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Contemplating some clipless pedals for the gravel bike (currently using flats and find on a longer ride I'm getting sore balls of feet and arches).
My last pair of the venerable Shimano £30-50 SPD's is well worn and my specialized shoes have split open so an opportunity to think about pedal system and shoes all at once.
I need a shoe with a wide fitting and especially no pointy toe box.
I've always got on ok with those smaller SPD's but I am wondering if there's something else out there that is still off road friendly with a bit of a platform and maybe a smidge of float that won't look out of place on a gravel bike.
I can see Time still do some pedals with platforms and maybe Crank Bros?
Suggestions for wide fronted SPD shoes and any pedal suggestions?
Shimano XC7 in a wide fitting work fairly well for my wide feet on the gravel bike. The boa helps. Historically shimano were always much too narrow for me but the XC7 in a wide fitting do me ok (also AM9 for mtb although I wish they were a shade wider, like the old white ones were). I have had specialized xc shoes too, which were just passable but only because there was just nothing out there to fit my foot width back then.
I haven't tried the XC7s with any platform pedals though, just the traditional XCs. I suspect with a hard sole like that a platform is pretty pointless.
I've been recommending Crank Bros Mallet shoes since finding them myself, they're nice and wide at the toes.
Wide feet here. I'm not exactly the gravel biking type, but I do get on well with XT M8120s. There's enough of a platform for foot-purchase and they're not offensively weighty.
I’ve some northwave x-trails that are 1/2 a size bigger than usual but they fit my Celtic flippers so well.
Before 5:10 got subsumed by adidas they used a really wide last. So perhaps a NOS pair of hellcats?
Thanks all bit of searching needed now. With nowhere local carrying a decent range of footwear very much dependent on the online option and don't want to spend my life going back and fore to the post office!
My feet are as wide as they are long and I have a very old pair of FLF branded shoe that fit fine. Planet X did a pair identical so may be worth looking. The design is changed now so this is a pretty useless recommendation but the new ones look wide:
https://www.planetx.co.uk/i/q/SHCAGMTBO/carnac-grit-mountain-bike-shoe-olive
XT spd’s with the platform on my commuter 2+ hours a day and my feet are fine.
I have to use thin shoes that sort of submit to the shape of my feet
I need new shoes and I can't find any that'll do it.
I was using some giro ones.
I’ve found Northwave always feel baggy width wise on me if I go for my usual size - but I can’t get away with going down a size. So might be worth a look.
I don’t get on with my Shimano xc shoes and small spds - they seem to mess up the outside of my right foot. The spds I get on best with are Nukeproof horizons with Shimano AM7’s which seem more spacious inside at the front and more supportive under my foot. Might look a little odd on a gravel bike though.
I’m exactly the same as luket. I could only find the wide fit shimano shoes on the german sites, don’t think they are available in the uk
Lake wide fit, or Giro HV models
I've got wide feet and find Northwave comfortable
IMO the pedal is irrelevant to wide feet, it’s the quality of the shoe that effects whether you get pressure points etc through the pedal/shoe
How do northwave size up? True to size, or go up like shimano? Need some shoes for my flipper feet too 🙂
Since we are here: I might need some new SPD shoes soon. I've had a couple of pairs of Specialized ones but the sole rubber seems to end up breaking up and falling off if I end up walking or pushing up stuff, although they fit well. So I'm considering slightly more walkey type ones, maybe those new Endura ones? Although I'm no racer I do appreciate good efficient shoes and whenever I've tried lace-up ones in the past they've not been great when pedalling circles.
I guess I need both types, don't I? 🙂
Also wide feet and found that Lake wide fit are great for my hobbit feet and paired with some XT 8120's has proved blissful on both my hardtail and the Bokeh without looking too bad.
I’ve got size 9 feet in a 4e width. Using some Northwave wide xc shoes with Crank Bros Candy pedals on the gravel bike.
Not bad. Might just need to stretch the right shoe a tiny bit in the width.
@molgrips I think the quality of shimano nowadays is decent. ME7? I only didn't get them because I got the impression they wouldn't size up quite as wide as AM9s. But I can't remember where I got that from and rather suspect it might be b****cks since the AM9s don't come up wide like the old AM shoes did.
Annoyingly Lake only do their wide fit in larger sizes, so they were never an option for me. I'm a very wide 41 in a perfect world, although nearly all my shoes are 42.