Good touring shoes are hard to find...Sidi offered black leather rubber soled touring shoes several years ago but only in a wide width...a company in England also offered cutom shoes but were very expensive.
Ahh, for the return of the "Beta Biker"!!! Now, there was a shoe that worked very well for both touring and commuting which I did for 20 consecutive years...On tour in northern Maine many years ago, a guy came up to me and said, "nice shoes"...Here he was the designer of the shoe when he worked at the Beta Co. in Baltimore, Md. In the early 80's I bought the last four pair from the Proteus shop in College Park, Md. Still have two pair left. One gray winter weight and one black/yellow summer weight...Ugly as sin, though!!
Dick Wright Berwyn, Pa.
-----Original Message----- From: Ken Sanford <kanford@verizon.net> To: passionateyouththing@yahoo.com; classicrendezvous@bikelist.org Sent: Wed, 11 Feb 2009 10:24 am Subject: Re: [CR] Touring Shoes and Clipless
Kirke
many riders use clipless on older bikes for convenience. Not sure clipless pedals do all that much for technique. The best simple way to improve technique, IMHO, is to ride a fixed gear bike.
Going out on my fixed gear in a few minutes!
Ken Sanford in a rather warm (mix-60's F.) Kensington, MD
> Hey list! (sorry if this went through twice, I dont know if the email
> cleared the first time!)
>
> I was wondering if anyone knows of a company that still makes
non-clipless
> cycling-specific shoes in the style of old Avocet touring shoes?
Things
> like this show up on ebay occasionally, but they are rarely in my
size and
> I dont really want to buy used shoes.
> If you have any tips please share!
>
> Also, I currently have clips and straps on all my bikes and (believe
it or
> not) have never used a clipless system! Now, everyone likes to tell
me
> that going clipless is the best way to improve your pedaling. I was
> wondering if anyone has decided to use clipless pedals on their
otherwise
> "period correct," on-topic bikes for the sake of improving technique
and
> efficiency?
>
> Kirke Campbell
> Houston, Tx USA