Can You Use Other Bike Shoes With Peloton?

Buying a Peloton bike with official accessories can be quite expensive, so it would be great if we could use other bike shoes with Peloton.

I like to customize things like my car, computer, phone, and house, so it’s only natural I’d want to customize items used with my Peloton bike. Not only can using non-official items make my Peloton experience cheaper, but it can also make my Peloton workouts more comfortable.

You can use other bike shoes with a Peloton bike as long as they have three screw holes at the bottom. The screw holes should be in a triangular pattern to fit the Peloton bike pedals. Peloton recommends using bike shoes that are compatible with Delta cleats.

If you don’t mind your bike shoes fitting looser with the Peloton bike, you can use other bike shoes with pedal straps or toe clips. Using pedal straps will give you more flexibility when it comes to attaching shoes to your Peloton bike.

Toe clips, also known as toe cages, can help to secure your feet to your Peloton bike pedals by securing the fronts and sides of your feet. Depending on the actual toe clips you use, they might even secure more areas of your feet.

‍What Are The Best Shoes To Use With A Peloton Bike?

If you were to ask Peloton, they’d likely recommend Peloton bike riders use their official shoes while working out on their bikes.

The shoes will surely have a good fit with the bike and allow you to maximize the ability of the bike to give you a more complete workout.

You will feel less movement of your foot shuffling around the shoes and your pedals compared to looser-fitting shoes.

Since Peloton bike shoes can fit smoothly on the bike pedals, you’ll be able to keep your bike on the pedals and not worry as much about them slipping off.

If your feet are secure to the pedals, that could cause you to expend energy to keep your feet from slipping instead of committing all your body motions to the workout itself.

There are specific motions that should be carried out in a Peloton bike routine, so being able to follow those motions can help you to achieve your fitness goals.

Official Peloton bike shoes are designed to give you more control over the rotations of your Peloton bike pedals.

You can apply downward force on the pedals when your feet are at the raised end of the crankshaft and apply upward force when your feet are at the lower end of the crankshaft.

Allowing your bike pedals to receive force from the top side of your feet will help use more leg muscles than you normally would if you had no straps or clips on your feet.

When I started riding a bike as a child I would usually focus on applying pressure with the bottom of my feet since my bikes either had loose straps or no straps at all.

Being able to pedal upwards with my Peloton bike sparked a new workout in my legs that I found to be invigorating.

It can be challenging at first to use toe cages or clips, but the added resistance you may not have felt before can give your legs and overall body a solid workout and strength boost.

How Do I Use Other Bike Shoes With A Peloton Bike

If you want to use other bike shoes with your Peloton bike, you mainly have to find bike shoes that have three screws at the bottom for pedal attachment.

Peloton recommends that you use shoes that are compatible with Delta shoes, which are a shoe model from the brand Look.

When I look for bike shoes that are compatible with Peloton, I can often see clear wording in the item description that says the shoes are compatible with Peloton.

Even though you should be fine buying shoes that are compatible with Delta shoes, it is probably a safer choice to go with shoes where the manufacturer specifically notes the shoe’s compatibility with Peloton.

When wearing compatible bike shoes with your Peloton bike, you would simply place your shoes into each pedal and attach them as you would normal Peloton shoes.

The three screws at the bottoms of your shoes should fit right into place with the Peloton pedals.

Can I Use Non-Bike Shoes With A Peloton Bike?

One of the best things I like about a Peloton bike is that it resembles a high-end cycle I’d take out on the road or an indoor track.

We can strap our feet in the same way as a regular cycle to get the all-around foot traction needed to operate the pedals with upward and downward forces from our feet.

I feel the pedal design of the Peloton bike helps to give me a better workout compared to standard exercise bikes that don’t have pedals, straps or cages.

However, I like most items I own to have flexibility to be adjusted according to how I want to use it at any given time.

Though I usually like to use full toe cages on some days for my Peloton workouts, I might want to use no straps on other days.

Cycling shoes can be great for doing Peloton bike workouts, but their general comfort level is less than the usual athletic shoes I use such as basketball or running shoes.

If cycling shoes were more comfortable, there would probably be more walkaround shoes that have internal designs like cycling shoes, but there aren’t many out there I know about.

I’ve seen bowling-style shoes that look similar to cycling shoes, but they aren’t nearly as comfortable as most of the athletic shoes I wear.

Of course, the exterior design of cycling shoes wouldn’t work well for walking around since they often have cleats and other parts to connect the shoes to bike pedals.

So when I want to use non-bike shoes on my Peloton bike, it’s great I can set the bike up to use athletic shoes.

Though the Peloton bike can technically be used with non-athletic shoes, it’s probably best to have shoes with enough cushion and support to protect your feet when pedaling.

For instance, if you wear leather dress shoes with wooden soles, your Peloton bike pedals might not grip to the shoes well enough to keep them stable.

Your feet might also move around quite a bit inside the shoes and there will be minimal padding to protect your feet.

Since I’m commonly walking around in basketball or running shoes, it can be far more convenient for me to get on the Peloton bike without taking off my shoes and putting on cycling shoes.

I can just walk from my car or wherever I am to my Peloton bike and start riding in Just Ride mode.

Joining a class can be done faster if you’re already wearing athletic shoes, which is good when you’re running late for a class.

To use non-bike shoes with a Peloton bike, you would need to set up your pedal straps to have enough room to fit your shoes.

Since I often wear basketball shoes to ride my Peloton bike, I like to make the pedal straps wider than usual.

My basketball shoes are rather thick at the tips, so they need more room to properly fit the pedals compared to cycling shoes.

When I wear shoes with a smaller tip, I tighten the Peloton pedal straps so they can attach to my shoes more securely.

This is what I’d do with running shoes or any other shoes with a similar front-end profile.

I try not to use open-ended footwear like sandals or flip-flops since they typically don’t provide enough support and protection for the foot.

If you did want to use them though, you could probably do it by adjusting your Peloton straps accordingly.