I am cursed with wide feet. While my colleagues can flit about in beautiful narrow Sidis or the Giro Empires I used to force myself into, despite great discomfort, I am forever confined to seeking out the special, behind-the-velvet-rope section of shoe websites to see if there's anything I can squeeze into. Even my own day-to-day shoes are custom-made.
If you're like me, then you may have had bad experiences with nominally 'wide' cycling shoes before, but I have done the legwork and tried the majority of the offerings on the market to see if they actually fit the bill or if they're going to leave you disappointed. There's a big difference between actually wide options and those that are simply 'high volume', which I'll go into at the bottom of the page.
Best cycling shoes for wide feet
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1. Best overall
These are your classic summer road shoes, which I naturally have in white. They come in white or black leather, or a white microfiber upper option, which is differentiated by having white BOA dials. If you're just doing general road miles, then these are the ones to go for, and they come in three widths. Even as a wide-footed chap, I am still in the 'regular' width, so there's room to grow.
The dual-BOA setup is super secure, with the upper dial closing a tongue that wraps all the way over the top of the midfoot. The rear heel can be heat moulded, but I never found I needed to to get the desired fit, and the closure kept me in place even in big sprint efforts.
If you are counting grams, they ain't the lightest, given that the uppers are made of leather – weight weenies should go for the Bonts further down – but the flip side of that is that I have found them to be supremely durable. I tend to run my summer shoes all winter with overshoes and usually wreck a pair in a year, but these are still truckin' on happily with only minor wear showing.
They're not so stiff as the Bonts, but if you're not racing, then I'd say that's totally fine. They have a slightly higher stack too, even compared to many general road shoes, so you may need to ever so slightly raise your saddle height to compensate if you're picky like I am.
My only genuine gripe with them is the slightly old-fashioned, narrow pointed toe box. Bont toe boxes are a lot more roomy, and while I can put up with it if you're a barefoot shoe person in day-to-day life, you may feel constricted. It looks like Lake has rectified this somewhat with the upcoming CX400, but I haven't had advanced copy of these just yet – watch this space.
2. Best budget
The sad fact is that there are very few cycling shoes on the market that are genuinely wide and also reasonably affordable. The Fizik Vento Omna Wide is the best option if you're just getting into road cycling and want your first pair of clip-in shoes, or you simply don't fancy dropping twice this price.
They have a fibre-reinforced plastic sole that isn't as stiff as the rest on this list, but I found it perfectly adequate for big days out in the saddle. If you're dropping sprints every five minutes, then you may want something stiffer, but the jury is out as to whether it actually has any performance benefits.
You only get a single BOA dial to crank the fit down, so it's not quite as glass-slipper-esque as other options, but again, perfectly comfortable, and I never felt like it created any undue pressure points.
For a shoe at this price they perform very well, and accommodated my feet better than any of the other wide options in the Fizik range – a range, it must be said, is streets ahead of many other brands outside of Bont and Lake – but if you like to slam your cleats all the way back you may struggle as the cleat holes are simple, non-adjustable holes rather than slots.
3. Best for racing
Lightweight? Yup. Low stack? You got it. Stiff, but somehow also extremely comfortable? Turns out you can have it all.
I've tried plenty of older Bont shoes with the full 'bathtub' sole (exactly what it sounds like, a crazy stiff sole that wraps all up the sides of your foot), and unless you get the fit absolutely right, with the help of some heat moulding, they can be extremely unforgiving. The latest Vaypor SL drops the sides of the bathtub from the midfoot forwards so your forefoot can spill over the sides and deform the wonderfully flexible uppers.
The dual-BOA dials create a great fit, and the extra flap over the top (differentiating them from the standard Vaypor, which I also rate very highly for almost all the same reasons) really holds the foot in place for high-power efforts. They also have a beautifully roomy, squared-off toe box, which will be music to the ears of the barefoot brigade, and of all the shoes in this guide, it was probably the one that gave my little piggies the least to complain about.
They are quite expensive compared to other options, and having worn mine all through the winter this year, I can tell you they don't hold up to abuse as well as the Lake options. A race-day slipper or one for dry, summer miles, unless you're happy with them looking a little ratty.
4. Best lace-ups
Tell you what, it's slim pickings on the wide, lace-up front. I used to ride lace-up Giro Empires for years because they looked cool as hell, but they were far too wide. Lace-ups do, however, allow you to fine-tune the fit in a way that BOA dials can't quite match, and so if you've got particularly high arches like me, then you can get a better cinch that doesn't leave you flopping about.
Lake has the CX400L coming soon, but for now, the best option is the Bont Vaypor Lace. It's the same shape and the same sole as the Vaypor SL (as well as sharing a lot of DNA with the standard Vaypor), but with added laces. In fact, it's basically the same shoe, so everything that rings true for the SL also applies to the Lace.
They won't be for everyone, and it takes a bit longer to get them to fit just so, but laces are becoming the norm for riders looking for aero gains, even under aero overshoes, so if you're a bigfoot time trialist, then these are probably the ones to go for.
5. Best for gravel
Much like how the 'best overall' is separated from the 'best for racing' the best for gravel option here is differentiated from the gravel racer below. For general gravel duties, you're best off opting for the Lake MX239. I've also tried the MX333, but it's a lot more expensive, and the real-world benefits were minimal.
I've used the MX239 for all-season gravel, as well as light road tours too when I want to be able to walk about without acting like I'm in Riverdance as I buy snacks from a petrol station. They're very comfortable, perfectly roomy (though not available in a 'narrow' width, but that's not going to bother you if you're on this page), and have stood up to abuse really well.
I tried very hard to destroy the MX333, and they were basically indestructible, but also correspondingly quite hefty. The 239s, however, strike a good balance between durability and weight. You get two BOA dials, a really grippy rubber outsole over the carbon midsole, and a choice of microfiber or leather upper. I'd go for the former if you live anywhere muddy.
You can't head mould them, but I never found the heel to be floppy enough for it to ever bother me. They are quite easy to over-tighten for some reason, and I often found I had to back off a few clicks 20 mins into each ride, likely as my feet swelled slightly, but again, this was no real issue.
6. Gravel racing
Finding a gravel race shoe that's non-restrictive is harder than it is for road race shoes. The Bont Riot G is probably your best bet, though it does have the full bathtub sole, so you have to be really on it and make sure your sizing is perfect, with a bit of wiggle room for heat moulding.
These are extremely stiff shoes, and unless you're actually gravel racing, then I'd say you'd be better off with the Lakes above. That being said, they provide a wonderfully direct feeling connection between you and the cranks, something that's harder to achieve in my experience on MTB/gravel pedals than it is with road ones.
The stiffness also makes them quite a pain to walk in. Fine for brief cyclocross run-ups, but for extended hike-a-bike, you're going to want something with a little more give in the sole. You get two widths, and only one choice of colour, but they are noticeably cheaper than the higher-end Vaypor G.
7. Best for winter
My colleague, Tom, has done an admirable job curating a brilliant guide to the best winter cycling shoes, but for us shovel-feet lot, there's really only one choice, and that's the hefty, but extremely warm Lake CX146.
I was told to size up to be able to fit big socks inside, but unless you're riding in temperatures regularly dropping below freezing, I'd stick to your normal shoe size or they can feel quite floppy.
There are no vents, just a composite sole, sturdy outer, and a high, insulated ankle cuff, all secured by a giant BOA dial normally found on ski boots, so you can adjust them even in the thickest of winter gloves.
I've ridden for hours wearing these in temperatures down to -6ºC, which is about as cold as it ever gets in the south of the UK, and they were absolutely golden. They're certainly a specialist bit of kit, and if you tend to ride on Zwift all winter rather than enjoying the great outdoors and working on your bike handling in the wet, then they're probably going to be overkill, but if it's grim out, they're infinitely better than a pair of overshoes.
Everything you need to know about the best wide fit cycling shoes
Wide versus high volume
It’s worth noting that there is a difference between wide-fit shoes and high-volume shoes. Wide-fit shoes use a different, wider last and are often also higher volume (i.e. a bigger volume of void for your foot).
High-volume shoes, in contrast, use the same last (which may well be too narrow for you if you have wide feet) and simply add more material to the uppers to make a greater volume. This goes some way to helping allow your foot more room, but the widest part of your foot will still be bound by the often unforgiving material of the uppers.
In the days of internet shopping, it’s hard to say ‘Try them on in-store’, but that really is the best bet, or at least order from somewhere with a decent returns policy.
When it comes to volume, the stock insoles that come with cycling shoes are almost universally useless, offering little arch support to those who need it. I have high arches, so I need a higher volume fit too, and I swap insoles out immediately on every shoe I try. Again, a chat with an experienced bike fitter will stand you in good stead in this regard.
How do I know if I need wide shoes?
A good starting question is 'do my feet hurt when I ride?' If they do, they shouldn't.
A bike fitter will be able to give you a personalised approach, but an easy way to tell is to whip the insoles out of your current shoes and stand on them on the floor. The sides of your feet shouldn't spill over the sides more than a handful of millimetres; if they do, it's probably time to look at wider options.
What are the benefits of wide cycling shoes?
Other than comfort, having shoes that properly fit your feet is key for injury prevention. I used to get knee issues all the time before I swapped to wider shoes, as constricting your feet while putting a lot of power through them can have some unpleasant biomechanical knock-on effects.
Other than injury prevention, my own experience is that I can put more power down in sprints and sustained efforts, as my feet feel more stable given they are able to spread to their natural width under load.
Why are there so few options out there?
There are certainly more than on this list; I've tried 'wide' options from Shimano, Sidi, Northwave, and Specialized. Some are better than others but none accommodate my feet that well, and many are simply high volume.
Things are improving, and I'll keep this guide updated with any new options I find that actually work, but for now pickings are slim in the context of the market as a whole. The good news is that brands are starting to make their standard shoes wider. Specialized for example has increased the sole width by a couple of milimetres for its Torch road shoes.
The other issue is that there are even fewer budget friendly wide shoes. The Fiziks up top are the only really decent option that I've found thus far, sadly.
