Women's Fit Cycling Shoes
Friday, 1st October 2004
If the average woman buys a man's cycling shoe, she'll discover that it feels too sloppy for good power transfer but still makes her feet go numb. Women are used to buying running shoes built to a woman's last (foot form). Therefore, when a woman goes into a cycling shop, she will appreciate being offered the option of cycling shoes built around this same essential feature.
Common fit problems
Common fit problems with wide and narrow width mens shoes:
- The average woman's foot is wider across the ball of the foot and tapers to become narrower at the heel. This means that wider width men's shoes will fit across the ball of the foot but slip in the heel.
- A narrower width men's shoe will not slip in the heel but will pinch across the ball of the foot.
- Because the average woman's forefoot is relatively low volume, a men's shoe will feel tall in the toe-box, resulting in a loose feeling during hard efforts. A woman will commonly either take up this volume with extra insoles, or tighten the shoes straps/buckles down until her feet go numb.
A Woman's Specific Last
A small number of manufacturers are offering a solution to the above problems with the concept of a woman's specific last. Last is the form that the shoe is built on and determines the final shape of the shoe. By using a last developed for a woman's foot, women get a shoe that fits and performs better.
Line Range
Manufacturers like Specialized, Sidi and Pearl Izumi have developed some of the most extensive ranges of women's cycling shoes on offer in 2005. They offer shoes for cycling experiences from spinning to touring, from 24-hour races to century rides, and from single track to criteriums. What is also nice is that women's shoes usually come in colours picked by women that compliment women's-specific bike ranges and equipment.
TriSportNews will be reviewing Specialized's women's specific high performance road shoe, the TORCH, with its full Body Geometry features in the coming weeks. We are also looking to get Sidi, Northwave and Pearl Izumi on test in the coming months.