Hey Tsunami, you bring up a lot of great points about Shoes on the Small Side.
Full disclosure: I have been working part time for Lake Cycling so know the product quite well (as well as having sold the brand for ten years).
Agree that closure systems near the front of the shoe is superfluous, but could say this is true no matter the size of the foot. Indeed, the shoe should be fitted to the heel, ie, cinched up from the 'top' of the shoe first.
While it is possible to have a cobbler stitch on the Boa base and Boa closure, you still need to have the wire guides stitched along the length of the shoe as well. By that time...you've made a custom shoe!
It does sound like you have more of a width issue, not a length issue.
If most of the issue is with your pinky toe (perhaps you have a tailors' bunion?) yes the placement of seams in cycling shoes is usually 'right there'. Sometimes moleskin on the inside will help cover it up, but then you lose volume.
Lake offers Wides and Double Wide from size 39EU up.
Bont offers Wide from 36EU up but not 2X wide. Interesting to compare a Bont 39 Wide to a Lake 39 Wide as, depending on the last the Lake shoe can trend wider than the Bont. The Bont Vaypor doesn't seem to have any major seams at the pinky area, nor does the Tri shoe.
Do not go by terms like "6.5US" or even "39EU", look at the metric dimensions for each brand. Lake does not use the Brannock scale. And, I wouldn't trust a brand that doesn't publish the width of their shoes.
If you follow the directions and draw an outline of your feet, let me know your measurements and I'm happy to help more. PM me if you don't want your foot size on the interwebnets!
Heel slippage is minor when on the bike, but if you have a super skinny heel, again moleskin can be placed to snug the fit. Or, the Lake CX332 has a moldable carbon heel cup. The ankle bone discomfort can also be addressed by placing a lift in the bottom of the heel area, to clear your bony bit over the ridge of the shoe. Depending on the shoe brand/model, I've also trimmed away material wherever it may poke or impinge the foot (ankle or instep/tibial ligament).
For "problem feet" (and boy, have I seen some!) Lake has introduced the
CX241 - the closure around the pinky/5th met head is a soft material called NuFoam, and the Boa is relatively high up on the top of the foot. It is a 'softer' closure around the base of the foot, with the foam being underneath the leather 'fingers' where the Boa attaches. Also the heel cup is moldable.
I know most triathetes have an aversion to Boa for transistion speed, but Boa does not have the degradation of retention properties like velcro does (when it gets wet, or old, or full of dog hair). A Boa is extremely fast and reliable.
cheers!
Anne Barnes
ABBikefit, Ltd
FIST/SICI/FIST DOWN DEEP
X/Y Coordinator
abbikefit@gmail.com