- 2 days ago
Cycling shoes are key to getting comfortable on a road bike or gravel bike and are an important part of any bike fit. To help make your next cycling shoe purchase as comfortable as possible we contacted a professional bike fitter to see what tips they had to find the right cycling shoes for you.
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00:00These are my new cycling shoes and I'm very pleased with them,
00:04but that shouldn't come as much of a surprise because I was meticulous
00:08in my shoe buying decision making.
00:15However, new shoe day isn't quite such a slipper-like experience for many people
00:20and so we thought we'd share some of the buying mistakes that we've made when it comes to cycling
00:26shoes and get some expert advice from a professional bike fitter here at Synergy Performance.
00:31Let's get into it.
00:35So Luke, whilst you set up my cleats, why is getting the right shoe important?
00:42To keep it simple and straightforward.
00:44Effectively, what you've got to imagine, we've got a set of scales,
00:47the front of the bike, on the saddle and down at your feet,
00:50and what I'm trying to do is stabilise you on the bike by passing weight through your feet
00:54and by passing this weight down through your feet and stabilising your foot,
00:58you can have a happy, comfortable foot that's going to deliver power better,
01:01and yeah, maybe a few extra ones.
01:06So, point number one.
01:08Buying a shoe we like the look of rather than actually how it fits your foot.
01:12I bet that happens quite a lot.
01:14I see that a lot, so I bet you see it all the time.
01:17I do, and this brand of device, really effective way of understanding the size of your foot,
01:22and most importantly the width of your foot,
01:24to understand what may be a good direction of cycling shoe to go in.
01:29What we see a loss of is an industry driven by Italian design,
01:34when actually the British person's foot is not shaped like that.
01:38So, having a little look at the shape of your foot, the shape of your toes,
01:43are you maybe an arrow-pointed foot?
01:45Are you maybe more of a box or square-like foot?
01:48Are you looking at the shape of your foot, and this width is a really key metric,
01:50to understand what direction do I go in with the shape of the shoe?
01:54And that's the important thing to start with, is the shape of the shoe,
01:57before you go down the route of, oh, this one's on discount,
02:01and I like the look of that, I'm going to buy this one.
02:03So, what are my feet like?
02:06So, it's important to understand your foot shape when you're standing up.
02:10So, if you stand up for me, see how your foot spread out there,
02:15and gain the width and size, and this is how you out-analyse your foot.
02:19So, not when you're sitting down.
02:21Now, pretty simple metric, 42 and a half, pretty standard,
02:25first amount of tarsal location.
02:28So, you're pushing out in a D in width.
02:31So, you've got a little bit of forefoot width to your foot shape.
02:38The second thing to discuss about is how not all 42 shoes fit the same.
02:44Now, not everyone has access to a branded device at home.
02:48A simple way to understand, is your foot the correct length for your shoe,
02:52is to take the insole out of your shoe,
02:55and place your foot onto the insole, and stand up.
02:58And this is a good indication of how your foot wants to connect with the shoe.
03:04So, how much should you have at the top?
03:06What I would like to see is no kind of excess fabric or insole towards the head of the toes,
03:13and I ideally don't want to see your foot overhanging the edge.
03:17So, all you can see here is you fit this insole quite nice.
03:21If I was seeing lots of this overhang at the front,
03:25it's probably been an insight into the size shoe you're in is not the correct size.
03:32It's worth pointing out that as soon as you fit a cleat to it, you can't send them back.
03:36A hundred percent.
03:37So, do that first.
03:42A big thanks to FLR Shoes, who've sponsored this video and made it possible.
03:46The shoes that I went for and have been using are the FNT 9 Knit.
03:50That's a world tour level shoe.
03:52They've won two stages of Puerto Espana.
03:54I believe it's the US national champs as well at some point.
03:57They've got three layers of woven yarn and that makes them really breathable,
04:02which is something that I really want because I've been riding in lots of hot conditions.
04:05I get to go and ride my bike in lots of very nice places.
04:08So, that's something well up my shoe buying list.
04:12FLR, though, make a whole range of shoes to suit a whole range of foot shapes and budgets.
04:17So, you can check out their whole range from mountain bike shoes, road shoes,
04:22downhill shoes, every kind of shoe.
04:24You can check them out on the FLR website and we'll pop a link down in the description below.
04:28Whilst I've got you here, make sure you're subscribed to the channel.
04:31And now, back to do some shoe fitting.
04:35Point number three, sizing up to accommodate a wide foot.
04:39I see it all the time where people maybe wear a size 42, 43 trainer,
04:44and they assume that that's the size of their foot.
04:47Whereas actually, they may be a smaller foot, but they need more width than the shoe.
04:51I mean, I can quite see how that would be a problem, but what are the consequences of
04:56buying a shoe that's the wrong size?
04:58Inherently, this is a very poor lever.
05:01My job as a bike fitter is to reduce how much of a poor lever this is to stabilize your
05:06feet.
05:06What I see a lot of the time is if you're doing this thing of inherently sizing up to accommodate
05:11a wider foot, quite simple, these cleats are going to be too far forward.
05:15And the consequence of these cleats being too far forward, foot numbness, hot spots on feet,
05:21and most importantly that people don't really understand is an inability to stabilize your foot,
05:26is then going to pass weights elsewhere on the bike.
05:29Yep.
05:30Hand numbness, knee pain, saddle sores, asymmetry on the bike.
05:35All from the wrong size of the shoe.
05:36Potentially.
05:39Point number four, the most overlooked part of buying a new shoe.
05:43What goes on inside of this, and in particular, arch your foot.
05:47So, this thin piece of foam that comes inside of your shoe.
05:51Ideally, what I wish the cycling industry would do as a whole,
05:54sell you this shoe with nothing inside of it.
05:57So you then have to go, oh, maybe I should go and get something made designed for my foot.
06:01I would find that a little bit weird, but I do get your point.
06:05Yeah.
06:05Um, do any brands do that?
06:07No brands do that.
06:08One industry does it really well, and that's the ski boot industry.
06:11If you go and buy a set of ski boots, you have to have a ski boot fitting.
06:14Why do I need arch support?
06:16So, let's give your arches a little measure.
06:21You're pushing around about 25 mil of arch height.
06:24Not uncommon.
06:25I see that a lot.
06:26Anywhere from sort of 20 to 25 mil is really quite common.
06:30Now, here's a pretty simple representation of what your foot is doing inside of this shoe.
06:35Your foot is basically not touching all of this space here.
06:40Now, this stiff carbon sole, this is not going to mold up to your foot.
06:45Your foot, this is rigid.
06:47It's my job to get your foot to touch the bottom of this.
06:50One, we can get more of your foot touching the bottom of this.
06:53Delivering power and stabilizing your foot is going to be far easier.
06:56Why tend to say to people, if they've got a budget of 300 pounds to spend on a shoe,
07:01it's better to put 200 pounds into the shoe and 100 pounds into a custom insole.
07:06And that's why insoles is simply the best bang for buck upgrade on your bike.
07:16Right, so I've got my new shoes.
07:18I'm ready to go.
07:20Definitely not yet.
07:21You can still mess it up.
07:22So, this next point, we're going to be talking about cleat setup and a little bit about some foot
07:29foot correction. Generally, if I'm going to give any kind of advice,
07:32it would be to trial moving your cleats all the way backwards.
07:37Why might I want to do that?
07:39Covering the things we've talked about where people are sizing up to accommodate a wide foot,
07:44potentially these three holes being drilled a little bit too far forward for my liking,
07:49mainly driven by quite old school methodology around the centre of the pedal,
07:54aligning with the ball of your foot.
07:55Now, manufacturers are getting better with making these holes further back.
08:00And what we are aiming for when we're setting your cleats is to reduce the tension
08:05and pressure that's going through the forefoot.
08:07So, the first metatarsal is this big bone in your foot.
08:10Really simple way at home of measuring this is place a little bit of tape over the ball of this
08:15foot.
08:16And on a Shimano pleat, they've got a little bit of plastic here that denotes the centre of the pedal.
08:20Quite easy, pop another bit of tape there, measure how far that is behind.
08:25And what we want to see is at least 1.5 centimetres.
08:30Now, that's a starting position.
08:32You can go anywhere beyond that to try and improve the stability of someone's foot.
08:37And that's sort of the base point to start with.
08:40What you may find is that's not far enough.
08:42Okay, so that's the fore-aft positioning done.
08:46Yep.
08:46Anything else to consider?
08:48There are a few more things to take into consideration.
08:51How this basically, the shift in this cleat inwards and outward is going to affect how far away your
08:58foot is from the pedal.
08:59Now, a really, really simple method at home, you can understand this, is just let your foot
09:05dangle over maybe the surface of the sofa or a table and just look at how your foot falls.
09:11Okay, so if I sit on like a high counter.
09:13Yeah, for sure, yeah.
09:15And if your foot naturally falls quite heel in or your foot kind of splays outwards,
09:21it may be a good indication that this is how we're going to want to set your cleats up.
09:24Now, this is not a how to set your cleats video.
09:28I would generally, I would definitely recommend people to go to your local bike fitter because
09:32this is definitely something that takes a little bit more detail than what we're discussing here.
09:37So basically, to bring this back to shoe buying advice, obviously when you buy a new set of shoes,
09:43they don't come with any cleats on, so take your time to carefully position those cleats,
09:48otherwise you'd bugger it.
09:49Definitely. I would strongly suggest either using your current cleats and the way they're
09:55set up on a shoe as a guide, go see a bike fitter, go see someone in your local shop,
10:00they'll
10:01definitely be able to help.
10:05So, to conclude what we've kind of covered, your feet are the most important connection
10:11point with the bike, so it's definitely worth investing a little bit of money, a little bit
10:16of time in making sure you are in the right shoe.
10:18Well, it is absolutely beautiful weather outside, so I am going to go and use my new shoes and enjoy
10:25the weather. Happy days.
10:26We'll be back soon for another video, so keep your eyes out for that one.
10:30See you then.
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