adimp

These are my first pair of bike shoes. They are brand new. Is foot pain normal? Do they just need to be broken in? I can't pinpoint a certain part of my foot... feels like the whole foot. The pain is not in the toes, though. If anything it might be too narrow, but doesn't feel too narrow. Any help is appreciated.

Ware

If you're cinching the straps down tight, don't. I did that till I realized all you really have to do is lightly pull the straps over/ratchet up until you just barely start to feel it on the tops of your feet. Feet swell up (pretty fast) when you're riding. At least mine do. Hope that helps a little. It's still too early in the morning for me to try and type anything with any hope of success.

sojourn

I'm going through the process of "re-fitting" as I bought some new replacement road shoes recently.
For me, PATIENCE is a must. I focused on cleat position (fore & aft) along with small seat height adjustments. After riding and "feeling" my foot position, I started to play with the float of the cleats (I have Speedplay Zeros).
Then I rode a bit more and re-adjusted cleat position (moved the cleats further back in my case). I give it a rest and pick up on the re-fitting the next day. How do my legs feel, my knees? If there's pain, where is it specifically?
Armed with that info, I make a minor change to float and seat height. I adjust the foot straps on the fly. Does this relieve some pain? Each time looking for that "comfort" level.......it's an on-going process, not quite right yet, but better after each ride.
Hopefully this helps your situation. If after some days pass and no comfort mark is reached, you may have a shoe size problem.
Good luck!

RazorWind

I had a similar problem with my Genius 5s. The little ratchety buckle thing makes it very easy to make the shoes way too tight, which would cause them to hurt after 20 minutes or so. I eventually figured out that the best way to put them on is to do the velcro straps the obvious way, but when you get to the ratchety thing, just slide the tongue into the buckle all the way until you can't push it in any farther, and don't mess with the little lever at all, unless they get to feeling loose later, in which case you do one click's worth. This is of course assuming that you've got the cleats on properly, and that they sized you correctly when you bought them. I found that it was pretty easy to find yourself thinking you need a much larger size than you really do with them, as they're supposed to fit a lot tighter than regular shoes.

Also, Sidi claims that these shoes don't require any breaking in, since they're not real leather, but my experience was that they got a lot more tolerable as time went on.

roadwarrior

Could be your cleat setup. If the pain is more focused on the outside of your foot, it's because your foot is not setup correctly because of the way your cleat is positioned...in other words your foot is trying to push to the outside mashing the outside of the foot against your shoe. Presto...pain. Think of it like this...your shoe is pointing too much toward the front of the bike, and your foot is angled away from the bike. Something has to give. Th opposite can be true for inside pain, and knee pain as well.

It's impossible to fix on the internet.

This is all assuming that you didn't guess on shoe size and go to the magic world of the internet to buy your shoes. If you went LBS, I'd see them, get resized and see the fitter for a cleat evaluation. This will not go away.

And no, it's not supposed to hurt nor are your toes supposed to go numb.

RichinPeoria

I have to loosen my straps sometimes during my ride because I tend to crank down on them when I put my shoes on. And yes your feet swell during riding so start with your straps a little on the loose side but not so loose your feet move around in them or you'll end up with blisters.

Psimet2001 

I find the opposite for me. I have to leave them loose to start with and cinch them down as I go. The stress of hard riding tends to push fluid out of my feet - or they just get "smaller" or less swollen as I ride.

This kind of goes to show though that the 3 main interference points between rider and bike MUST be resolved on an individual basis. What works for 1 rider may never work for another. Each is unique.

Those 3 points again are feet, butt and hands - everything that can be changed to modify that interface - handlebars, bar tape, gloves, stem, pedals, cleats, cleat position, shims, footwear, foot beds, saddle shorts, and socks.

Think of all of the variations that exist in the above items and then think about how you can be like "The x saddle is the BEST saddle EVAR!" and someone else will be like "I hated it."......different strokes for different butts.

roadiejorge 

You should definitely not be feeling any pain after 20 mins. Make sure your shoes aren't too tight and find an angle and fore/aft position that works for you because there's no universal rule to how this should be done. The common guideline is to position the cleat below the ball of the foot but some fitters claim it's actually better if you go lower, this also depends on how you pedal. There are a lot of variables that affect fit so if you're going to do it yourself make small changes if something hurts to what you think will feel better, but the quick solution is to get your cleats adjusted by a fitter who will observe how your knee tracks while pedaling.

Snugness in road shoes is hard to gauge since "snug" is a relative term, but your toes should have space to move and given that you have Sidi shoes make sure your toes are comfortable in the toe box because cramped toes and improper cleat position can lead to pain, and I speak from experience. If you feel like your big toe is being pushed inward above the first metatarsal I'd take it back to the shop and have them make sure it's the right width. I used to use regular Sidi shoes until I realized I needed the Mega (wider size) because my toes were too tight.

RichinPeoria

I did a little research and found its normal for feet swell during exercise. I could find nothing about feet shrinking. Maybe you are talking about when its cold out. I could see that happening if you are not dressed properly.

As for seats .... some people like to sit on a door knob some people like to sit on a hard plastic thing that looks good when no one is sitting on it. I often recommend the Rolls and/or the Regal because I have read very very few complaints about them unlike the Brooks or many of the Selle Italia "chock full o' features" models.

I have had very positive experiences with my Rolls. I have 2 Brooks and they both hurt my butt when I ride the bikes they are on.

Psimet2001 

Happens just as often to me in the winter as the summer. Temp has no effect on it. Same with shoes, etc. I can ride for 20 minutes or so and I will have to go back and tighten the ratchet, straps, whatever.

Dehydration has done the same - I used to find that I would be at the limits of ratchets by the end of centuries usually.

adimp

Thanks guys for all the input. I guess I'll try changing one variable at a time to attempt to pinpoint the problem. I do ratchet them pretty tightly so that will be my first change.

LS2379

I also have to tighten my shoes as I ride. I snug them up at the start but then usually have to ratchet them tighter once or twice on a ride as I feal my shoes getting loose. Thought I was the only one.

Yaniel

i just bought some sidi genius shoes and look keo pedals and at first i had some bad hot spots after 30 minutes, but moving the cleats around made it all go away. took a couple of tries until i was happy but so far i've been doing 3 hour rides on them and have no pain at all.

Seedy J

THANK YOU! My Sidis had been giving me foot pain on every ride. I tried what you guys said on a 1 hour roller ride today (stupid rain) and my feet didn't hurt at all. Great advice!

globecanvas

My feet swell easily 1/2 size during the first hour of a ride. I had all sorts of struggles with foot pain, most of which were resolved by spending tons of time finding shoes that actually fit my feet well, and the magic bullet of moving the cleats back.

Yaniel

same here