Originally Posted by
Radish_legs
is there really a performance advantage to carbon-soled shoes? I've only used nylon soles.
I drank the Koolaid and got a pair of Fiziks on sale two years back. My first pair of road shoes was taking a bath at $125 on some crappy Giant branded nylon soled shoes.
They were OK. They were velcro and some ratchet strap thing. The Fiziks carbon and boa.
The Fiziks literally were like 1/3 to 1/2 pound total weight lighter than the bargain nylon soled Giant's the LBS fleeced me on.
Stiffness? I'm not convinced either. But the weight difference I can tell. Maybe more expensive nylon soled shoes are lighter?
Carbon is certainly lighter than nylon. Both in reality and to the wallet.
I do enough gravel I've got some Giro VR90's in the mail right now. Carbon. I've been riding that old road Giant shoe I was talking crap about. I drilled a couple holes for an SPD cleat in them. The VR90's will be lightyears of improvement there.