barryst

Hi all,

I am having trouble finding my first pair cycling shoes and had a few questions. I'll mostly be commuting with the longer rides on the weekend. My bike (bought used) has SPD (not SL) pedals so I would lean towards sticking with shoes that are compatible if possible (which narrows the field even more I know).

1. Is a bit of heel lift while walking around in them a meaningful indicator of fit? It's my understanding that with a stiffer sole a slight amount of heel lift while walking might be normal.

2. I have pretty low volume feet I believe. Many shoes I've tried, I seem to have alot more room than I should up front. That and I pretty much usually have to strap down everything to the max to get a somewhat snug fit. My last visit, I ended up picking up the Shimano R088 shoes as they seemed comfortable enough in the store and had the ability to change positions of the ratchet mounting plate to allow an even tighter fit at the ankle. However, I still get the feeling of too much wiggle room up front (I can almost totally curl my toes). In addition, I also have to pull the straps to the max to the point where the material near the toe strap actually folds a bit because of how tight I've got the straps. Does it seem like the R088 are a bad fit?

3. I understand that I should probably be looking at Sidi's for a narrow fit shoe, but as I mentioned a) I'd like to stick with SPD for now and b) I admittedly don't want to spend a whole lot more on shoes if I'm just commuting usually along with the longer weekend rides. Are there any other brands I can look at?