I just got a new pair of shoes with the BOA system. I have weirdly shaped, wide feet and finding a shoe that fits has been, well, unpossible. I just got Lake CX236c, and they seem to fit well, at least until I tighten them up. With all of my previous shoes, I have had to leave the straps across the top of my foot very loose to keep the pressure off of the outside of my foot, essentially allowing a lot of room width wise for my foot. With the BOA system, I can't do that. If I ratchet it down to where I feel like my heel is secured down, then the rest of my foot is scrunched and it's too tight leading to numbness and pain.

I'm thinking about playing around with the shoe and seeing if I can adjust the lacing system so it only tightens around the highest eyelets of the shoe, which will keep my heels in but leave room for the rest of my foot to be comfortable. I ordered replacement wires and knobs today (which were surprisingly inexpensive) so I'll be trying this soon.

Has anyone tried something like this? Thoughts, experiences?

Have you tried Northwave or Sidi Megas? Probably the two widest cycling shoes out there.

Yeah, I have. The problem is not the width and actually the Lakes are wider than Sidis.

I don't know about your shoes, but the Specialized shoes have an extra optional hook that you can use, or not. Using it made it much tighter across the top relative to the rest, not using it made it more even.

As far as modifying it, you wll likely have to take the mechanism apart. I've had to do it a few times to replace them, it was a little intimidating the first time but it ended up being pretty easy. Once you disassemble it, you would be able to relace it however you want.

I don't know a thing about these shoes, but it does sound like you might be a candidate for a pair of custom cycling shoes. Considering how much you've no doubt spent on this sport the added expense isn't that much, around $500 the last time I checked, which admittedly was a while back. I think it'd be worth looking into anyway.

Thanks, very helpful. These do have the extra hook to increase the tightness across the top, and relacing them wasn't too bad. So with out the bottom eyelets laced, these seem to fit ok, but I'll know tomorrow after my ride.

Custom is on the horizon. Considering what I have probably spent buying and selling and losing a little money each time I do that, I should have started with custom and been done with it.

I'm curious how it worked out?

I've been looking at these shoes and the only thing I'm worried about is not being able keep the toe area loose enough. I have issues with one foot and I can't seem to find the right shoes. The wide CX236's seem like a good fit aside from the BOA thing.

It made it better, but not great. I had to lace only the very top eyelets, and now they're ok. I think maybe after a little while and the leather loosens up as the shoes break in things might get a bit better and I may be able to rerun the lacing through the lower eyelets.

But overall it did work and it was pretty simple.

Yeah, I thought they might need a breaking in since they're real leather. I might give these a shot, or at least make the 50 mile drive to try them on. Thanks!