Shoe advice for bizarre feet

[aj82]

Any podiatrists among you? I have a shoe question.

To cut a long story short, I have a degenerative muscular disease affecting both legs and deformed feet. Because of this I'm pretty much unable to run or do much sport and cycling is pretty much the only physical activity I could ever do reasonably well. It helps that I enjoy it and the doc has recommended I keep doing it.

At the minute I wear braces on both legs but obviously not for cycling, when I just wear an old pair of trainers.

I've recently started commuting by bike daily to work and doing longer runs at the weekend, am really getting back into it after not having ridden for about five years and have invested in decent shorts, new tyres, computer and so on.

I'm now wondering what to do about shoes. My condition means I am very nervous about cleats (would need new pedals anyway) but am willing to try them out. I basically want to know if the road shoe + cleats option is really viable for disabled cyclists and if not, what options if any exist? Would a mass-produced shoe even meet my requirements or am I going to need to think about going bespoke, and if the latter, what sort of pricing am I looking at?

Any thoughts gratefully received.

 

[joolsybools]

Hi AJ, welcome back to cycling!

I'm not sure what to suggest as I just wear a pair of old trainers and have never bought cleats/special shoes. Have you considered getting down to your local retailer to try anything on? A quick google for cycling shoes brought up Millets and Evans -there might be one near you?

 

[ASC1951]

I suppose it depends on how deformed your feet are, but made to measure ordinary shoes are £150+ ish, so I would have thought cycling shoes would be a similar price.

I can understand why you are nervous about cleats, but it is possible to set them very loose. You wouldn't race like that, but it's fine for casual riding.

Even if you don't go for cleats, it's worth trying to find a pair of proper cycling shoes to fit you. Rigid soles are far more efficient and you could always go for toeclips without straps, which will have most of the advantage of cleats i.e. keep your foot in the right position and allow some pulling as well as pushing.

 

[Arch]

See this thread, post 15, for powergrips, which might help, as they can be used with any shoe.

http://www.cyclechat.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?t=34971&page=2

or toeclips - I use the molded plastic half-type, which just hold the toe of a shoe, with no straps. Give me enough extra oomph, without feeling locked in.