Tom, in your “False Economy” editorial, you stated that this person had bike shoes that were too big, and she had to get new ones. Well, i’m in the market for a pair of tri shoes (been riding my mtb shoes for years), most likely from “Lake”, because, well, that’s my last name. My mtb shoes slide front to back a little when i use my entire stroke. My question is, should i be fitting these things just slightly less snug than technical rock climbing shoes? I imagine fitting them like running shoes would leave too much room for movement. What is the things i should look for in a fit?
Let me offer a slightly different slant. Shoes for running and biking should fit the same. With running most people can get away with using shoes which are “too big” because you can snug them down with the laces and it the fit okay from the arch back its not to big a deal if the front is big.
With bike shoes you should have a snug fit all over (just like proper running shoes). Nothing should be squeezed and nothing should be loose. Its tough to find without trying every brand and even then maybe not. One of the custom bike shoe makers said they got complaints from virtually every customer about the shoes being too tight. They told the customers too try them for a month before judging and had near zero complaints after the month.
When I worked for Speedplay, Richard Bryne had some shoe stretchers? shaped like a foot with holes all over them. They also had little nubs that would fit into the holes. When we would visit pro teams the riders would get the smallest shoes they could fit into. They would identify where the pressure points were and put nubs on the shoe stretcher in those spots. They would insert the stretcher into the shoe, tighten it down, let it sit overnight and the next day they would have tight, comfotable shoes. The average guy would probably just go to the next size up to eliminate those pressure points but end up with shoes a size too big. I am sure wearing the shoes for a month would accomplish the same thing as Richard’s shoe stretcher but you would have to suffer for that month.
What this company found (I forget the name , it may have been Doni) was that people were unaccustommed to having shoes that felt snug all over. They interpreted this as too tight. When they actually rode with the shoes they didnt notice the tightness at all. I sure wouldn’t wouldnt want to try to break in a pair of todays synthetic bike shoes, I suspect that your foot adapts more than the shoe.