Where can I find wide cycling shoes? The best shoes for wide feet

I have very short wide feet and have found a pair of Shimano RP3 Wide Fit (size 42) to be a great success, comfortable on long rides. Used with Time Expresso pedals.

Very timely thread!

I'm just starting to use road pedals again and am finding my old Giros still give me a lot of pain in the outside of the ball of my foot.

Am hoping some extra shims might sort it, but is this the sort of pain that might be resolved with a wider shoe?

Am torn because I didn't get the same pain with some old Specialized Elites, but I really don't like the look of the Specialized shoes this year (black, or black, with those goofy looking Boa things on them...)

New kids on the block (for Australia anyway) are FLR shoes. They are wide fitting anyway, without having to chose a wide fit option. I don't need flippers to go skins diving and the standard size 45 FLR F XXII is the widest most comfortable shoe I have found. No aching arches or sleeping toes. It's also reasonably priced. 

I've struggled to find shoes that fit. I have a pretty normal forefoot size, but really wide midfoot, especially on the outside of my feet, and narrow heels.

I have tried:

• Shimano wide (narrow midfoot),
• old Specialised Pro Comps (not bad, but unavailable),
• Sidis (really wanted these to work but they didn't),
• Bonts (A2s and a couple of others - they were good and had room to stretch more),
• Mavics (just no),
• cheap Northwave regular widths (nope).

Couldn't find Lakes anywhere. Ended up buying Pearl Izumi standard width shoes. Really comfortable, just enough width in midfoot and supportive heel cup.

I'd tried so many that as soon as I found the Pearl Izumi shoes, I bought three pairs. Luckily they were in the sale too. When they run out, I'll try PI again or buy Bonts. Just pleased I got three pairs for the price of a decent pair of Bonts.

Suplest are the best Ive found for my wide feet, then Lake -- but from now on Im sticking with Suplest - I have about 5 pairs!

Don't forget to try on shoes as late in the day as possible as your feet swell during the day.

I have a wide foot (~108mm), narrow heels, no arches, and high insteps. Ski boots and cycling shoes are nightmares for me. Gaerne double-Boa shoes and custom foot beds work, though. I bought a pair of the road Chrono shoes and matching mountain bike shoes, and both fit well. Being able to adjust the Boas separately is the key.  I don't get any numbness on long rides and if the shoes feel tight, adjusting on the fly is easy. 

The mtb shoes have a decent tread that gives good traction (although I'd really prefer a Vibram-style rubber for wet log crossings) and the uppers have been more durable than I expected, even against Moab's geology. For inevitable hike-a-bikes they're not bad and don't give me blisters on my heels. As  far as I can tell, the shoes are identical except for drilling and the added mtb tread.

Another vote for Lake. I have tried many and these are great. CX237 and I found them on the Planet X website for £80. What a bargain!

I have a horrid time with cycle shoes, to the extent that I am still cycling in sandshoes and flat pedals. I have tried every - every - shoe available to me in the local area, and beyond, and none of them have fitted. Generally too narrow in the toe, or if wide enough there then too long or they pinch my little toe, or something. This includes some of the so-called "wide" Shimano and Bont offerings. The only one that has come close has been a laughably expensive S-Works.

Based on my experience I'm not willing to order online and subject both myself and the store to an endless succession of returns, so in the meantime I'll stick it out with my sandshoes.

Luck do custom fitted shoes based on your own foot measurements, including arch height and they have a fair few different models of shoe.  Slightly disappointed with the quality of the finish but mine fit well and are still in a good state after 2 years.  One tip though; wear your thick cycling socks when you take your measurements - there isn't much extra space in them.

Issue  with Bont was customers going up a size or 2 or 3 and then not fitting properly it will be about 2-3 years ago we had issues with sizing.. So great news if things have changed since.

Iride bringing in the Northwave wide fit road shoe is good news as well this must be a very recent thing as i'd not picked up on it. 

Different brands fit different people as we all have different shape feet so worth trying a few out to find what works.

I am at bit biased to Lake as I do think they make great cycling shoes

I have found that the DMT R2's fit my feet well, there is also the option of getting some custom made Luck shoes, they look like they could be useful if you have odd sized feet, or any biomechanical corrections that are needed http://luck-bike.es/en/my-measurements

The great Italian brand Gaerne does wide versions (Greipel rides that brand). Plus they are very comfortable and look nice.

I just bought a pair of Shimano SH-RP3L Road Shoes from Bike24 in Germany. They seem to carry a larger selection of sizes in Germany than in the US.

The shoes seem to be doing the trick, but as part_robot pointed out, you must go up one size to benefit from wideness.

I normally take a 47 shoe, but had to go to a 48E to get more room.

The SH-RP3L is moderately priced, I paid 80 USD including shipping for mine.

The Lake CX237 in Wide Fit Black are available in the UK here with Free Delivery.

https://goo.gl/3ts4GU

From experience we've always had issues with Bont sizing and in the end stopped selling them.  Northwave don't do wide fit specific but do come in Wider than other brands. Found that Lake sizing is pretty solid with what you would wear in your every day shoes trainers etc

I have for years struggled to get wide fitting shoes to accomodate my bunions and last year resolrted to specialised shows that were a sis and a half too long just to get the width. I had tried Bonts without succeess. I have just got the Shimano Rc7's in my usual length but the wide fitting and they are a revelation-I know, thats pretty strong. But my feet are now cosseted, comfy, no hot spots on first 65 mile ride nor a bit of turbo use. Just as importantly having the right shoe length means my cleats are now properly positioned for comfort and my puny power. I highly recommend the Rc7's not least because they are easy to get hold of via Evans etc.

+1 for Lake - excellent customer service, still wish I could find SpeedPlay soles in wide though.  Lake did offer to make a pair in the CX402 but as part_robot pointed out, the 402 is definitely narrower, although I found it to be so in the mid-sole rather than the toebox. I'm currently using a pair of CX236C's in wide and they're perfect, when coupled with a Specialized high-arch footbed.

Sidi Mega's are a joke - no wider than most manufacturers standard fit, which is a shame 'cos I've wanted a pair of Sidi's since I was 12.

To add to VeloPeo's remarks, make sure you try shoes with whatever socks and supportive footbed you normally use. I know that's obvious to say, but you'd be surprised what an effect an extra 2mm less depth in the toe box has on effective width; I had to belt sand the front of mine down to give me any hope of fitting into my old Vaypor+.

Good article and thanks to part_robot for the real world feedback. I'm a wide fit who's squeezed himself into bont riot's for a while now I heated them up to push the tub out a bit at the edges, it's okay in the summer, in winter however a thicker sock can block the circulation from the midsole a bit too much.

A few years ago I did a couple of 24hr rides. 

At the start of the year, having bought and loved Northwave Celsius winter boots, I bought a pair of Northwave road shoes (I forget the model), fine whilst the weather was cooler but unfortunately London to Paris was the first really hot weekend of the year - the expended feet resulted in me losing a big toe-nail during the course of the ride as they weren't wide enough. 

I replaced them with a pair of Fizik R1s (half price, result!) and they've been the comfiest shoe I've ever owned. Previous to that year I was wearing a pair of Specialized which were also very comfortable for me. 

part_robot obviously has had different experiences - but shoes are just so subjective. Even trying them on in the shop doesn't really help as feet expand in hot weather and you just can't replicate that. 

I have a high ar h and wide hobbit feet, I use the Shimano r321 wide fit and Giro Empire slx.
The Giro are dine if you slaxcen off the lower laces close to the toe box. I also use the lace heel lock technique
(https://www.locklaces.com/blogs/resources/how-to-tie-a-heel-lock ) helps keep the heel in pkace when climbing/ sprinting.

Props to road.cc for writing this article; it's so hard for fellow Hobbit-feeted folks to find wide shoes so it's very much welcome!

I have especially wide feet (something like EE or EEE in US measures) and have stuggled to find shoes that fit for years. So far I've tried about 20 models across the major brands. Here's a summary of what I can remember, true as of mid 2016:

• Shimano: their wides aren't all that wide. I had to go up 2 whole sizes in one model and that caused a whole host of issues with fit.
• Northware: I tried the Northwave Extreme in wide. Fits ok ish but tapers too quickly (and asymmetically) at the front. Might suit some people.
• Sidi: all their Mega versions are very wide indeed with a large toebox volume. Furthermore, the half sizes keep the footbed of the size below and use the last of the size above meaning that a half size is extremely volumous. However, I find their footbeds aren't as wide as the lasts meaning my toes can fall over the sides which is very annoying.
• Fizik: nope (can't remember which model).
• Bont Vaypor, Vaypor+. Wide in theory, but the curved base reduces the effective width and actually causes my toes to bunch on top of each other. The toebox is also too shallow. The Vaypor S I gather improves on this but they are hideously expensive.
• Bontrager: nope (also can't remember which model).
• Giro: pretty narrow in general.
• Lake: a thousand times yes. Lake do wide versions of most of their range and the "Competition Last" (for example on the CX237) is the widest. Be careful of the other lasts (e.g. the  CX402) as they are noticeably narrower. The real shame is that they don't do vegan versions

I wouldn't normally say this, but if you buy Lakes consider buying direct from them online; their customer support is excellent and they'll really look after you if anything goes wrong (more so than even your LBS). Highly recommended.

EDIT: a few typos and clarifications. Note that this edit has put the comments out of order. This was previously the second comment.

Specialized also has a wide-version of it's S-WORKS 6 road shoe,  Mavic has it's Maxi Fit  version of some of their shoes, especially made for wider feet! 
I also buy my bike stuff from Bike24 regularly and they have a wide feet filter so that's very useful for me as I used to have to buy a shoe size up to get in a shoe!