Can You Ride a Peloton with Regular Shoes? (Let’s Find Out With Examples)

There are various ways to stay fit. Riding a Peloton Bike is one of the best ways to get in shape. Many people are concerned about riding a peloton with their regular shoes or trainers as it sometimes becomes difficult to buy a dedicated pair of shoes for each activity.

So, can you ride a peloton with regular shoes? The short answer is yes. You can ride a Peloton bike with regular shoes if you don’t have a dedicated pair of peloton shoes. But, you need to buy a different set of pedals or accessories like toe clips for safety. Furthermore, don’t make some crazy sprint on the peloton in your regular shoes. A short 5-10min ride with less than 100rpm will be fine in your regular running shoes or training sneakers. However, there are some constraints you need to consider before putting your foot on the peloton bike. I’d recommend you stay in your saddle if you are riding a bike with your regular training shoes. It will be your best bet if you swap the platform pedals of your peloton bike with a set of regular flat pedals.

How to choose shoes for your Peloton bike?

When you buy a pair of shoes for your Peloton bike, you want to make sure that they’ll hold up during your workouts.

Sole Thickness

The pedals of peloton bikes are made of metal, which means that they are harder than the rubber material on normal exercise equipment. The shoes should be made with a flexible sole to easily pivot your feet while pedaling, but not so soft that it will cause the shoes to bend inward. The stiffness of the sole of your regular shoes should be like Chuck Taylors.

Material

Regular exercise shoes are made from a variety of materials, including leather and mesh. Peloton shoes are also available in the same materials. Leather is the best option as it does not stretch easily and offers a supportive fit. There could also be some mesh material over the top for breathability. But, 70% of shoes’ upper should be leather.

Also Read: Peloton Shoes Sizing

Is It Possible to Ride a Peloton Bike with Regular Shoes?

It is possible to use regular shoes like your trainers or tennis shoes on a pedal of a Peloton bike. But, it can be dangerous as regular shoes don’t feature shoe cleats like peloton shoes.

The pedals are compatible with all types of athletic shoes. The problem is that using any type of shoe besides Peloton shoes doesn’t provide the same grip. There are several different options for shoes compatible with the regular road bikes pedals. Still, they all have the same problem: you have to replace the existing pedals because the shoes are not compatible with the Peloton pedals.

So, if you ride the peloton pedal standing up, and your foot slips off the pedals. This would cause serious injuries to your foot in that case. When you take your foot off, and the peloton pedal doesn’t stop spinning, you will end up damaging your shin splints.

Furthermore, there are some limitations to ride a Peloton bike with regular shoes as you can’t create maximum power with each peloton pedal stroke, due to which you will not be able to achieve a high speed.

So, if you really want to ride a Peloton bike with your regular shoes, there are some peloton bike accessories you need to buy for your safety as it is quite tricky to put your regular shoes on a cleat pedal without any cage for support.

Recommended Accessories to Ride a Peloton Bike with Regular Trainers

Toe Clips Cage

Since your foot is not fixed to the pedal of a peloton bike, it is difficult for you to ride a Peloton bike with your maximum unless you’re an experienced fixed gear cyclist. So, to provide lateral support and prevent slipping, Toe clips cage is the most recommended option.

The toe cage is compatible with the delta-style pedal of a peloton bike. You can simply slide your training shoes into the cage and ride your peloton bike safely. The advantage of this accessory is that if you have a huge family and you don’t want to purchase a separate pair of peloton shoes, the toe cage is an economical option for you to start with.

You can check out this video to assemble a peloton toe cage over a cleat pedal of a peloton bike.

The downside you may face while using toe cages is that they might be uncomfortable under the middle of your foot as toe cages cause you to bend the shoes inward. So, you must have thick-soled sneakers. Their midsole should not be squishy like running shoes. Also, make sure you are lining up the ball of your foot with the pedal spindle and tighten the latch down.

The toe cage is usually suitable for people with less than men’s 11 shoe size. Therefore, if your foot size is larger, it might be difficult for you to align your metatarsal joints with the axle of the pedal.

If you like to incorporate floor work and weight training before and after cycling, you must have deadlift shoes. They work great with toe cages.

Get Flat Dual-Side Pedals

Using of toe cage can be irritating sometimes, especially if your foot is very large and wide. In that case, you’re better to buy clipless regular road bike pedals to use with your trainers. These are the normal bicycle pedals with a longer brace with a platform pedal on one side and SPD pedal design on the other so that you can easily ride a Peloton bike with your regular trainers without sliding your foot off the pedal. These pedals are good for casual rides where clips are not needed to hit the pedal with maximum power.

If you’ve multiple people to use Peloton bike and you’re comfortable with riding peloton bike in your regular sneakers, you can buy this pedal.

Clipless Pedal Platform Adapters

If you’re not comfortable with removing and fixing the flat pedals through special wrenches, these Pedal Platform Adapters are a suitable choice for you. These are just like flat platforms with cleats on one side to clip into the delta pedal of a peloton bike. In this way, it gives a wide platform so that your foot remains on the pedal regardless of the pedal design and allows you to ride Peloton bike with your regular sneakers.

To use platform adapters, you need to buy cleats separately to clip them into the pedal. The downside of using platform adapters is that the weight of the platform causes the pedal to rotate when your foot is not on it. This results in leaving the platform side underneath your feet. So, it is advisable not to remove your foot off the pedal while riding a Peloton bike.

Riding a Peloton Bike with Regular Shoes (Final Verdict)

So, can you really ride a Peloton bike with your regular shoes? As discussed above, it is feasible to ride a Peloton bike with your tennis shoes or regular trainers as long as you’re not hitting it with a high speed and for a longer time.

If you want to ride the Peloton in a casual way to calm yourself, it’s fine. But for a heavy workout in which you want to feel the power transferring from your legs to your foot, riding a peloton with regular shoes is not recommended. For more information, you can check out this great discussion by experts on Reddit.