Flat pedal shoes (other than Five Ten)

[Nicole Jacobs]

Leatt flat pedal shoes.

[Enduro newbie]

I have high foot arches and almost anything I buy off the shelf gives me numb outer toes on the bike. I Need more support Under my foot. If you have a pair of shoes with lighter soles that are lekker worn in...have a look inside or take the inner out. Compare to below. If it looks anything between high and normal you probably need more support inside your shoe under your arch. My right foot is even worse than that ‘high’ pic...it has a clean break between the heel and toes. Most shoes come stock standard with “platvoet” inners. I know for a fact the spaz ones do because i’m using the greens inside my clipless spaz shoes and thats two levels up from stock. (They come in stock(black or red aftermarket), blue(med), green(high).

So here is something to try, Vans run a little tight in the toe box area, so and I have done this for the past 15 years with all my skate shoes, microwave!

Put the shoe in the microwave for about 20 seconds, be careful, don’t do it if the shoe has steel eyelets, wear a thick pair of socks and loosen the laces. After the 20 seconds, it must be hot, not warm. Put your foot in and tighten the laces as normal. Jump up and down a bit. You can do it 2 times if needed. You can use the oven too but takes a bit longer, 200 degrees.

 

Like I said I have been doing this for years, I have high arches so I need a little extra support in the arch area. Also my feet are a bit wide so this is why I microwave them. Sounds crazy but it works.

 

Try it. It does nothing to the shoes structure or durability it just makes your foot mould to the inner.

[Hairy]

So here is something to try, Vans run a little tight in the toe box area, so and I have done this for the past 15 years with all my skate shoes, microwave!

Put the shoe in the microwave for about 20 seconds, be careful, don’t do it if the shoe has steel eyelets, wear a thick pair of socks and loosen the laces. After the 20 seconds, it must be hot, not warm. Put your foot in and tighten the laces as normal. Jump up and down a bit. You can do it 2 times if needed. You can use the oven too but takes a bit longer, 200 degrees.

 

Like I said I have been doing this for years, I have high arches so I need a little extra support in the arch area. Also my feet are a bit wide so this is why I microwave them. Sounds crazy but it works.

 

Try it. It does nothing to the shoes structure or durability it just makes your foot mould to the inner.

out of interest would a boiling pot of water also work .... this for the shoes with metal bits on them?

[Enduro newbie]

out of interest would a boiling pot of water also work .... this for the shoes with metal bits on them?

Put the oven on 200. Heat them up gradually and feel them as they get warmer. Water won’t work, if there is any leather on the shoe it shrinks a bit as it dries.

 

This technique hasn’t failed me. I had a pair of Vans that killed my feet, so bad that they started to burn and were basically unwearable. Me being a cheap skate and not wanting to buy new shoes I did this about 4 times after each cooling( I don’t recommend this, it should work after 2 times) but I got them so good I could go skating with them without and numbness or burning. They lived there days out getting dragged across griptape.

[Vaultboy]

I wear minimalist shoes (wide toe box, zero drop, thin flexible soles) almost exclusively, as all other shoes give me foot problems for normal use, and even worse for cycling - pressure on my big toes and foot pain along outer part of my foot. Minimalist shoes are great, but are not very well suited to flat pedals - too much flex, plus they are quite expensive, so not keen to get the soles ruined by pins. Any shoe suggestions?

[Chadvdw67]

For anyone who is looking for flats, I was at Sprocket and Jack the day, they seemed to quite a variety of Leatt shoes available