Subject: RE: Road shoes vs mountain bike shoes The fundamental reasons for road / tri / smooth soled shoes are two-fold.
1. ) The soles are far stiffer meaning your power transfer is better. MTB shoes have a somewhat flexible sole as in MTB, there are times you need to hike-a-bike and a super stiff sole would cause you to fall very easily on slippery wet rocks or muddy trails. Road shoes have very stiff soles as you shouldn't need to walk much if at all in them.
2. ) Cleats are trangluar and larger so that the power transfer is greater. You spread the power out over a larger surface area thereby avoiding hotspots. In MTB cleats, that area is super small so you're pushing and pulling on about 2 square centimeters. Road cleats are about 20 square centimeters so the load is distributed over 10 times a larger area. Meaning you're feet aren't pushing and pulling on 1 tiny spot.
I get the jog through transition and how that's precariouos. But overall, that's SUCH a small portion of your annual riding, I wouldn't trade the increased performance for that 8 seconds of racing time. |