Cycling shoes have come a long way from the early days. Laces are out, boa dials are in. Hardened leather has paved the way for synthetic fabrics that wick sweat and keep your feet warm on cold days. Yet finding the right pair of shoes can make you feel like you’re in Cinderella – it’s hard to do.
I’ve got quite wide feet, which I found out during a visit to York Cycleworks a few years ago where the lovely Ryan measured me up for some insoles and new shoes. I’d been getting some ‘hot spots’ and pain on the outside of my feet after an hour or so on the bike, so a new pair of shoes were on the cards.
He recommended a pair of wide fit Lake shoes with two sets of boa dials for ‘weird feet’ (thank you), and I have used them solely (pardon the pun) ever since. Earlier this year, Dave very kindly offered me some Bontrager Circuit Shoes to try. With my ‘weird feet’ I wasn’t sure they’d work, having tried a few different pairs of wide labelled shoes for review for work, I had learned that that label doesn’t necessarily mean it’s wide enough. But I digress.
The Circuit Road shoe strikes a balance between performance and comfort. It’s not the stiffest sole in the world, but it doesn’t need to be – in my case at least. I can now ride three, four hours comfortably without my feet hurting or needing to adjust the boa dials.
They’re also quite light, at 576g. The boa dial doesn’t have a micro-release on it, so if you want to let some tension out you need to pull it out all the way before re-tightening. That’s my only minor gripe with these shoes. Because they look great, they’re comfortable, and they fulfil my dream of having white shoes to fit in with the cool cycling crowd.
I’ve had these since spring, which was really more of a late winter. So they’ve been through a few seasons and lots of temperature variations. They do a fantastic job of keeping my feet cool as they can in summer, but equally, I was wearing them in some pretty cool temperatures with overshoes and I didn’t get any frostbite.
Equally, they still look pretty new. Despite my best attempts of riding through as many muddy puddles as possible, they are still relatively white, and the material means if I was to kick a rock and scuff them I could probably buff it out a little without lasting damage. In essence, they’re pretty damn good.
York Cycleworks doesn’t just have stock of these, (or similar) but plenty of other shoes too. High-quality brands that won’t leave you needing to replace them every winter. If you’ve got the cash and would benefit from a shoe fit, insoles have really helped with my foot pain (as well as getting shoes that actually fit). Pay the team a visit in store or check out their website for more information.
