Best Cleated Bicycling Sandal Yet

Follow on from an earlier post: Another Cycling Sandal – Nashbar Ragster

Update 4/24/08 -It ha s been unseasonably warm this week and I have been wearing the Ragsters  without socks. Not so good without socks, as expected the foot bed is pretty rough on bare feet. It is too bad that they couldn’t have made these sandals just a little better, but that seems to be typical of Nashbar clothing. These are still the only cleated sandal I can wear but I wouldn’t recommend riding with out socks.

I wasn’t expecting much from the Bike Nashbar Ragster Bicycling Sandal but I have been very pleasantly surprised. They don’t look as impressive as the Shamino or Lake Sandals but they work on my feet. This is the first cleated sandal that I can wear comfortably and they are also a lot less expensive than the others I have tried.

The reason these sandals work for me is simple, they have an adjustment strap at the back of the foot that adjusts where the foot falls onto the foot bed. These is a key adjustment for me or anyone else that has problems with the toe grip on the foot bed hitting the nerve at the base of my toes. They also have an open toe area so my Hobbit toes can self actualize without being crushed.

These sandal are as good as any cycling sandal I have tried for walking, not great but more than acceptable. On the bike they really grip the pedals, almost too well.

The bad news is that they don’t seem to be available right now. I bought them on sale and am just getting around to trying them out. But Nashbaar may bring them back as summer gets a little closer.

These aren’t fancy but they work. This is the first time I have been able to say that about a bicycling sandal that accepts cleats. However, the quality just isn’t there. I can only call these sandals acceptable barely.

I will be trying the Keen Commuter Sandal from REI that is getting raves later in the Spring.

Note: I have only used these sandals without cleats but I expect good performance with cleats. However, I don’t plan to be using cleats this year.