spd shoes for heavy rider

smeehee

I bought some spds and have tried them out and now prefer them to flats for 90% of my riding but I have 2 big problems, my feet and my weight. Im 6'3 and 15.5st (or 100kg) which means the lower end shoe tends to buckle under my weight. The other issue is I have size 12 feet with a large arch so struggle with shoe fit, mainly too much pressure on the top of my foot to try an pull up the void below it if you get my drift

Now for the good news, I use spds on bot mtb and road so can justify spending a bit more on 1 set of good mtb shoes for both as im no racing snake so dont care for saving an extra 5g on a shoe setup for the road bike

Any advice would be greatly appreciated!

My budget is sub 200 but the closer to 0 the better

paulbox

15.5st is nothing for someone 6'3" tall... I'm 6'4" and when I was in really good shape I was still over 16st.

I've never experience an SPD shoe 'buckle' under my weight so I'm not sure what you really mean, but if you just want some really stiff shoes get some with carbon soles. In terms of your fit issues, might be worth going to a Specialized Concept store if convenient, they do their shoes up to Eur48 which I think is 12.5.

http://www.specializedconceptstore.co.uk/

lostboysaint

Ditto.

6'4", started riding at 115kg and now at 98-100kg. I use Shimano AM45s, which have no "buckle" in the sole at all and offer all the support I've ever needed.

danlikesbikes

Well I'm 5'8 (maybe a bit less or more depends) and quite lightweight, but in SPD's I can easily skate and slide around if thats what you mean by buckle under you? Is just that standing on the cleat an not the heal, which is not natural as your angling your toes up wards, is always going to be rather unbalancing.

As for budget shoes there are some good ones out there like DHB from Wiggle which I have 2 different sets of and they are well made and lasting well.

smeehee

Yeah, sorry, "buckle" is a bit vague. What I was meaning is I get problems with the cleat deforming the sole. Being a big lad I tend to ride with power rather than cadence if that makes sense so I need a stiff sole I think. This isnt helped by running spec tahoe, got them for next to nowt and comfy without cleat so would have used them as reg shoes if I didnt like the spd

Been looking and there are lake mx330c for sale on wiggle, any good for me and what do people recon of the boa system as ive heard great things and bad things about it

danlikesbikes

I get you now, yes softer sole shoes can be a pain if your using a lot a power to get the the pedals around. You just need to look for a shoe that has a stiff sole & to do so you don't need to spend a lot of money.

Personally for me I don't get on with the boa system & prefer 3 straps on my cycle shoes but thats so I can easily loosen up the toes with them.

They do look like a good deal though in the sale, plus have a carbon sole so will definitely be stiff enough for you.

cameronb

I weigh about the same as you and have just starting using spd's, used shimano AM41's before, and liked them so just bought a pair of AM45's. I've only used them once but they seem stiff, they're hardwearing and are suited to a more agressive style of riding. They're quite bulky but they feel like they're upto the job if you get what I mean.

smeehee

Danlikesbikes wrote:

I get you now, yes softer sole shoes can be a pain if your using a lot a power to get the the pedals around. You just need to look for a shoe that has a stiff sole & to do so you don't need to spend a lot of money.

Yeah thats what im after but dont know how stiff is stif enough, im guessing carbon is best but you say it doesnt have to be expensive so who makes a good stiff soled shoe

my LBS only stocks lake I was thinking that I could try before I buy but other than that its a right job finding somewhere that has my size in stock and the Spec stores are 1h plus drive away so a none starter

Ult

If it helps I am 19 stone+ and like you push big gears rather than spin. Have done 2000 miles between road and mountain bikes in shimano MO77's since November and had no issues? They were only £25 quid on sale at crc as well.

felix.london

Wallop!

felix.london

or these...

danlikesbikes

smeehee wrote:

Yeah thats what im after but dont know how stiff is stif enough, im guessing carbon is best but you say it doesnt have to be expensive so who makes a good stiff soled shoe

my LBS only stocks lake I was thinking that I could try before I buy but other than that its a right job finding somewhere that has my size in stock and the Spec stores are 1h plus drive away so a none starter

Carbon sole shoes are probably the stiffest you can get but there are some that have glass reinforced soles, 2 examples are from DHB which is wiggles own brand;
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-m20c-carbon ... ling-shoe/ which is just over £80 or
http://www.wiggle.co.uk/dhb-m10-mountai ... ling-shoe/ which is around £45

Obviously if you want to spend more you can, but just giving you the option that you don't have to spend all your pennies in one go.