Best cycling shoes: 5 picks for club riders and commuters

The RC7 sits in the middle of Shimano's road range, which is exactly where most club riders should be looking. The carbon-reinforced composite sole is stiff enough to feel sharp in a sprint or a chaingang, but it isn't so rigid that a four-hour ride leaves your feet aching. Two Boa dials pull the upper evenly across the instep rather than crushing one spot, and the perforated synthetic upper copes with a warm summer sportive.

Shimano's lasts suit a lot of feet, but the shape is on the narrower side through the forefoot. If you know you need room across the toes, skip to the Lake. Otherwise this is the safest single recommendation on the page: a three-bolt shoe that works for training, racing and everything in between.

The RC3 is the sensible answer to "what road shoes do I buy for my first season?" You get the same three-bolt fitting as the top of Shimano's range, so nothing is wasted when you upgrade later, plus a single Boa dial and a strap — a combination that's still unusual at the bottom of the market.

The nylon and glass-fibre sole flexes more than the RC7 under hard efforts, and you'll feel that on steep climbs and in sprints. For steady club runs, commuting on a road bike and turbo sessions, that flex is a fair trade for the comfort and the money saved. It's also a sensible winter shoe: less to go wrong, and cheaper to replace when the salt gets to it.

Lake is the brand cyclists end up at when every other shoe leaves their toes numb. The CX241 is built on a roomier last and, crucially, is offered in wide and extra-wide versions rather than just being a standard shoe stretched a little. The carbon sole keeps power transfer high, so a wide fit doesn't mean giving up stiffness, and the upper softens into the shape of your foot over the first few rides.

The catch is sizing. Lake's numbers don't map neatly onto Shimano or Specialized, so measure your foot in millimetres against a wall and check Lake's own size chart before ordering. It's also a premium shoe and less widely stocked in the UK, so budget for a proper try-on or buy from a shop with a straightforward returns policy.

The XC7 is the off-road version of the RC7 and shares its approach: a carbon-reinforced sole, two Boa dials and a snug heel. The difference is the lugged rubber tread and the recessed two-bolt cleat, which mean you can ride gravel, race cyclocross, shoulder the bike on a steep run-up and still walk to the sign-on desk.

It's also a smart choice for winter road riding in the UK, because you can get off and walk when the lanes ice over. What you give up is pedal platform: an SPD pedal is smaller than a road pedal, so pressure is concentrated under the ball of your foot. For most riders that's a fair swap; for pure road chaingangs, the RC7 is the better tool.

The Rumble VR looks like a casual trainer with a hidden talent: a recessed SPD cleat in a rubber outsole. That makes it the shoe for riders who clip in on the way to work and then walk around town at the other end without changing footwear. Laces spread pressure evenly across the whole top of the foot, which suits long days in the saddle on a tour.

The flexible sole is the compromise. On a fast club run you'll feel the shoe give with every pedal stroke, and the upper isn't waterproof, so a British winter will soak it. As a second pair for commuting, touring and nipping to the shops, though, it does a job that no carbon road shoe can.