# MTB Shoes vs. Road Shoes - What's the difference?



## Steady Grind (Mar 7, 2009)

So, I'm new to road biking....basically getting into it for more saddle time as a training aid for my mountain biking.

I bought a great road bike at a screaming deal (Roubaix Expert), and put crank brothers Quattro pedals on the bike. I run crank brothers Candy pedals on my mountain bike. My hope was to be able to use only one pair of shoes for both bikes.

I really don't care if it looks dumb to use mountain shoes on a road bike, so my question is one of functionality. What is the functional difference between a mountain shoe and a road shoe??

My current mountain shoes are worn out so I plan on buying a new pair of Sidi Dominator 5's in the next few days. Will I run into any problems using them on both bikes??

Again, as I said, I don't care if it will "look dumb", I'm only interested in the functionality.


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Mtn shoes are made to be walkable (the cleat is recessed below the tread. Road shoes aren't. Mtn shoes only accept 2-hole cleat patterns, road shoes accept 2 and 3 hole cleats.

Mtn shoes tend to be warmer and heavier too.


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## Steady Grind (Mar 7, 2009)

Room 1201 said:


> Mtn shoes are made to be walkable (the cleat is recessed below the tread. Road shoes aren't. Mtn shoes only accept 2-hole cleat patterns, road shoes accept 2 and 3 hole cleats.
> 
> Mtn shoes tend to be warmer and heavier too.


Thanks for the info....
But is there any reason that mountains shoes won't work with road pedals?


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## Marc (Jan 23, 2005)

Steady Grind said:


> Thanks for the info....
> But is there any reason that mountains shoes won't work with road pedals?



Cleat pattern. Most mtn cleats and shoes are only drilled for 2 hole. Most road cleats/shoes are only drilled for 3 hole (through road shoes are also normally drilled for 2 hole as well). That is why.


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## Steady Grind (Mar 7, 2009)

Room 1201 said:


> Cleat pattern. Most mtn cleats and shoes are only drilled for 2 hole. Most road cleats/shoes are only drilled for 3 hole (through road shoes are also normally drilled for 2 hole as well). That is why.


Okay...I don't think that'll be an issue with the crank brother's set-up....I guess I was mostly worried about the treads on the mountain shoe getting in the way somehow.
Thanks!


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## pacificaslim (Sep 10, 2008)

Many people use "mtb" pedals and shoes on road bikes. The mtb shoes usually aren't as stiff or light as road specific ones, but the convenience or being able to walk in them and use the same pedal/shoe on all one's types of bikes is nice.


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

Since you are already using a pedal with a bit of a platform to it (the Candy), using the Quattro (also a platform) should be totally fine. Worst case scenario, just get yourself another pair of Candy for the road bike. I ride Eggbeaters and Sidi Dom 5s or Dragons on all my bikes (I don't own a mtn bike). They work just fine. Maybe slightly more flex in the sole and potentially a smaller contact patch between sole and pedal, which could cause hot spots, but I've had no issues. The security of having walkability to me is worth any potential drawbacks. By the way, there are a ton of threads on this topic in the forum. Do a bit of searching and you'll gain ALOT of opinions and input.


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## Steady Grind (Mar 7, 2009)

krisdrum said:


> By the way, there are a ton of threads on this topic in the forum. Do a bit of searching and you'll gain ALOT of opinions and input.


My laziness was hoping to avoid doing this, but I suppose I'll do a bit of searching. Thanks for the input!


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## krisdrum (Oct 29, 2007)

Steady Grind said:


> My laziness was hoping to avoid doing this, but I suppose I'll do a bit of searching. Thanks for the input!


It will take you 30 seconds to find a ton of other related threads. I did 36 miles today with some dedicated roadies and my shoes and pedals were definitely not what was slowing me down.


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## Camilo (Jun 23, 2007)

The main point here is that your Quattro pedals can be used with either MTB or road shoes. Also, I believe your Sidi Dominator shoes are identical with the Sidi Genius road shoes so functionality in terms of the fit and sole stiffness shouldn't be any better w/ the road shoes than your MTB shoes. The difference is the treads which gives you the convenience of the walkable cleat, but with a significant weight penalty. May or may not be important to you. Look on weightweenies.starbike.com for some data on weight.


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## 2ndGen (Oct 10, 2008)

I got a lot of great info on my thread... http://forums.roadbikereview.com/showthread.php?t=162949


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## sdjeff (Sep 4, 2008)

*Works fine for me*

Like you, I ride Candy's on my mountain bike and Quattro SL on my road bike, same shoes and cleats. I just set aside the 3-hole cleats that came with the Quattros. 

I did have to trim a little bit of tread from the shoes to make them work with the Quattro pedals - the inboard bearing housing is bigger on the Quattros and I had a bit of interference. Doesn't affect the shoes at all.


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