Shimano’s GF8, AKA GF800, flat pedal shoes are relatively expensive. No doubt. But, as with my much-loved lace-up SH-GF600 shoes, Shimano does a better job than any other brand of delivering a flat-pedal shoe that’s stiff under power, but flexible underfoot, that grips pedals tenaciously in all weather, but is surprisingly good at finding traction while hiking as well, and that resists the bag-out effects of single-speed life. The BOA* adjusters are significantly faster to tighten than laces and can be adjusted on the fly, sans dismount, anywhere I can drink from my water bottle without stopping, and have been problem-free.
These shoes have been ‘dead’ or at least sub-optimal for a while now. Months actually. I find with all flat-pedal shoes that my #1FG hardtail-riding bags them long before they appear worn out. Shimano’s GF6 & GF8 last longer than anything I’ve tried, and I’ve tried a lot of shoes, but even they feel soft and tired when standing to pedal or descend long before pedal grip becomes an issue. I would have replaced them, but for two reasons. Firstly, following other footwear trends, I’ve been holding out for Shimano to release flat pedal shoes with more foot volume. Secondly, my GF6 shoes, which I split the riding load with, are also all-but-dead, and while they serve different use cases for me, and I like both shoes, my budget calls for the replacement of one of them**.
The uppers on these shoes are still in excellent condition, which has issue sitting and spinning, but I bring it up because, unlike non-cycling footwear I use, and in response to friends unsatisfied with the life of their sticky rubber soles vs. sharp steel pins, I don’t think that resoling shoes is a viable waste-saving option for flat-pedal riders. Or, at least, this flat pedal rider. been my experience with other examples – GF4, GF6 x 2, GF8 – from this generation of Shimano’s flat pedal shoes. That said, even if I had an option to re-sole them, they’re cooked in terms of pedaling stiffness. Maybe this would be less of an
*{And sure, BOA adjusters, like MIPS helmet tech, seem to always add exponentially more to a product’s SRP than one might think they’d add to the production cost, but what do I know?}
**{I always have a couple pairs of flat pedal shoes on the go, but I dug up some very grippy Giro Latch shoes with about half their life left and I’m rocking those as part of a mission to use stuff I already own.}
{All photos by Andrew unless noted.}
[Aside]
I’ve written quite a bit about Shimano’s current flat-pedal shoes, so here’s some prior ‘art’ before I jump into my evolved use case.
- Well Overdue For Fresh GF6 Shoes
- Half-Life – Shimano GF600 Flat Pedal Shoes
- GF600 vs. GF800: A Shimano Flat Pedal Shoe Review
[/Aside]
{Above photo by The Clairebarian}
Technically speaking, the GF8 shoe should be stiffer, pedaling, than the GF6. This comes down to the addition of a reinforced shank plate that “prevents arch bend while maintaining lateral flexibility for better control on rugged, technical terrain.” In practice though, long-term testing, I’d give the slight stiffness edge to the lace-up GF600. I think this makes sense considering how much more additional structure the laces provide even if, like me, one doesn’t run their shoes super-tight.
Beyond that, my use case evolved such that the GF8 became my go to shoe for any shorter rides and also long rides without much stopping, with anything in the middle being a laces ride. Shorter rides, to the store, to work, a quick gravel jaunt to clear my head, or even a one-hour afterschool lap with Claire the BOA adjuster is so quick compared to tying laces. Worth an extra CA$35? I’ve sure missed the ratchets both ways on my daily commute these past few weeks.
I know I’m a pinch persnickety, but with laces on longer rides I find that I’ll stop at least once and tighten my shoes. Totally fine for rides where I’m taking a break anyway, but for continuous efforts, like the Rubbermaid 100 {https://meatengines.com/meatengines-1/f/the-inaugural-rubbermaid-100 – link to update when CMS working properly}, it’s lovely to be able to reach down while coasting and add a click of retention.
Other than adding some value in the toe box, which I’d also be eager for in Shimano’s premium lace-up flat pedal shoe, the GF6/GF600, the only thing I’d change about the GF8 is to make the neoprene collar tighter, or to remove it. I understand why Shimano loosened this cuff, I’ve seen a fair few torn ones on past shoes from folks ganking on them to pull their shoes on, but when it doesn’t fit tight, like, for example, those on the weather-proofy GF800 GTX, it acts as much as a funnel to let detritus in as a barrier to keep it out.
Okay, one other additional option. As much as I’m bearish on adding SKUs, almost as much as I’d like the option of wider toe boxes, I’d love to see Shimano offer some of their premium mountain bike flat pedal shoes in gravel versions as well. All the stiffness and materials quality of the GF800 but in a shoe with a rubber sole more biased to durability than to maximum grip in the wettest-wet and jankiest-jank. I could easily justify a much-longer-lasting, equally stiff but flexible, GF8 for my commuting and ATB duties, which are also the rides where I most appreciated the quickness of the BOA setup. I see a fair few folks riding gravel and ATB bikes with flat-pedal shoes these days, so I can’t be the only person?
That said, while these, fantastically high-traction, shoes died painfully, for me, when a pin punched through the outsole on a ride during Cumberlandworx, I certainly didn’t feel like they owed me anything after many hours standing on some of the meanest-pin pedals around – Outlier Pendulum & Void, Wolf Tooth Ripsaw & Waveform, NSBillet Daemon, PNW Loam 2. That is to say, I knew that the shoes were toast both in terms of the how flexible they’d become but also from visibly inspecting the sole, at least a half-dozen rides before my operatic “OUCH!” moment.
There was no shortage of flat pedal shoes that I considered before buying my third pair of lace-up GF600 pedal stompers but, as much as I appreciated these shoes in the long term, none of them were the GF800. Infinite budget, I could be talked into having bought a fresh pair of each, but I can live with tying laces for my commute and shorter rides, and retying laces on longer adventures, to have my lace-up preference represented in my go-to mountain bike shoes. Plus, I’m holding out hope that my next-next pair of flat pedal shoes will combine the stiffness and conformity of my go-to GF6 with more volume.
I’ll leave it there with a reminder that shoe support is personal and size specific. Through a number of different pedals, I can only speak for my experiences with a size-43 Shimano shoe. I’m not the only person I know who thinks Shimano has nailed it with the blend of pedaling-power stiffness and pedal grabbing compliance in their top-end flat-pedal shoes, but, mountain bicycling footwear is the worst thing going when it comes to my preference to test-ride then decide.
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