Widest road-specific cycling shoes?

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Widest road-specific cycling shoes?

Bont
7
25%
Lake
13
46%
Shimano
4
14%
Sidi
0
No votes
Gaerne
0
No votes
Northwave
0
No votes
Specialized
1
4%
Bontrager
2
7%
Giro
0
No votes
Other
1
4%
 
Total votes: 28

Vermu
Posts: 345
Joined: Wed Dec 22, 2010 6:39 am

by Vermu

Lake, no doubt about it. Bont in wide doesn’t cut it even if heatmoulded.
Just measure your leg and compare it to bont and lake. Shimano is width wise next to bont (except bont tub last is sooo much better.

But if you really need wide at some specific spot, I would go for Lake (and I did). There is more width but the volume doesn’t pump up like in sidis and NW shoes.
Oh and if you go for lake, buy directly.


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topflightpro
Posts: 829
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:35 am

by topflightpro

Yeah, I tried regular Bonts and could not mold them wide enough.

I think Shimano is guilty of not creating a wider sole, just adding extra material to make it wide - except that they extra material wraps around a piece of foam designed to extend the sole width. It made for a very flexy shoe.

Lake has seperate lasts for its regular and wide widths. It seems that they do wide correctly. I had a pair many years ago and remember like how wide they were, but my heel slipped. I attribute a lot of that to the single BOA dial behind the heel. I could feel the BOA system tightening across my forefoot as the heel pulled out of the shoe. I'm tempted to try them again for the lace up option.

vanmatthew
Posts: 126
Joined: Thu Jul 14, 2016 5:20 am

by vanmatthew

Doesn't Shimano create Wide shoes?

User avatar
853guy
Posts: 225
Joined: Sat Dec 30, 2017 8:48 pm

by 853guy

Orlok wrote:
Wed Aug 22, 2018 3:20 pm
I bought my Lake shoes by https://www.bikeshoe4u.nl/. They are knowing as the best in wide cycling shoes.! After several marque; Bont, DMT and finaly Lake wide range fit me the best, so for me is "lake" the widest road-specific cycling shoe.
Hi Orlok,

Thanks for posting that link to bikeshoe4u. Really impressive selection. Looks like a trip to Amsterdam is in order.

Very helpful - thank you.

Best,

853guy

parleez1
Posts: 176
Joined: Wed May 26, 2004 8:57 pm
Location: Boston, MAssachusetts

by parleez1

I purchased my Lakes from bikeshoes.com. Great selection of Lake shoes, and if they don’t show a model they will get it for you, excellent customer service and prices, they are located in New York. They also accept returns even if worn.

sungod
Posts: 1702
Joined: Fri Dec 24, 2010 9:37 pm

by sungod

Wheever wrote:
Wed Aug 22, 2018 7:32 pm
The chart is a little conservative in width. For instance, my shoes Bont Vaypor+ in 44.5 standard fit are shown with a max width of 108mm. Not so! Mine molded right out to 113mm with no problem. There's a lot more moldability than the chart indicates, I think because people usually only need the greatest width in very specific places. (The length on the chart is right on, however.)
yes completely agree, i've moulded normal width ones out several mm, but starting with the wide fit ones saves time :)

upacs
Posts: 74
Joined: Fri Feb 22, 2013 9:50 am
Location: Switzerland

by upacs

Kayrehn wrote:
Wed Aug 22, 2018 2:37 pm
Oh, I've considered Luck custom shoes, seems like great value for their range of custom fit options.
I went down that route a couple of years ago (three I think), when I could no longer take the torture my Specialized shoes were inflicting on me (wide toe box, narrow heel). Got a custom made pair of their road shoes and never looked back. Since then I also got winter shoes, and mtb shoes. They all fit so well that I even asked if they made regular shoes! Going to order another pair for next season as the first ones are showing heavy signs of wear by now.

I cannot recommend them highly enough. For custom shoes there is just the initial cost of making a mold of your feet. After that, prices are like any other pair of shoes

Cosmo
Posts: 99
Joined: Sun Feb 25, 2007 5:05 pm
Location: Netherlands

by Cosmo

a second for Daan at bikeshoe4u. If you're in the area (and even if not) he's got an amazing amount of shoe and insole knowledge.
after 2 drinks I'm a loser, after 3 a star

pedale
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:06 pm

by pedale

Is there something as a too wide toebox for cycling shoes?

I run often, on varied terrain and different shoes (drop, with and cushion). In cycling, I mainly rotate between 3 cycling shoes 2 fizik (quite narrow and painful at times) and a bont that after thermoforming suits me perferctly.

If I'm asking the question is that I'm slowly reaching the conclusion that in running there is absolutely no drawback of having a shoe too wide for your toes since balance, comfort are improved (efficiency is extremely hard to measure accurately). But in cycling? Except the slight aero advantage, is there any definite advantage of having your toes squeezed? Or the wider the better also?

User avatar
silvalis
Posts: 765
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:02 am
Location: Aus

by silvalis

I wear wide lake cx and tried bonts (didn't work), and a bunch of other shoes.

I feel that as long as your heel is snug and your midfoot is secure, an even wider toebox is fine provided:

- the sole is firm enough to prevent sideways roll in the pedal (eg, your foot doesnt roll sideways when you pedal)
- the cleat doesn't roll (i assume most road cleats are fine, its the mtb ones that are more likely to do this)
- the front of your foot isn't sliding sideways in the extra wide toebox which shouldn't happen if your midfoot is secure.
Chasse patate

pedale
Posts: 60
Joined: Wed Sep 05, 2018 1:06 pm

by pedale

silvalis wrote:
Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:32 pm
- the front of your foot isn't sliding sideways in the extra wide toebox which shouldn't happen if your midfoot is secure.
Would there be, except comfort and risk of blister, a bio mechanical drawback of having the foot loose at the front? In the end, since the foot is stuck in the pedal, you can benefit from "round pedaling". I.e. I can't figure out why brands don't allow toes to splay and risk losing customers when they would only have to add a tiny bit more material in the front. Snug mid foot being kinda easy, I presume, with a resonably high arch (maybe using different sole arches like spesh) and a properly placed boa.

Oh well, since shimano have the SPD sandals...

User avatar
silvalis
Posts: 765
Joined: Mon Sep 07, 2015 1:02 am
Location: Aus

by silvalis

pedale wrote:
Fri Sep 07, 2018 10:31 am


Would there be, except comfort and risk of blister, a bio mechanical drawback of having the foot loose at the front?
Maybe.
That's why I said "midfoot secure"
Chasse patate

topflightpro
Posts: 829
Joined: Tue Jan 13, 2009 2:35 am

by topflightpro

silvalis wrote:
Thu Sep 06, 2018 12:32 pm
I wear wide lake cx and tried bonts (didn't work), and a bunch of other shoes.

I feel that as long as your heel is snug and your midfoot is secure, an even wider toebox is fine provided:

- the sole is firm enough to prevent sideways roll in the pedal (eg, your foot doesnt roll sideways when you pedal)
- the cleat doesn't roll (i assume most road cleats are fine, its the mtb ones that are more likely to do this)
- the front of your foot isn't sliding sideways in the extra wide toebox which shouldn't happen if your midfoot is secure.
This sums things up pretty well.

I think a big challenge is making sure the hee is snug and midfoot is secure. Too often, I find that wide shoes are just bigger - like they label a 45 a 44W. That makes it hard to keep the heel snug. I ended up going semi-custom Riivos to address that.

I really liked the fit of the Lake CX236 shoes I had, but my heel slipped. I blame the BOA system a bit for that. I've also tried using heel grips in shoes to help secure my heel. It's an OK fix. I'm going to try Lake CX1s soon.

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