes. So have you all
>gone OT with SPD pedals? Or is there a shoe out there that works with
>the good stuff?
>
>
>
>Doug Morrell
>
>St. Louis MO
>
>
>
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