Who makes narrow shoes?

[Dr Luxurious]

I need some new MTB / CX shoes but need narrow...

[TunaAndBikes]

I have narrow feet too!
I'm very happy with my Giro VR90. Ive tried the privateer lace and they were fine as well but they only had red which isn't my jazz really.
Couldn't try some Fizik in my size, but have heard that (most) italian brands are narrower than most.
Shimano and Bontrager: I would bring both flanges of the shoe to a touch and still have wiggle room so those didn't work out

[Polyglot]

I too have narrow feet and have been successful using a pair of Northwave shoes that are a size smaller than what I would normally use. They have a very tall toe box and good heel lock. Worth a try.

[prototoast]

I have wide feet, so I know to stay far away from Sidi and Fizik. You should try those.

[Dr Luxurious]

Sidi and Northwave have been hit/miss over the years.
I think it depends on where they're actually manufactured.

I have Mavic now. I'd like to get more but they're hard to find right now.

[azrider]

Mavic makes the narrowest shoe I've ever worn.

[Alan]

I have A width feet so same issue. Most recently I have been wearing Specialized shoes as a few models are in narrow. In my Specialized shoes I am using the Retul custom insoles which are great and add a lot of volume as they have a significant arch.

Lately I have been looking at having a second pair of shoes and my comments are below:

Sidi - They don't make narrow shoes any longer. I called the US dist and confirmed. Their standard width is C/D. I used to ride only Sidi when they had narrow shoes that were labeled "S". They have not made these for over 2 years

Specialized - worth trying their narrow shoes and their insoles are decent for stock

Have not tried yet but thinking of trying -

Lake - they appear to have some shoes that run fairly narrow and have decent sizing info on their web site
Luck - they clearly can make custom shoes that run narrow and they are quite reasonable. There is a thread here about Lucks and people are happy.
Giro - have not tried but would like to try as they seem to run narrow but not sure how narrow

Competitive Cyclist does categorize shoes as narrow but it may take call to them to narrow down some possibilities.

It is hard enough to try shoes in good times but now with Covid this is a bigger problem as some shops are just not letting you try on shoes and you can't find them anyway.

I find that insoles make a huge difference in fit. Step one is to find insoles that work for you and then move to trying shoes.

Alan

[soulspinner]

Sidi and Northwave have been hit/miss over the years.
I think it depends on where they're actually manufactured.

I have Mavic now. I'd like to get more but they're hard to find right now.

Sidis have certainly changed Could not even get my foo into new 43s and my old ones were 43s. That being said, my 44s have room for my orthotcs so it worked out. Still have the nib 43s.

[jpw]

Most of them tend to be narrow to narrowish. Finding wider cycling shoes is the harder thing to do. Italian brands tend to be narrow.

[weiwentg]

Most of them tend to be narrow to narrowish. Finding wider cycling shoes is the harder thing to do. Italian brands tend to be narrow.

Italian brands and Giro, which is American but with an Italian-inspired name.

James Huang at Cyclingtips characterized the Bontrager Ballista Knit (https://cyclingtips.com/2019/11/bontrager-ballista-knit-shoe-review-knit-done-right/) as fairly narrow. I'm not sure if that carries over to all Bontragers. Also, James has slightly unusual feet.

I should mention, often the women's version of a shoe is built on a narrower last. For example, Shimano says that their women's version of the Dynalast (https://bike.shimano.com/en-EU/technologies/apparel-accessories/footwear/last-technology.html) has 5% less circumference around the midfood than the regular Dynalast (and the wide Dynalast has 6% more). I think I've seen literature confirming that the women's lasts are narrower for at least Giro and Sidi. So, if the women's colors are sufficiently neutral, some riders might be willing to consider a women's version of a shoe if they need a narrow fit. I mean, the Giro E70 is available in a very nice berry and a grey/blue highlights scheme, but only for the women's version. I'd totally get the berry version if the regular E70 weren't already on the narrow side of what I can wear.

[voir dire]

Northwave used to be known for being narrow, maybe the most narrow, but I do not know if that is still the case these days.

[weiwentg]

...
Lake - they appear to have some shoes that run fairly narrow and have decent sizing info on their web site
...

Lake also uses 3 different lasts. The race lasts fit pretty narrow as a whole, so perhaps one of those shoes might do it for you! Those would be the premium shoes, though.

[RoosterCogset]

Sidi and Northwave have been hit/miss over the years.
I think it depends on where they're actually manufactured.

I have Mavic now. I'd like to get more but they're hard to find right now.

Mavic makes the narrowest shoe I've ever worn.

Mavic is narrow, I find similarly sized, but a teensy bit narrower than giro.
FYI, I've had success with All4Cycling.com in the past with Mavic but not sure how they are these days with stock.

[KJMUNC]

+1 on Mavic being narrow and same for Luck.

Luck's standard is just as narrow as Mavic and their custom sizing gives a ton of different options. they have good sizing info on their website to compare, plus they have a bunch of models on close-out (although they're a bit slow in shipping given the pandemic) so you can try out some of their top models for <$100.

[Dr Luxurious]

I've not heard of Luck until now.

Any good?

.

[retropean]

I have narrow feet too!
I'm very happy with my Giro VR90. Ive tried the privateer lace and they were fine as well but they only had red which isn't my jazz really.

Can confirm the Giro VR90s are narrow, have got a kind of minimal retro aesthetic, and come in some sweet color ways.

[KJMUNC]

I've not heard of Luck until now.

Any good?

.

Very good, and excellent value. take the extra time to measure your feet and do it twice, as shipping from Spain isn't cheap or quick ($50 and took mine 3 weeks to arrive).

[12snap]

I have narrow-ish feet. My forefoot is average but my heels are narrow. I always needed to size down or I would get heel lift. I once bought 15 pair of shoes from Competitive Cyclist just so I could compare them back to back. I tried all the big names. Giro, Sidi and Shimano were some that I thought would work for me but I sent them all back. I've found that Gaerne has, hands down, the best fit for my narrow heels. I now have both road and mountain shoes from Gaerne. Their higher end models are much more comfy than the cheaper ones as well.

[ultraman6970]

Who makes narrow shoes? <---- Everybody! :D Unless you have two sticks, you can do go with everybody.

[hockeybike]

Bringing this thread up -- I wore lake CX330s for a long time, but they're now a bit narrow in the forefoot/short in the forefoot.

If getting a longer lake doesn't work, has anyone had luck with Gaerne or Northwave for a wide forefoot/narrow heel? Giro, Fizik, and Shimano don't work, or at least don't work at my price point (250-350). Lake seems to have some shoes in that price point, and northwave is forever on closeout, as is Garrne.

No problem ordering a bunch and keeping only the one that fits, but narrowing options before doing that would be great.

[AngryScientist]

Bringing this thread up -- I wore lake CX330s for a long time, but they're now a bit narrow in the forefoot/short in the forefoot.

If getting a longer lake doesn't work, has anyone had luck with Gaerne or Northwave for a wide forefoot/narrow heel? Giro, Fizik, and Shimano don't work, or at least don't work at my price point (250-350). Lake seems to have some shoes in that price point, and northwave is forever on closeout, as is Garrne.

No problem ordering a bunch and keeping only the one that fits, but narrowing options before doing that would be great.

what you are describing is kind of how i thought of Bont shoes that i tried. maybe worth giving them a shot, especially with the heat moldable foot bed. there are a bunch of options at various pricepoints.

they definitely did not work for my foot, but maybe they might be good for you.

[owly]

...a wide forefoot/narrow heel?

Bumping this:- The old S-Works 6 XC had a rather narrow heel. Round'ish and decent width front in the standard-width. Having fairly flat feet, these fit me really well.

Apparently they widened the heel in the next release after the 6 as it was too constrictive for many.

[Alan]

I ordered some Vittoria Velar shoes from my LBS. They do make narrow width shoes but don't have them listed on their site. My LBS is a stocking dealer so can order narrow and wide shows at no extra charge. Note their sizing chart is quite inaccurate so you must try them on at a dealer. I was impressed w quality as they are all made in Italy.

My LBS stopped selling Sidi as all liked the Vittorias much better.

Link to site is at:


https://vittoriashopus.com/
Don't pay any attention to the sizing chart.

Will report back when I receive them in a month or so.

Alan

[Alan]

I ordered 45 narrow Vittoria Velars from my LBS. See link below:

https://vittoriashopus.com/road-shoes/26-177-velar-black.html#/28-color-bk_bk/40-sole-fct/57-size-40

Finally put cleats on and gave them a try. My observations are below:

* These are probably around B width so work fine for me as I have A width feet but use Specialize Retul orthotics. Are definitely narrow for low volume feet.
* Standard insoles that come w shoes are quite good and are heat moldable and are thick enough that you can use your own orthotics
* Quality is very good and I think better than Sidi
* Sizing is very similar to Sidi but you should try on a shop if possible.
* Pricing is very reasonable for quality

I don't have any neg comments here. You can call the dist and get a live person on the phone for questions. I was able to try on shoes at my regular shop so I got the correct size. These are truly narrow shoes like the old Sidi narrows before they stopped making them. They also will do 2 sizes for people w different sized feet and do wide widths also. Very good craftsmanship and quality.

Feel free to pm me if you have q

Alan

[Vamoots58]

I ordered some Vittoria Velar shoes from my LBS. They do make narrow width shoes but don't have them listed on their site. My LBS is a stocking dealer so can order narrow and wide shows at no extra charge. Note their sizing chart is quite inaccurate so you must try them on at a dealer. I was impressed w quality as they are all made in Italy.

My LBS stopped selling Sidi as all liked the Vittorias much better.

Link to site is at:


https://vittoriashopus.com/
Don't pay any attention to the sizing chart.

Will report back when I receive them in a month or so.


Alan


In what way was the sizing chart off? I have checked my local LBS's and none are Vittoria dealers. As a road shoe-a-holic, I never cease to be amazed at how different manufacturers notions of sizing are...I mean, 276mm is 276mm, right??