i tried the torch…they are amazingly made shoes and fit me great. lots of little details. only thing was they have this body geometry thing that angles your foot. maybe it works for most people but it did not work for me. i do better with nothing pushing my foot. specialized is supergenerous with their return policy.
the new bont vaypor 2023 (they don’t have the 2023 in their name anymore) have a much lower bathtub.
one issue I had with lakes was the heel was too big and I got flop in them. the other issue I had was the toe curves in most of the models. I have the CX-242. had to size up like 1.5 sizes to get it to fit. (issue for me…maybe not for other people)
I went with the bigger Bont shoes and put cleats on them…so they are mine now. first ride it started to rain pretty heavy so got to break em in a bit faster.
the distance from my foot to the pedal feel smaller…not sure if that’s in my head or not. the shoes felt great…very light. felt like slippers with cleats on them.
i’ll probably check out that Lake CX201 as a backup / indoor shoe in a few months…but they are mesh up front and my feet get cold easy…and also looks like I might have the heel slip issue.
Weirdly I found the CX201s the warmest “summer” shoes I’ve ever owned, despite the mesh front, due to the extra room for my toes circulation is so much better.
I’ve worn them in freezing temperatures with a pair of wool toe socks, oversocks and neoprene toe covers and my toes were plenty warm and never thought I needed full overshoes.
hmm…yeah that makes sense re circulation. definitely going to try them. I actually ordered them but it was like 2 weeks or something and I had worn the Bont shoes inside for a few hours and they were getting pretty comfy and I’m kinda sick of trying gear at this point. I cancelled the order but I’ll circle back in mid summer and give them a shot. ty for the recommendation.
also forgot to mention but I emailed Bont also asking them which size they thought and they said they recommend 5-8mm of gap from the toe to the front of the shoe. I never really heard that.
also forgot to mention the cleat rearward placement was great without any extensions - and zero heel slip even with the shoes minimally tightened (I tightened the BOAs just enough to remove slop).
2 Likes
I wore Birkenstock London shoes for decades, and when I got into running found that my feet were really wide, likely due to the wide toe box area of the Birkies.
I, over time, got my feet to fit more shoes, and did find some bike shoes that fit my weird feet really well. The Fizik Vento Infinito Knit Carbon 2’s. They are a little hard to close at times, but they fit the best of any shoe I’ve ever tried. Prior to that, I had the Bontrager carbon race high end shoe (The XXX) (the first I’ve ever bought with a shoe bag), but the heel ridge tore into my heel quite a bit. I did try the Vento Wide, and it was, surprisingly, too wide for me.
Your feet aren’t weird, mainstream shoes are.
4 Likes