I hate cycling shoe shopping

[Stj]

My favorite shoes if you are ok with leather and laced is the Quoc Pham "Night" leather shoes. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I own. Ive tried other laced/ leather and Boa shoes and these are by far my favorite. They have just an unbelievably supple leather. One reason I like leather shoes is that you can stretch problem areas so if you need more space in the toe box you can stretch that area out (I haven't had to with these shoes however).

Their sizing is a puzzle though. I went with a little bit larger than I normally wear and like the fit (I wear 46 and went with a 46.5).

[oldpotatoe]

Got a LBS that carries Sidi..Genius in Mega..try them on and then, don't be 'that guy'

[merlinmurph]

Shoes in general are always tough to buy, especially a sports-related type of shoe (is there any other type?). Ski boots, hiking boots, court sneakers, cycling shoes, etc all have to fit just right or they end up bugging the crap out of you.

My feet are pretty normal and I can take hours buying ski boots.

Buying shoes online just doesn't happen for me.
Good luck!

[ultraman6970]

Due to pricing and availability of shoes around the shops around im pretty much forced to buy online or here in the forums which takes me always using the wrong size of shoes, or wrong fit or having to tweak stuff a lot... sucks but sidi doesnt make shoes wide enough

If i go sidi theres a lot of difference between the 100 bucks stuff and the 600 one but i do not have 600 to spend. Lake and bont are ok for me but lake is hit and miss with me the higher i go in quality the smaller the shoe i have to get... and i learn that from experience, the bad part is that they dont say jack about it in their website and i do not know if they did adjusted the lasts in the last 2 years when they introduced new models and stuff.

Lake for me has been ok but my issue with at least with the last set i got was that the cleat holes arent like in a position i like because cant get the cleats turned enough the way i like, thats why i have used those no more than two times.

What im saying is that is that for some of us is not only the size and fit what makes frustrating to get shoes but sometimes is something else. Continue like this will end up making my own shoes, and actually being thinking about it for many years..

[bicycletricycle]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Got a LBS that carries Sidi..Genius in Mega..try them on and then, don't be 'that guy'

I would happily do this if it was possible to do

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Stj

My favorite shoes if you are ok with leather and laced is the Quoc Pham "Night" leather shoes. They are by far the most comfortable shoes I own. Ive tried other laced/ leather and Boa shoes and these are by far my favorite. They have just an unbelievably supple leather. One reason I like leather shoes is that you can stretch problem areas so if you need more space in the toe box you can stretch that area out (I haven't had to with these shoes however).

Their sizing is a puzzle though. I went with a little bit larger than I normally wear and like the fit (I wear 46 and went with a 46.5).

I'm interested in these. Did you purchase a couple sizes and then return?

Size comparison to other shoes?

Thanks

[soulspinner]

Originally Posted by oldpotatoe

Got a LBS that carries Sidi..Genius in Mega..try them on and then, don't be 'that guy'

I actually love these shoes. In the last 10 years the fit has changed some though................

[Dired]

+1 for specialized. Have similar issues as you describe. No go in sidi/lake/giro, specci fit really well and are consistent within the brand.

[benb]

I hate this too.. and I really need orthotics.

My weird feet cause me to have functional leg length discrepancies..

If I just wear street shoes and flats I'd never even have figured out I have anything weird going on. The orthotics I put in my running/street shoes + free moving feet on the pedals just completely takes care of the whole thing.

As soon as my feet are bolted into the pedals all of it becomes an issue.

It's really easy for me to get a great pair of orthotics for running/street shoes. Expensive, but they nail it and they last 10+ years.

Cycling orthotics have been super hit and miss by comparison... hard to fit them into cycling shoes, hard to find people who make the orthotics and do it well.

Specialized and Bontrager have worked best for me really.

[jkbrwn]

@benb, have you tried cleat shims instead of an in-shoe orthotic? They helped my leg length discrepancy hugely.

[benb]

Yes I have..

They were not necessarily a good option for me.

My issue is my feet are too flexible, they change shape when bearing weight, and they don't do it equally, and my right foot is larger.

The most recent pair of orthotics I had lasted for about 8 years and pretty much solved all my issues, but they wore out right as we went into the pandemic AND the shop that made them stopped the service.

The guy who has made me 2 pairs for general wear did make me some back around 2007.. but they are somewhat high volume which was a big issue for cycling shoes. He made me upsize & get a wide shoe (Specialized) which created some other issues. Those orthotics solved most of my issues but led to sore feet on long enough rides.

Realistically I've never had a solution which didn't create some foot soreness at 100+ miles. My longest day was in 2018 and was about 155 miles total and my feet were killing me the last 30 miles or so. Pretty much every orthotic I've had for 10-15 years was much harder than off the shelf footbeds.

Right now I'm not going anywhere and sitting for new ones till I get a shot in my arm though.

[donevwil]

I can't believe people are recommending Sidi Megas here, they have the smallest toe boxes of any shoe I've used. Sure they're wide at the ball of the foot, but taper in immediately yielding a very restrictive toe box for flipper footed folks.

[Stj]

Originally Posted by charliedid

I'm interested in these. Did you purchase a couple sizes and then return?

Size comparison to other shoes?

Thanks

I got a pair on eBay that was reported as EUR size 46.5. Quoc reports that as UK 12.5 / US 13.5 on their website but I didn't see that in the listing so just based it on EUR sizing. The sizing is puzzling because I typically wear EUR size 46 which most brands translate to roughly US size 12 whereas Quoc would call that US size 13.

I think if you want to try these, use the sizing chart on their website and if you are in-between sizes (and if they allow you to return) get the two sizes that you are closest to. When I sized up my foot, the shoes are slightly large by maybe half a size but they feel great. Don't trust the sizing that they list without checking your actual foot length against their sizing chart.

I also wear a heat molded custom insole (Ignite G8) so its possible that the extra space with this shoe really works well with my high arch insole. Also test it out with socks that you typically wear.

The leather on these shoes is the one of the softest "tough" shoe leather I have ever felt. They are just so well made, there's no weird seams that cause skin irritation etc. I wish I could buy a pair of dress shoes from them with this leather.

They also include a shoe lace locking system that splits the lacing tension between the top and bottom of the shoe. So basically you can find the ideal toe tension and then lock that in by double looping in the middle of the shoe. Once you dial in the toe tightness you can crank up the top of the shoe as much as you want without it tightening up the bottom portion of lace (to be fair you can accomplish this with normal shoes by just double looping the laces through the middle most lace loop - Ive done that with a pair of Giro Empires and accomplished the same thing). Sorry if this is not clear but if you look these shoes up, you'll see videos of how they work. its quite a simple design.

If I were to compare to Giro empires that I also use, I would say Quoc size 46.5 is probably Giros 45.5 or perhaps 46. It seems like they're using slightly different templates. The Giros have always been consistent with other brands so hope that is helpful for you.

[charliedid]

Originally Posted by Stj

I got a pair on eBay that was reported as EUR size 46.5. Quoc reports that as UK 12.5 / US 13.5 on their website but I didn't see that in the listing so just based it on EUR sizing. The sizing is puzzling because I typically wear EUR size 46 which most brands translate to roughly US size 12 whereas Quoc would call that US size 13.

I think if you want to try these, use the sizing chart on their website and if you are in-between sizes (and if they allow you to return) get the two sizes that you are closest to. When I sized up my foot, the shoes are slightly large by maybe half a size but they feel great. Don't trust the sizing that they list without checking your actual foot length against their sizing chart.

I also wear a heat molded custom insole (Ignite G8) so its possible that the extra space with this shoe really works well with my high arch insole. Also test it out with socks that you typically wear.

The leather on these shoes is the one of the softest "tough" shoe leather I have ever felt. They are just so well made, there's no weird seams that cause skin irritation etc. I wish I could buy a pair of dress shoes from them with this leather.

They also include a shoe lace locking system that splits the lacing tension between the top and bottom of the shoe. So basically you can find the ideal toe tension and then lock that in by double looping in the middle of the shoe. Once you dial in the toe tightness you can crank up the top of the shoe as much as you want without it tightening up the bottom portion of lace (to be fair you can accomplish this with normal shoes by just double looping the laces through the middle most lace loop - Ive done that with a pair of Giro Empires and accomplished the same thing). Sorry if this is not clear but if you look these shoes up, you'll see videos of how they work. its quite a simple design.

If I were to compare to Giro empires that I also use, I would say Quoc size 46.5 is probably Giros 45.5 or perhaps 46. It seems like they're using slightly different templates. The Giros have always been consistent with other brands so hope that is helpful for you.

Thanks for the insight.