I'm looking for a pair of WIDE bike shoes to wear while riding. I do not use clips. I've always preferred what they used to call "toe clips" or cages or straps and I still use them. I generally ride with an old pair of 12 W running shoes, but I figured a shoe designed for biking would probably be better. The "European" sizing throws me, but I cannot find any wide sized shoes at all. Do they exist? Any advice? Thanks.
Lake make wide and extra-wide shoes, but none of the models are suited for someone who wants to ride with clips but no cleats.
Shimano shoes are usually considered wider than most other cycling shoes, so something like the GR500 would work pretty good assuming they're wide enough.
Indoor soccer shoes are popular for the clips and straps messenger scene and New Balance has a couple models in a 12W. The 442 Team IN looks pretty normal.
If you found them to be too flexible then I'd say try trading the clips and straps for a large platform mountain bike pedal for more support. These ones on Amazon for $20 are a great value and the metal pins will be very secure with the soccer shoes. These other ones with plastic pins won't be as grippy but are more friendly to shins, door frames, and anything else you might hit with them. If you like those but want even more support, then you can step up to the massive Catalyst pedals.
Thanks for the suggestions. I have never played soccer. Do soccer shoes have a stiff/solid bottom that would help energy transfer and pedal pressure on a bike? In re: messenger scene: are you saying that bike messengers have been known to use these shoes? Thanks for your help.
They are not stiff. I think its more that they are kind of pointy which makes it easy to get your foot into clips. They also don't have thick padded soles like running shoes so they aren't squishy.
Since they're not stiff, they're probably better paired with bigger pedals to give you some support. The idea is to have the pedal be the stiff part instead of the shoe. If you want some retention you could try the "feetbelts" that are also popular in the fixed gear scene. They look like this: Foot Straps.
The easy thing to tell you is to give in, buy some wide or x-wide Lake mountain bike shoes, and a set of clipless pedal, but I'm trying to come up with some alternatives closer to what you have right now.
Lake MX238 Mountain Bike Shoes are available in wide widths as stated in a previous post by drwelby - if you decide to clip in. I really this shoe. Standard width shoes would have my feet going numb about 10 miles into a ride. This is the only brand that I have found that are comfortable for me and I have tried may. I put those dual pedals on all my bikes that are clipless on one side and MTB cleated or flat on the other side depending on the application of the bike.
Angstrom wrote:Shimano lists several shoes in wide sizes: XC3 in Wide 36-52 XC5 in Wide 38-48 XC7 Wide 38-50 I didn't check all of them.
Giro makes "High Volume" (HV) versions of some of their shoes.
Neither of those have wider soles, just more upper volume. Lake and Bont are the only two making truly 'wide' sole shoes. Doesn't matter anyhow since OP is asking for standard athletic shoes and not 'bike' shoes.
