Finding a pair of shoes that can stand up to the rigors of riding a bike can be tough. Sure, you could be a smart person, get a pair of SIDIs and some look KEOs and ride clipless, but that’s not an option for urban adventurers such as we are. Incidentally, China has cheap shoes in spades. While cheap in both price and quality, they’re better than riding in bare feet and have a certain degree of cachet attached.

Warrior stands as one of those “China famous brands”, which basically means there’s a good deal of Shanghai and China pride in them but nobody outside of China has really heard of them. The company got started in 1935, with this particular model coming out in the ’70s. They were popular for a good deal of time until other brands were discovered, leaving Warrior shoes to become the footwear of choice for migrant workers doing construction work. They’ve gotten a bit of a renaissance thanks to hipsters (us) picking up on them, but do they stack up as a decent pair of shoes?

Short answer: no. The most important part, the sole, is too flimsy to be a good bike shoe. It is, however, nicely grippy and sticks to the pedals well. The bigger but less bike specific issue is that the shoes come in size ranges. I happen to sit firmly between the 41-43 and 44-46 ranges and therefore can either buy one size down and wear the shoes without socks, or buy one size up and wear the shoes with two pairs of socks. You may fare better, what with your feet not being the exact same size as mine.