Why Wear Cycling Shoes? | Top 4 Benefits


What do you wear on your feet when you’re going cycling? Do you wear regular sneakers or cycling shoes?

You might ask, why wear cycling shoes when you’re good to go in your favorite kicks? You should know that not only are cycling shoes firm, but they are also designed to be comfortable and fashionable to a good extent.

Benefits of Cycling Shoes

If you’re still not convinced or interested in getting yourself a pair, here are some benefits of wearing cycling shoes when cycling.

1. Muscle-Building Action

Cycling shoes help to focus your muscle-building action on the right muscles. When wearing regular sneakers, the work put in during cycling gets distributed to places where it’s not needed.

Cycling shoes help to keep your feet locked in the right position and focus the muscle-building power from your workout to the right places. That way your effort doesn’t go to waste.

2. More Power

Regular sneakers have a cushioning effect on the power being transmitted to the cycle’s pedals from your leg muscles.

Whereas, biking shoes are designed with a firm sole that ensures that all power generated in the leg muscles is directly transmitted to the cycle’s pedals for maximum effect. This feature definitely makes pedaling easier and you’ll be able to easily increase your cycling speed

3. Increased Comfort

Clipping, which is associated with biking shoes, ensures that you or any other biker with a BMX bicycle can have a comfortable time while riding. It doesn’t matter if your feet are large or you have really small feet, as long as your shoes are clipped in, you’re good to go.

4. Better Alignment

Another great design in the cycling shoes is their ability to lock into position. This allows the biker to feel free and unbothered when riding their old man bicycle because his/her shoes won’t slip around and he/she gets to be properly aligned. Normal sneakers don’t work this way and hence require conscious effort to stay aligned when riding.

Cycling Shoes vs. Other Types of Shoes

One major difference that distinguishes cycling shoes from regular sneakers or other sports shoes is how firm the soles are. The soles are designed to efficiently optimize the energy you put into your cycling.

Athletic shoes are flexible to allow the foot to move, but cycling shoes are the opposite. They are made to keep your feet firm, hence no power is lost through your feet and all the power from your legs goes right to your pedal strokes.

This means that you can only wear cycling shoes for cycling and not for any other purpose.

How Do Cycling Shoes Work?

Cycling shoes are made in such a way that you transfer generated energy directly into your bike’s pedals which makes cycling quite easy for you. Cycling shoes also come with clips that allow you to utilize upward and downward strokes associated with the clips once you’ve clipped them to the fixie bike pedals. Clipless pedals help you utilize more powerful down and up strokes.

Your front thighs are activated by downward strokes while your hamstrings and gluteus maximus are activated by upward strokes. A combination of the two gives you more pedaling power and makes pedaling easier and more efficient. If you perform the pushing and pulling strokes correctly, you can get more power into different muscles. This will allow you to move faster and burn more calories while biking, and at the same time use less energy.

Cleats can also be used to make better contact with the pedals and increase pedaling efficiency. Clipless pedals give you the opportunity to attach your cycling shoes and cleats safely to your bike’s pedals.

There’s a wide range of cycling shoes for you to choose from when looking for a pair to buy. Some of the most common types we have are road shoes, mountain bike shoes, touring bike shoes, and spinning shoes. For those that want cycling cleats, it’s recommended that you understand the different types of cleats cycling available. The cleats you purchase have to work well with your bike shoes.

Conclusion

I would recommend that everyone interested in cycling should get a pair of cycling shoes for themselves. They are extremely comfortable and also quite attractive.

If you’re still wondering why you should wear cycling shoes, the features of the shoes discussed in this writing are enough to answer that question and also convince you to be on the cycling shoe side.

The firm soles that ensure proper power transmission into the pedals, the lock-in feature that allows you to maintain the right alignment position without stressing, the comfort that’s associated with the shoes, and so on.

All these are strong selling points that should get you running down to the store to get yourself a pair. As you purchase the shoes remember to watch out for which cleats fit which cycling shoes best.

Have a wonderful time cycling!

Shailen Vandeyar

A proud Indian origin Kiwi who loves to plant trees and play with my pet bunny when not out doing about every kind of biking and experiencing the occasional tumble. Ready to share the ride with you.

Recent Posts