roth rothar

I have bike shoes with SPD shoes and they are great. If my bike has a major failure, is it comfortable to walk for long distance in the SPD shoes? Lets say walking 10 miles for example.

Toadmeister

not a big deal and probably the least of your problems.

aggiegrads

It may be the last time that you wear the shoes, as a ten mile walk on pavement will probably wear out the lugs, and possibly the cleats. If you walk miles on dirt, it probably won’t hurt anything but your ankles.

AnthonyG

I wouldn't say that I would want to walk 10 miles in SPD shoes, as the soles are far stiffer than regular shoes and you will scrape the recessed cleat a little, but it will be fine.
I wouldn't go out of my way to do it though and after 10 miles on rough ground you would likely need a cleat replacement.

indyfabz

Depends on the shoe. I spent nearly four months straight out on tour with SPD-cleated shoes. They were not the most comfortable shoes to walk in for any distance.

u235

Depends on the shoe. I wear Nashbar SPD sandals and compared to other SPD shoes I've had these stand the best chance of a making it ten miles with reasonable comfort. Other than some clicking on hard surfaces they are not bad. 10 miles, I'd consider taking off the cleat which may help some shoes more than others but you'll still be wearing a shoe that may not be comfortable for hiking 10 miles. Depending on where you live... Having bug spray may be more important than the shoes.

I ride a lot of non road and when I know I'll be more than 5 or so miles from an actual road where someone somehow could meet me by a car, I carry my "plan B" compliment of stuff.

leob1

10 miles? Yes it will be uncomfortable, yes your feet will hurt after. The farthest I've gone is three miles +/-. That sucked. They are better on soft surfaces than hard, so grass will feel better than the sidewalk. But the good news is walking much less than that distance in road shoes would be a lot worse.

c_m_shooter

I walked 12 miles in SPD shoes one time after breaking a mountain bike. For awhile after that I kept a pair of sandals in my camelback out of fear of doing it again. I switched to flat pedals for the last few years and haven't missed SPDs at all.

mr_bill

First, you will NOT wear out the soles of most SPD shoes in only 10 miles of walking.

But here's the question. How comfortable DO YOU feel walking 10 miles no matter the shoes?

SPD shoes come in a wide range of style, but assuming you have properly fitted shoes, the most important consideration for walking longer distances is how stiff the soles are.

Some spd shoes have soles that are nearly as stiff as the stiffest cycling race shoes. But some spd "trekking" shoes are more like walking shoes.

For walking I have Adidas Sambas boots which have pretty stiff soles (which also happen to be pretty good for flat pedals). For biking my SPD shoes are Pear Izumi X-Road Fuel which are on the low end of the sole stiffness and are good on the bike and good on foot. Other than goose bumps on cobbles because of the cleats, there's not that much of a difference between them.

When I go out on foot I wear the Adidas boots. When I go out on the bike I wear the Pearl Izumi shoes. But when I go out on the bike I *ALSO* walk. A lot. I don't bring my "walking" shoes along.

So, what's the answer for you? It depends.

-mr. bill

Riveting

Whole lot better than walking 10 miles in SPD-SL

indyfabz

Yep. The SPD shoes I tour and commute with are designed to be more comfortable when walking. If I were to remove the cleats (eliminating and noise from the cleat on concrete) you probably would not guess they are cycling shoes as they are styled more like a sneaker with laces. Big, red clown shoe sneakers.



"At home on the bike, at the gym or around town, the Men's X-Road Fuel v5 delivers pedaling performance and easy off-the-bike walk-ability."

mr_bill

They made me an offer too good to refuse.

Plus they match my clown frame.

They made me an offer too good to refuse.

-mr. bill

mr_bill

BTW, I'll see your clown shoes and raise you clown shoes:



-mr. bill

BkSaGo

Depends on the shoes. I have touring shoes with recessed cleats that aren't too bad to walk in - although I've never tried walking miles in them.
My road shoes have protruding cleats that I've only walked 10s of yards in at a time. The would NOT be good for walking miles in.
I always carry an Allen wrench in my tool kit so I can remove the cleats if I ever need to walk any significant distance in them - so far I haven't had to,

BoraxKid

It depends on the shoes. Some SPD shoes have cleats that are recessed pretty far into the tread & soles of the shoe. In those cases, 10 miles could be an easy walk. Other SPD shoes have the cleats more exposed (for easier clip-ins, I guess?), and in those cases, you'll probably destroy the cleats and create some blisters on your feet in just a few miles.

SPD-SL shoes would be especially terrible to walk in, as nearly all of those have cleats that are completely exposed on the bottom with very little to no outer soles for walking. They are really designed with the premise that you will have a support vehicle behind you and will never need to walk in them. If you needed to walk 10 miles while wearing SPD-SL shoes, you are probably better off just taking the shoes off.

Speedway2

I don't walk 10 miles in a week with comfortable shoes/runners. Hate it almost as much as running. I'm Old and Lazy (on my feet) but Young and Inspired on my bike(s).
I use SPDs on a pair of Shimano Touring shoes (TR82). They don't look too Roadie or lugged like MTB shoes. The cleats barely click when I have to walk. A good compromise IMO......

mr_bill

I walked six miles today to pick up fresh chive gnocchi. (I can walk and telecon, but I can't ride and telecon.)

-mr. bill

fietsbob

Offhand, I'd say SPD Shoes and Magped pedals .. You are not going to damage the cleat , because its just a piece of steel for the magnet in the pedal
not an engineering piece that if worn wont engage the pedal mech adequately..

Are you planning on dragging your broken bike 10 miles?

mr_bill

I'll repeat, for most SPD shoes, NOTHING will happen to the cleat or sole on a ten mile walk. Or a hundred mile walk for that matter. Maybe at 500 miles and 500 more.


-mr. bill

spelger

where were you that you needed to walk 12 miles? that is really far. my record is about 3, i was way out in the BLM and flatted. then flatted again, then once more and was out of tube repair stuff. since then i am more prepared. spd's too. walkable but would not want to walk a mile in them...too late.

AnthonyG

Most SPD shoes that I have owned have a very shallow recessed cleat. Sure you can walk in them yet they do "click" on hard pavement surfaces. If it was just concrete and bitumen then you would likely just scratch them up a little. On rocky off road terrain, 10 miles of walking would likely damage them so much that they wouldn't engage/disengage properly from the pedals anymore.

garygorgor

I like Quoc Urbanite... Classy

mr_bill

OK, this is getting beyond silly. The OP is from Massachusetts, and the only way you'd walk a broken bike on 10 miles of rocky trail is if you are lost and going around in circles.

-mr. bill

pdlamb

IME, walking 3-4 miles on typical city streets and sidewalks in stiff soled MTB/SPD shoes is pretty miserable. My legs felt like I'd cycled 70-100 miles both times I did that. A mile walking down a trail to a waterfall or scenic overlook and bike is manageable. For longer than that, you might want to carry some sandals or light sneakers in a backpack or panniers.

Repeating misinformation like this doesn't make it true. I wore out the lugs on a pair of very nice Sidi MTB shoes in western Virginia and eastern Kentucky walking up hills. I don't know exactly how many miles I walked, but I'd estimate the total walking distance was between 10 and 100 miles. Probably closer to 10 than to 100.