Shoes

ibr17xvii

Does anyone else struggle or is it just me?

I've tried loads of pairs of shoes, absolutely loads but I just don't seem to be able to find a pair I feel comfortable in. I seem to spend a stupid amount of time researching but all to no avail.

I read something from a bike fitter that said if you can get your finger down the back of your foot when they're all tightened up they're not right. However if this is the case in say a 41.5 my toes are at the end so they're obviously too small but if I get even half a size bigger then I can get my finger in at the back so he's saying they're too big & in fairness they do feel like that as my foot is moving around too much. I don't seem to be able to strike the happy medium between too much room & too tight.

Also my right foot is the one I seem to get the most issues with. I can get my left foot pretty comfortable but on the right it feels like the insole is in the wrong place i.e. not within the arch of the foot no matter what shoe / insole combination I try.

I feel like I want to go for a proper shoe fitting & get my feet properly measured & look at how high my arches are like you used to do when you were a kid but I can't seem to find anyone that does that kind of thing.

Don't get me wrong I'm not in agony or anything like that on a ride but I feel I should be more comfortable if that makes sense.

Any help / advice much appreciated.

arlowood

Bont will make custom shoes to fit your feet. Apparently they will send you special moulding socks which you apply to your feet and send back to them.

https://www.bontcycling.com/products/custom.html

Fully custom made will set you back about £350 but if you're struggling for comfort it may be the way to go

ibr17xvii

arlowood said:

Bont will make custom shoes to fit your feet. Apparently they will send you special moulding socks which you apply to your feet and send back to them.

https://www.bontcycling.com/products/custom.html

Fully custom made will set you back about £350 but if you're struggling for comfort it may be the way to go

Not seen that before, cheers for that.

Bonts were probably the closest I got to "perfection" even without the heat moulding but I just found there was too much room in the toebox & my foot was moving about too much which was in turn giving me pins & needles on longer rides.

david7m

Everyone's right foot is slightly different to the left.
I'd get close to comfort on your bigger foot and then go cycling

ibr17xvii

david7m said:

Everyone's right foot is slightly different to the left.
I'd get close to comfort on your bigger foot and then go cycling

I'm trying!

gary_sparrow

Cycling shoes are notoriously tight - I’ve a bunion so I feel your pain in finding good shoes that fit

ibr17xvii

gary_sparrow said:

Cycling shoes are notoriously tight - I’ve a bunion so I feel your pain in finding good shoes that fit

TBH I think that's the root of my problem. Just generally I hate shoes that are too tight & can't stand the feeling of your toes being scrunched up. That's why I tend to go for a slightly bigger size but then I reckon that's causing issues with pins & needles with my foot moving about & putting pressure when pedalling on bits of my feet that wouldn't be getting that pressure if I had a more stable foot.

oxoman said:

Have you tried getting custom moulded inserts, Ade Timmis at Cadence did mine when I had a bikefit and it stopped that slop / loose feeling on my smaller fit. Have since swapped my insoles to 3 different prs of shoes and still fit well.

That's certainly something I've considered but I was a bit worried that custom inserts were only as good as the shoe fit itself & if the shoes weren't right then the inserts wouldn't be right either.

ibr17xvii

gary_sparrow said:

Cycling shoes are notoriously tight - I’ve a bunion so I feel your pain in finding good shoes that fit

TBH I think that's the root of my problem. I don't like tight fitting shoes generally & cant stand the feeling of my toes being scrunched up so I tend to go for a size bigger. That then probably causes the pins & needles as I'm putting pressure on bits of my foot when pedalling that I wouldn't do if my foot was more stable.

ibr17xvii

oxoman said:

Have you tried getting custom moulded inserts, Ade Timmis at Cadence did mine when I had a bikefit and it stopped that slop / loose feeling on my smaller fit. Have since swapped my insoles to 3 different prs of shoes and still fit well.

That's certainly something I've considered but I was a bit concerned that the insets are only as good as the shoe fit & if that's not right the inserts wouldn't be right either.

chris_phillips

oxoman said:

Have you tried getting custom moulded inserts, Ade Timmis at Cadence did mine when I had a bikefit and it stopped that slop / loose feeling on my smaller fit. Have since swapped my insoles to 3 different prs of shoes and still fit well.

Is Adrian still in business?

jollygiant

I ahd a pair of Bone carbon soled shoes a few years ago and you could arm hem up in your oven at home and re-mould the sole to fit your foot perfectly. This did work for me.

Now I buy Fizik shoes and they fit me perfectly and are a good tight fit all round without being uncomfortable.

mugensi

ibr17xvii said:

gary_sparrow said:

Cycling shoes are notoriously tight - I’ve a bunion so I feel your pain in finding good shoes that fit

TBH I think that's the root of my problem. I don't like tight fitting shoes generally & cant stand the feeling of my toes being scrunched up so I tend to go for a size bigger. That then probably causes the pins & needles as I'm putting pressure on bits of my foot when pedalling that I wouldn't do if my foot was more stable.

I'm the same, absolutely cannot abide tight fitting shoes. I also have the problem of my left foot being 0.75cm longer than the right. However I have had great success with Diadora and Northwave shoes. I simply cant wear Sidi, Fizik, S-Works or Mavic shoes as I have to go up a size to get ample width but then the shoes are too long for my feet. I don't have this problem with Diadora or NW.

ibr17xvii

mugensi said:

ibr17xvii said:

gary_sparrow said:

Cycling shoes are notoriously tight - I’ve a bunion so I feel your pain in finding good shoes that fit

TBH I think that's the root of my problem. I don't like tight fitting shoes generally & cant stand the feeling of my toes being scrunched up so I tend to go for a size bigger. That then probably causes the pins & needles as I'm putting pressure on bits of my foot when pedalling that I wouldn't do if my foot was more stable.

I'm the same, absolutely cannot abide tight fitting shoes. I also have the problem of my left foot being 0.75cm longer than the right. However I have had great success with Diadora and Northwave shoes. I simply cant wear Sidi, Fizik, S-Works or Mavic shoes as I have to go up a size to get ample width but then the shoes are too long for my feet. I don't have this problem with Diadora or NW.

I had a pair of Northwave that I found OK but it was a good few years ago now. Might be worth a revisit.

I'm also trying to experiment with 1 BOA vs 2 seeing if having 2 is taking too much pressure further up the foot, or is it better as it's more adjustable, or should I just be sticking with 1.

It's a minefield.

naavt

I have the exact same issue as the OP. Tried several pairs of shoes until now and sticked with a pair of Fiziks R1 infinito.

Every case is a case. Mine is a wide forefoot and high arches. I use G8 insoles for quite some time now and they really work.

Had a pair of wide Lakes and some wide Sidis but both were not perfect and made my feet hurt. Curiously, the Infinito's aren't labeled as WIDE shoes but as soon as I weared one pair at my LBS I felt it could be the answer.

They are not perfect and my right foot still complains, but they are better than any other pair that I've tried and found them at a very nice price so I've taken the plunge.

I've also considered Bont shoes, but they come to a cost, are impossible to try before buying and impossible to return them since they are tailor made...

ibr17xvii

naavt said:

I have the exact same issue as the OP. Tried several pairs of shoes until now and sticked with a pair of Fiziks R1 infinito.

Every case is a case. Mine is a wide forefoot and high arches. I use G8 insoles for quite some time now and they really work.

Had a pair of wide Lakes and some wide Sidis but both were not perfect and made my feet hurt. Curiously, the Infinito's aren't labeled as WIDE shoes but as soon as I weared one pair at my LBS I felt it could be the answer.

They are not perfect and my right foot still complains, but they are better than any other pair that I've tried and found them at a very nice price so I've taken the plunge.

I've also considered Bont shoes, but they come to a cost, are impossible to try before buying and impossible to return them since they are tailor made...

This is spookily similar to me, we should compare notes!

I'm also using the Fizik R1's at the minute but currently have two pairs both diffferent sizes, 41.5 & 42. My right foot isn't comfortable with any & that's my main issue. 1 pair (the slightly smaller size) seem to fit better on the bike but I get pins & needles in my toes after a while which seems to suggest they're too tight, the slightly larger pair don't seem to fit quite as well as my foot moves around more which seems to suggest they're a wee bit too big but I don't get any pins & needles.

Really interested in how you get on with the G8 insoles as I've nearly pulled the trigger on them more than once but the cost is outing me off.

If they solve my problem then I'll happily pay the premium but as ever with these I could just be wasting my money & the problem lies elsewhere.

naavt

ibr17xvii said:

Really interested in how you get on with the G8 insoles as I've nearly pulled the trigger on them more than once but the cost is outing me off.

If they solve my problem then I'll happily pay the premium but as ever with these I could just be wasting my money & the problem lies elsewhere.

Hi, sorry for the late reply (I have yet to discover how can I get notifications everytime one post gets replied)

So, trying to answer your question:

G8's have been a life saver for me, but take into consideration that I'm not referring to pain relative to shoe size, but pain relative to plantar issues.

As I told in my previous post I have feet with very high arches and developed a condition called "plantar fasciitis" because of that. Once was a time when pedalling for 1 hour was a suffering for me because of that.

Note how high I have the G8's arch set up:




I also have them compensated for tilt with Bike Fit wedges on the heel, these provide much better tracking on my knees:




G8 insoles with those 2 things (arch and heel compensation), really have improved the way my feet feels when riding, but I cannot assure you that they will solve toe box size related issues.

Hope that helps

ibr17xvii

naavt said:

ibr17xvii said:

Really interested in how you get on with the G8 insoles as I've nearly pulled the trigger on them more than once but the cost is outing me off.

If they solve my problem then I'll happily pay the premium but as ever with these I could just be wasting my money & the problem lies elsewhere.

Hi, sorry for the late reply (I have yet to discover how can I get notifications everytime one post gets replied)

So, trying to answer your question:

G8's have been a life saver for me, but take into consideration that I'm not referring to pain relative to shoe size, but pain relative to plantar issues.

As I told in my previous post I have feet with very high arches and developed a condition called "plantar fasciitis" because of that. Once was a time when pedalling for 1 hour was a suffering for me because of that.

Note how high I have the G8's arch set up:




I also have them compensated for tilt with Bike Fit wedges on the heel, these provide much better tracking on my knees:




G8 insoles with those 2 things (arch and heel compensation), really have improved the way my feet feels when riding, but I cannot assure you that they will solve toe box size related issues.

Hope that helps

That’s really helpful thanks mate.

Totally appreciate that they won’t help me with shoe fit but I do think they will help me with foot stability overall.

Did you get them set up professionally or was it just trial & error?

I’m pretty sure that you don’t get the heel wedges as part of the insoles you have to purchase them separately?

janwal

https://luck-bike.es/en/road-shoes-23#/page-2
This company makes shoes to your measurements. Drop them an email,they reply quickly.

ibr17xvii

janwal said:

https://luck-bike.es/en/road-shoes-23#/page-2
This company makes shoes to your measurements. Drop them an email,they reply quickly.

Thanks for that.

The hunt for the perfect shoe continues.......

naavt

ibr17xvii said:

That’s really helpful thanks mate.

Totally appreciate that they won’t help me with shoe fit but I do think they will help me with foot stability overall.

Did you get them set up professionally or was it just trial & error?

I’m pretty sure that you don’t get the heel wedges as part of the insoles you have to purchase them separately?

I did get my shoes set up with a Retul professional bike fitter.

The wedges are sold separately. You can find them on Amazon:

https://www.amazon.co.uk/BikeFit-InShoe-Heel-Wedges-pair/dp/B00SBKQOVU/ref=sr_1_1?dchild=1&keywords=bike+fit+heel+wedges&qid=1580249883&sr=8-1

Wish you the best on your search!

alan_sherman

I wonder if you suffer due to the shape of your feet - especially the toe box. I have a wide, square shape to my feet so the outer toes are cut off by pretty much all cycling shoes. I always buy square toe work shoes but there are no square toe cycling shoes!

I tried on every cycling shoe I could, irrespective of price, and ended up with specialised torch 1.0 shoes because they have a wide, straight, shape to the shoe. I did go up about 3 sizes from my work shoes though.

Bont might be great, but I couldn't find anywhere to try them on. The wide shoes from lake, specialized, shimano all cut in too much on my smaller toes. LG looked interesting but again couldn't find any to try on.

Look at the shapes of shoes. Some good info and pics on this site: https://intheknowcycling.com/road-bike-shoes/

amrushton

Depending where you live you could see a podiatrist or go to someone who knows a bit more. CadenceSport is mentioned, Bikefit James on YouTube (he has a shop in Richmond) makes some good points

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6MPny_EgoxY

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kDnieUWB224

Phil Burt in Mcr https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=C7WiQDAHlBI

and Cyclefit in London.

https://www.cyclefit.co.uk/shoe-fitting

These people will have seen everything re feet/shoes. Bikefit James doesn't like Fizik.

daniel_b

https://sigmasports.com/bike-fitting/booking/bike-fit-moldable-shoe-and-cleat-fit

ugo.santalucia

I found there is an inverse correlation between how much I spend for shoes and how comfortable they are.
Shimano XC 30 were by far the most comfortable at just over 50 quid
Sidi Genius 7 by far the most uncomfortable at ca. 150 quid

Various shades of grey in between