Shimano SH-GR7: More Comfort, Less Grip

by Scott Bixby, PCI #1684
NY State University Police, University at Buffalo

If you want to quickly start an argument among bicyclists, especially those of the “mountain” persuasion, mention pedals.  To speed things along, start with “(insert flat or clipless here) are so much better than (insert flat or clipless here) for mountain biking.”  It’s been my experience that only the wheel size debate elicits a more passionate response from riders.

Personally, I’m a flat pedal rider, both as a mountain biker and a public safety cyclist.  You may already know that if you read my 2018 IPMBA News review of the Pedaling Innovations Catalyst pedal.  Hopefully, you’ve also read the IPMBA Position Paper regarding flat pedals issued in 2016.  If you haven’t read the paper, please do.

The keys to successfully riding flat pedals are 1) quality pedals with replaceable traction pins (such as the Catalyst), and 2) a shoe designed for use with flat pedals.  Flat pedal shoes will have a flat, mostly featureless sole made from a rubber compound formulated to be sticky.

Many public safety cyclists, myself included, prefer (or are required to wear) subtle black or grey shoes on-duty.  These muted colors have typically been hard to find, but with the recent resurgence in the popularity of flat pedals, it seems as if a new brand of flat pedal shoes are hitting the market almost weekly.

Shimano recently released the SH-GR7 in what I would consider a “public safety cyclist-friendly” black-and-grey option.

You can find the GR7 on Shimano’s website here:  https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/product/apparel-accessories/shimano/SH-GR700.html. ; You’ll probably notice very quickly that the black and grey version isn’t listed as an option.  And I can tell you from my personal experience when I was trying to find a pair for this test, they are hard to find.  I ended up going directly to Shimano.  I’ll come back to the availability issue later on in this review.

When the shoes finally arrived, my first thought as I lifted them out of the box was, “wow, these feel light!”  I wouldn’t normally weigh shoes, but I grabbed my trusty canvas Five Ten Freeriders and put them on the scale for a comparison.

As you can see, the difference only amounted to a little more than four ounces.  However, based on my time wearing them, I can tell you that the weight difference is noticeable, even if it is only four ounces.

Here are my other “out-of–the-box” observations:

• A pair of black shoelaces was included in case the standard grey laces are just a bit too flashy for your taste or uniform requirements.
• The neoprene cuff around the back of the ankle, while interesting in theory, turned out to be not executed very well, at least in my opinion.  More on that later.
• I have wide feet and the Euro 48 had a very roomy toe box.
• The Michelin-branded sole “felt” sticky and appeared to be of high quality.
• The strongly delineated tread pattern struck me as odd.

Overall, I would rate the comfort of these shoes as excellent.  They wouldn’t be my first choice for a long walk, but I found them to be comfortable for all off-bike, in the office walking and standing.

Through experience, I know that Five Ten are narrow, so I buy 13, which is one size up from my normal 12.  The Shimano size chart lists the Euro 48 as equal to US 12, and I did find them to be typical of other size 12 shoes I’ve worn.  The difference was the toe box of the Shimano.  It was noticeably wider than Five Ten and really contributed to my personal comfort.

I suspect that the idea behind the neoprene cuff is to keep trail/road debris out of the shoe.  While I like the idea, the cuff always assumed a “bunched up” condition around the back of my ankle.  It wasn’t uncomfortable, just annoying.  I did some off-road riding and the cuff did seem to do a decent job keeping out debris out of the shoe.

The Michelin rubber sole provided an acceptably firm pedaling platform.  If you are familiar with Five Ten, I found the GR7 sole to be more flexible than the Freerider sole.  Some riders might prefer a stiffer sole on the pedals, but I didn’t notice any additional foot fatigue as compared to my Five Ten’s.

In my opinion, Five Ten Stealth S1 rubber is the standard by which all other rubber soles are judged.  As I mentioned in my Catalyst pedal review, I like grip, and Five Ten delivers.  The Michelin rubber in the GR7 is merely adequate.  On the pedals, it yields a harder, less connected feel, and I did find my feet moving around on the pedals more than I like.

I think Shimano/Michelin delineated the tread the way that they did to add a little walking traction.  Caution is needed on certain surfaces with flat soles so I appreciate the effort from Michelin.  The Catalyst pedal I prefer works best when I am pedaling with the pedal axle in the center of my foot arch.  Unfortunately, that mid-foot position left half of the rear traction pins on the Catalyst in the void between the different tread patterns on the sole.

Earlier, I mentioned that the GR-7 can be hard to find in black and grey.  I attended Interbike 2018 in Reno, Nevada, and made it a point to visit the Shimano display and check out the shoes.  The shoe sitting on the rack labeled “GR7” was decidedly different than the GR7 I had been testing.  Specifically, the neoprene ankle cuff was missing, replaced by a more traditional padded cuff. 

The young man in the Shimano shirt that I spoke with was not very familiar with Shimano’s shoe line-up and couldn’t speak about the changes or when the revised GR7 might be available.  It did have a black/grey color pattern, but it’s highly likely that my comments about the ankle cuff are now irrelevant. As of late December 2018, I haven’t been able to find a picture of the revised GR7.

Availability issues aside, I think the Shimano GR7 would make a very nice shoe for public safety cycling operations.  A quick Google search shows that the GR7 is fairly average when it comes to price compared to other shoes on the market.

Personally, thanks to the wide toe box, I found the GR7 to be the most comfortable flat shoe I’ve worn.  However, after testing the GR7, I can say that I won’t be giving up my Five Ten Freeriders.  The Freerider isn’t THAT uncomfortable, and more importantly, I like grip on the pedals and the GR7 just doesn’t deliver.

Thanks for reading.  As always, if you want to talk bikes, shoot me an email at scbixby@buffalo.edu.  Here’s to lots of bike patrol in 2019!

Scott is a Lieutenant with the New York State University Police at the University of Buffalo.  He has been a member of the bike patrol unit since 2005 and currently serves as its supervisor.  He has also been the lead instructor for the UB Police Bike Patrol School since 2017.  Scott is an expert level mountain biker and has been riding and racing mountain bikes since 1999.  He also runs a bicycle wheel building and bike repair business that can be found at http://www.bluelinebicyclerepair.com. ; He can be reached at scbixby@buffalo.edu.

Photos courtesy Scott Bixby.

(c) 2019 IPMBA.  This review appeared in the 2019 Product Guide issue of IPMBA News. 

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