The new $110 Springwater II cycling shoe from KEEN is now available. This is a refinement of the original Springwater with one of the primary goals being lighter weight. Personally, I’ve never tried the original, but the Springwater II weighs just 28% more than Sidi Dominators in my size (456gr vs 353gr/shoe). But while the Sidi is obviously a competition shoe, the KEEN is targeted at the commuter. Logically a commuter shoe should have good walkability, but I was surprised how comfortable they were. Keep in mind that my feet have surely been warped from two decades of hard cycling shoes and carbon speedskate boots, so my idea of comfort might be a little skewed. Yet the first day I got these I worked 10hrs on my feet, total comfort all day long. When the snow blanketed Seattle, these shoes had better grip than any of my current civilian shoes, and I walked to work in them (I’d had my fill of crashing in the snow the night before). I went to a concert on Saturday night, stood center of the crowd between the mosh pit and the stage, and had great traction against hard crashing waves of sweaty hipsters….and the toe guard worked great against people trying to muscle me out of my position. While the sole is of course stiffer than most civilian shoes, my feet actually prefer that, and the Springwater II gives pretty good arch support too. After 4 months wearing them, I seriously liked these Springwater II shoes so much, I might buy another just so I can have a pair for both types of pedals that I use.
