As soon as you mentioned (cheekily, I assume) "those floppy things that people use with flat pedals", I immediately predicted you'd find the VeloSambas too soft. I haven't ridden them, but I wore regular Sambas almost exclusively from like Grade 8 to well after Grade 12, and I have flexed some VeloSambas in hand and could immediately tell they would suck for actual off-road riding.
However, "those floppy things" aren't that floppy anymore. There are plenty of options to have either very soft flat pedal shoes (My daily shoes are FiveTen Sleuths, and they're damn soft, like OG Sambas even, but technically considered bike shoes), or noticeably stiff flat pedal shoes that you could potentially crank on all day. Freerider Pro (and Contacts before that) have a nice shank, the burlier Ride Concepts models are pretty firm, and obviously ones that are "practically boots" like the FiveTen Impacts are plenty stiff, just for a few examples.
July 7, 2022, 10:13 a.m. - Justin White
As soon as you mentioned (cheekily, I assume) "those floppy things that people use with flat pedals", I immediately predicted you'd find the VeloSambas too soft. I haven't ridden them, but I wore regular Sambas almost exclusively from like Grade 8 to well after Grade 12, and I have flexed some VeloSambas in hand and could immediately tell they would suck for actual off-road riding. However, "those floppy things" aren't that floppy anymore. There are plenty of options to have either very soft flat pedal shoes (My daily shoes are FiveTen Sleuths, and they're damn soft, like OG Sambas even, but technically considered bike shoes), or noticeably stiff flat pedal shoes that you could potentially crank on all day. Freerider Pro (and Contacts before that) have a nice shank, the burlier Ride Concepts models are pretty firm, and obviously ones that are "practically boots" like the FiveTen Impacts are plenty stiff, just for a few examples.