Best shoes for casual riding: Leather and cheap.

As I’ve mentioned, I don’t clip in anymore. My short trips and urban riding make it much easier to just wear everyday shoes and platform pedals. That usually means dress shoes for commuting to my subway stop. Or nicer, dress casual shoes for dress-down days.

When I do errand running or long weekend rides, I tend to wear tennis shoes. These shoes most always feature leather uppers. It’s amazing what kind of hits and dings your feet take when biking. When stopped, I tend to rotate my pedals to a 1 to 3 o’clock position. This enables me to pedal off quickly when I have to go. I bring up my pedals with the top of my shoes to get to this position. Jagged or sharp platform pedals can scuff your shoes as you do this. Using shoes make of synthetic materials i.e. running shoes means that they will scuff quickly and could tear. Try to go for leather uppers instead. I prefer them to be white in color. Darker colors tend to heat up quicker in the sun.

I’ve found that leather tennis shoes are really great in cutting out the scuffs and dings. And, there are so many manufacturers of these types of tennis shoes that it’s easy to find them relatively cheap. I think I bought the two shoes in the pix at Marshalls or Ross discount apparel stores. I just picked up the Fila’s at the top for $19.99 (!). Read the label on the inside of the tongue to make sure you get leather uppers. Manufacturers are legally required to put the content of their shoes on the tongue. There are many shoes that look like leather, but in reality are synthetic.