I have really wide feet. This makes shopping for shoes difficult. But, it makes shopping for cycling shoes a disaster. And, while shopping for wide width shoes and sneakers has improved in the last twenty years or so with the rise of the Internet and online shopping, shopping for cycling shoes hasn’t seemed to improve as much.
I ride a trainer almost everyday. I’ve been using a pair of old Diadora road shoes finally gave out. The cleat screw mounts are stripped and will no longer hold a cleat on. I don’t know how old these shoes are, vintage late 90s, possible from early this century. They sat unused for years until I started riding the trainer a couple of years ago. I pulled off the cleats to see if I could fix them. I actually considered aligning the cleat and epoxying it back to the shoe, just to get back riding and avoid having to shop for cycling shoes.
For shoes and sneakers, I usually stick with Rockport, New Balance, and recently I’ve had good luck with Merrell. Rockport’s extra wide and Merell’s wide shoes seem to fit well. New Balance is the king of wide shoes, supports widths between E and 4E, and I’ll usually buy the 4E.
But back to cycling shoes. Few if any brands offer cycling shoes in wide widths. Worse, most cycling shoes are incredibly narrow. I wear a size US 11 shoe so with cycling shoes I’m typically looking at euro sizes between 45-47. If I go into a LBS I can’t even get my foot into half the shoes in that size. Now some shoes have flexible side panels so my foot fits but its really hanging over the edges of the incredibly narrow soles.
Its usually at this point, where the bike shop employee begins to recommends the brands that “run a little wider”. Try the Shimanos or the Sidis. Lake and Specialized also offer some shoes in widths. And as much as I love the local bike shops, I’m not young and single anymore so the price tags on some of those shoes is a out of my price range.
Usually, the next task is to do a Google search for recommendations. I usually end up reading through old posts in the bike forums looking for recommendation. And then someone always brings up Don Lamson and his custom cycling shoes. When I was younger and used to log a lot of miles on the road. I considered spending the $300-$400, I think to order a pair of wide shoes. I never did. Then it seems Don disappeared for a while. I see he is back again, with D2SHOE. Looks like his 2015 ULTRA shoes range in price from $750 to $925 depending on if you order orthotics. I think it great that Don is back making customer shoes but they are well out of my price range. These days my cycling budget is more Nashbar or Performance than Lamson.
I always had a dream that one day, New Balance would make cycling shoes. They make shoes for all these other sports. I guess it must not worthwhile for them. But, Lacrosse and Skateboarding shoes, wow.
- Baseball
- Running
- Training
- Soccer
- Tennis
- Golf
- Basketball
- Lacrosse
- Skateboarding
Maybe this isn’t as bad as I making this out to be, at least for me. I find that when I drop the extra pounds my shoes to fit better and with online shopping I can order shoes from a wider range of sellers.
Alright, what about you? Did you end up here in your search for wide cycling shoes? Have a recommendation? Leave a reply below and share.