ssc79980

Hi - I'm looking to upgrade from the stock toe clip pedals that came with my bike to my first pair of cycling shoes and would appreciate some advice and recommendations based on the following requirements:

-- WIDE - I have 4E feet, so that eliminates most of the possibilities. I tried the Shimano SH-M088 in wide, but the toe bed is too narrow. A friend recommended Lake, and I'm trying to track down a pair to try on. So far though, I haven't been able to find anywhere in NYC or online that stocks wide sizes.

-- Price < ~$150

-- Usage: Daily 10 mile round trip urban commute. ~monthly 50-100 mile trail rides, mostly paved.

-- I plan to ride year-round inc. in the rain and light snow, so I either need something waterproof or to get shoe covers. Is one of these options necessarily better than the other?

-- Pedals / Cleats: I'd like something that I can easily get out of as I often have to stop short in traffic. It would also be nice to have a pedal that I could occasionally use with non-cycling shoes. Price wise, I'd like to be ~$50.

Thanks!

urbanescapee

As you are already seemingly aware, it will be next to impossible to find cycling shoes in varying widths. The cycling shoe market is a relatively small one as it is, so they tend not to make great variety of sizes. I had a hard enough time finding US Mens size 13 bike shoes that didn't feel too narrow on my normal width feet. Another problem you will undoubtedly encounter is that the spacing between the clip-in point on a pedal and the crank arm is fixed, for my size 13 shoes in a standard width, I have to adjust the cleat inward as far as it will go, and I still have only a few millimeters of clearance between the inside of my shoe and the crank arm. Some photos to illustrate the problem (and in your case it will likely be unserviceable altogether):



In addition to specialty shoes, you will likely need pedal extenders like these to give you the necessary clearance between the inside of your shoes and the crank arm:

Sunlite Pedal Extenders for 9/16" Cranks - 21mm Length

Assuming you can't find cycling shoes in your width, this may be the best option for getting "clip-less" set up on your bike:

urban cycling shoes | purchase | retrofitz - retrofitz makes any shoe a cycling shoe

That way you can find shoes that fit well and make them work for you.

For pedals, the Shimano M324 is a very popular platform/clip-less setup that can be found some places online for around $50-70, otherwise the similar Wellgo WPD-M17C pedals can be found for around $30-40.

Good luck!

Miles2go

Many with 4E wide feet have found success with Specialized brand SPD compatible shoes, HERE is one example.

I second Lake as well for a source for wide spd shoes.

HERE are your pedals. The same source also sells Keen spd shoes which are well known to fit wider feet.

Good luck!

PaulRivers

I wouldn't quite agree with you - it's difficult to find cheap cycling shoes in varying widths. It may be difficult to find cheap ones - and it may be difficult to find ones that are in stock. But it seems like most shoe manufacturers do make wide models around the $150 range.

Edit: Oh, I see I missed that the OP was looking for 4E width. That could be...yeah, that could be a problem.

I'm personally considering ditching clipless altogether. Get a shoe that has a non-compressible sole, and some good pedals like:

WELLGO Alloy BMX Mountain Bike Pedals Sealed 9/16"
https://www.amazon.com/Wellgo-Alloy-S...ds=bike+pedals

Finding 4E clipless shoes might be impossible. But finding wide, fat, flat pedals? That's pretty easy.

Here's another far more expensive but huge option, Speedplay Drillium's -
Speedplay Drillium Platform Pedals | Competitive Cyclist

jaxgtr

I have wide feet and found the Shimano M162's were a good fit for me. I generally have always used one 1/2 size larger. I got mine at performance for $125.

meanwhile

And you won't lose any performance at all; this has been thoroughly investigated by sports scientists -

https://www.thieme-connect.com/produ...s-2008-1038374

- power on the upstroke is a myth except under special conditions (eg sprints by elite athletes).

PaulRivers

Lol, I have interest in getting into one of those endless debates. Suffice to say that everyone does not agree on whether clipless makes you faster, but almost everyone agrees it doesn't make you hugely faster. For a 10 mile commute, could easily be spending as much time taking shoes on and off as you gain from extra speed - if you actually gain extra. It's debatable.

Big Lebowski

Here are the dual sided pedals:

Product

I tried toe covers and they did not help much in the wet, cold and wind. Get good waterproof shoe/boot similar to what law-enforcement uses. I uses Bates.

As for the shoes, I have wider feet and I use the Specialized shoes. They were the "Tahoe", but I think they are the "Cadet" for 2015.

PaulRivers

With double sided pedals, as long as you leave on foot clipped in (which is typical at an intersection), you can clip back in when you get going again without looking down (with some practice). The drawback of pedals like above is that you can't (in my experience owning a similar pair) do that, you always have to look down, and sometimes have to flip over the pedal in order to use it. This comes at the most inconvenient time, just when you're trying to keep an eye on traffic while going through the intersection.

If I was going Shimano Spd, and was actually going to switch pedals often, it's not that hard to switch pedals yourself (unscrew them, screw in the new pedals), but the Ezy pedals look even easier -
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=S1aPm-WqZsQ

noglider 

@ssc79980, I don't know if this is of any use to you, but I've had huge trouble getting any shoe to fit, cycling shoe or other. My feet are not unusually wide, but the widest part of my foot is unusually far forward. I've finally found that the solution for me is to buy shoes big. I then modify them by inserting insoles or tongue pads to make them fit. It leaves excess room in the toe box, but that's OK with me if the shoe is snug enough everywhere else.

trailmix

Good luck, I have been looking for wide cycling shoes since 1990. My foot is a beast, 9.5 6E. Bont makes wider ones but not for $150. To get them to fit my foot is about a $900 custom order-not going to happen. I use toe clips and New Balance running shoes. They come in 4E and are US made to boot.

ssc79980

Thank you for all of the great advice and recommendations. Since it seems the shoe hunt may take a while, I've switched to bmx-style pedals similar to these for now (thanks @PaulRivers for suggesting), and it's a big improvement from the toe clips I had - much better stability, and I find that I'm actually able to go faster, which seems to confirm the report @meanwhile linked to (thanks!), although I haven't tackled any big hills or gone for a long ride yet. And with these pedals, waterproof boots make perfect sense - thanks @Big Lebowski for suggesting.

PaulRivers

+1!

elfonamouse

I have 4E feet and I have good results with going up a 1/2 size with the Shimano SH-MO35. I don't know if they still make it though.