Eric F 

Is there anywhere you can leave a pair of shoes/slippers/sandals at the bottom of the stairs while you are riding? When you return, take off the bike shoes and put on the others.

t2p

I can relate

we sometimes climb wood stairs when transferring to one bike path from another

( and they are often wet / slippery )

on some shoes I’ve used a utility knife or ground / modified hacksaw blade to cut grooves in the shoe tread to improve traction ... similar to the the way dirt track racers cut / groove dirt track tires

CrimsonEclipse

Exactly!

staehpj1

FWIW, 5200 also comes in a smaller tubes (1 ounce or 3 ounces I think). They also make 4200 which is similar but used for things on a boat that you might want to eventually take apart again. It is supposed to be about half the strength. I wouldn't have thought either would be the thing for the sole of a shoe and wouldn't be applying it to the sole of a pair of $300 Sidi Dominators unless I had seen it work on some other shoes before. Have you actually put this stuff on a shoe and walked with it much?

Having used 5200 on boats and having walked with my Dominators on all kinds of surfaces I wouldn't have guessed the boat stuff would be an improvement and would worry it might be something I'd regret doing.

staehpj1

Oh, one other thing, not sure how much they'd help if at all, but there are a wide variety of spikes made that screw into the holes at the toe of the shoe. If you aren't worried about tearing up the stairs the bontrager Wolftooth looks interesting. There is a plethora of other choices. A google search will turn up a bunch of them. Most, but not all are metal a few look like rubber or plastic.

79pmooney

Good to know about the small tubes. Yes, my SPD MTB tight shoe has a 1/4" shim under the cleat and 1/4" cobbler sole glued to the deep lugged tread with 5200 that also fills the tread gaps. That bike is my city bike as well as some off-road and all the riding I do on that bike in 40F+ weather is on those shoes and they get walked a lot. It's now been several years and that built up sole is just part of the shoe. Both 5200 and sole are black and you now don't even see or feel which is which. Now, on a road shoe - do careful work. Mask off with tape all you do not want discolored and clean up well with epoxy and lacquer thinner or other nasty solvent. (I'd scuff with sandpaper and wipe with the same before 5200ing after taping to get a good bond and no sandpaper marks.)

Concern about use with expensive shoes? Justified. The stuff is permanent. Done right, it works really well. (It can be cut or ground down after curing so there is that. Not work you'd ever want to pay an employee for! No, fire him and get someone who will do the wet clean-up right.)

staehpj1

Not sure I completely follow. Are you actually walking on the 5200 or the "cobbler's sole"? One of my concerns with 5200 was with how good of traction it would provide. Not saying it would be bad. I just don't know. I remember it as being kind of hard, but I was using it as an adesive/caulk..

rumrunn6

wow, impressive wooden steps! wondering how often they do maintenance & when they were last replaced

Lombard

There are indeed spikes that are made for mountain bike shoes. I would recommend that.

Question is do you own or rent your place? If you own, there is a silica you can put in paint that will make a grippy surface to walk on. I used it on the wood stairs in my bulkhead.

CrimsonEclipse

Maybe it's a forum thing. 75% of all answers never address the question.
I'm not sure why, I'm probably not the first person to become annoyed with it.

I will try to remain calm and polite.

(deep breath)
((you can do this.... you are calm... like still morning water))
(((Inner peace)))

THE STAIRS ARE IN THE PARK!!!
I DO NOT OWN THE FREAKING STAIRS!!!
I CANNOT LEGALLY MODIFY THE STAIRS!!!!
THE THREAD IS ABOUT SHOES!!!!!!!!!!!!
NOT STAIRS!!!!!
NOT PEDALS!!!!
SHOES!!!!!
THE MODIFICATION OF SHOES!!!!!!
SHOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOES!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Damn... I'll try again tomorrow....

urbanknight

It certainly seems to be a hot button item right now, but why does it annoy people so much when others ask for more info and try to find out-of-the-box solutions? On more than one occasion I have gotten a response I wasn't looking for and said, "Thanks, I hadn't thought of that". Plenty of other times the comments did nothing for me, but I appreciated the effort and at least it kept the thread on the first page. If you don't want people asking for clarification, be more specific in the first place.

Lombard

What? I read every one of your posts and nowhere do you state where these stairs are. I assumed (apparently a dangerous thing) that these stairs were at home. Not to mention that in my last post, I did recommend spikes for your shoes. Pay attention. I have copied and pasted below every one of your posts in this thread. Not one states where the stairs are:

seypat

I'll mention these again. you can carry them somewhere on you person or bike.

https://www.amazon.com/Cleatskins-Bi...eation&sr=1-19

seypat

Here's another option.

https://www.safetycompany.com/foot-p...yABEgK38_D_BwE

seypat

Surely you can find something here that will work:

https://www.amazon.com/s?k=non+slip+...ref=nb_sb_noss

Sy Reene

I'd probably just give something like this a shot. Don't know how long it lasts, but 2" x 10 feet of this stuff would last a while presuming you'd cut into smaller strips.

Cat Tongue Grip Tape

staehpj1

FWIW, there are some carbon shoes that have bolt on replacemet treads. I can't say how grippy they are, but the could be glued on if you ground down the existing lugs. I am condidering that for an old pair of sidis that have the lugs worn almost completely off. They were used for touring and have been across the US twice and on many tours and other rides with tons of short hikes along the way. Also lots of local riding. I an now walking only on the cleats on those shoes. Some of the replacement pads are a bit pricey for my old worn out shoes; I don't want to spend too much for fear the shoes will fail as soon as I do, but I see these for a fairly modest price:
https://www.nashbar.com/giro-walking...RoCVYwQAvD_BwE

I am also considering making some pads by cutting up some reitred hiking or trail running shoes.

I figure in the case of my old worn shoes I don't have much to lose. If I were you I'd just walk carefully and maybe add toe spikes.

Has anyone here done anything like that or have any experience with those treads?

I probably shpold also consider seeing what a local shoe repair guy can do. I have had them help fix other stuff that I couldn't manage myself.

By the way I rode in the rain this morning in my newish sidi Dominators and crossed railfoad tracks, went up some wooden stairs, and walked over a wooden foot bridge and found the traction excellent as I recalled it to be.

staehpj1

Looking at the various sidi models and thinking about my usage patterns, something else about your question occurred to me.

It just might be that you accidentally chose the worst sidi model for the modification you are thinking of. The lower end models have a solid tread bump more suitable to gluing a layer of grippier stuff to. They could possibly already be grippier in the conditions you use them to start with, but I have't found that to be the case myself (as I have said the lugs work well for me). The higher end carbon models have replaceble tread pieces so you can modify the replaceable pieces if necessary and not modify the shoe itself. A new full set of tread pieces for both shoes is something like $45. Also it is probably easier to modify the pieces off of the shoe.

I actually kind of like the lower end model other than I like the lug sole. Since you don't like the lug sole the cheaper line might make sense unless you hate that the closure is all velcro. I have found the velcro has been fine has held up well over a huge amount of wear and tear. I do like the buckel on my Dominators, but all velcro wouldn't be a deal breaker for me.

BTW, I am all for splurging on shoes, but I really haven't thought there was enough added valued for me to go to the Drako. Now at age 71, I am not sure if I will need to replace my essentially new Dominators given that there is still another pair of sidi MTB shoes and a pair of 3 bolt road sidis in the rotation. I always dreamed of having a pair of bike shoes hand made for me by a little Itallion gentleman, but my sidis are as close as I will get.

The fit should be the same across the sidi line. My Dominators and my lower end sidis (I forget the model name, sidi has changed the names in this range several times) fit the same and I assume the Drako's would as well.

If you bought the shoes in the last 12 months they just might still be returnable depending on where you bought them. REI and maybe a few others would take them back if purchased in the last 12 months.

pdlamb

Forgive the late go-back, please. Do you need to use a primer on the rubber or the shoe sole to make the adhesive stick?

terrymorse 

I don’t use a primer on the rubber, but I do rough up the surface a bit with sandpaper.

majmt 

Before doing any irreversible mods to what look like expensive shoes, consider taking a razor or sharp knife to the orange polyurethane lugs and siping them.

CrimsonEclipse

Solution:




Runners spikes 1/4" (the 1/2" were a bit long but looked awesome!)
100 for $7

Black wallnut 

Although I do like your final solution of running spikes that can limit where you might want to stop while riding. Most retail stores would rightfully frown on such shoe enhancements. I belive siping the pads with a razor blade would add considerably to the grip your shoes have. Replacement pads are pretty reasonable.

terrymorse 

I sincerely doubt that any mods to those hard and slippery plastic lugs would do anything to improve traction on a hard surface.

Black wallnut 

Fair enough Terry. Do you happen to own the shoes or the same brand/ model the OP has or are you just speculating? I don't have his model but I do have Sidi mega road shoes and the wear pads that are replaceable are of a rubber composition that would benefit from siping. There is a principal in gunsmithing that seems reasonable here to always file on the cheaper part. Majmt's solution is surely less destructive than yours. What's the harm in trying rather than just outright rejecting the idea because you have a sincere doubt?