Heat moldable Insoles for Cycling?

Hey Ladies,

I have foot problems and my LBS has suggested that I might try heat moldable footbeds for my cycling shoes. I wear custom footbeds in my everyday shoes and they have helped greatly. They have two available insoles in stock. They have a Sidas Flashfit Bike + and a Sole Slim Sport. Does anyone have any experience with either of these insoles or do you have another heat moldable insole that you like? I have been using the Specialized BG blue and it helps but still have problems on longer 35 mile+ rides. I am currently trying Superfeet (yellow) insoles for cycling and not sure how they are working yet since I haven't been able to ride much lately. I mostly ride my road bike and usually do charity rides and a few races. I am working toward a metric or full century. Thanks for the help!

I got custom insoles for my ski boots and it made a world of difference.

I like the Louis Garneau heat-moldable insoles. I don't think they really change very much during the molding process, but I find them comfortable.

I tried the ones from Shimano and wound up with bad cramping in my calf muscles.

I would be going straight to a podiatrist, particularly with experience with sport based, custom orthotics.

I've had to wear custom orthotics in all my shoes (except for dress shoes which just doesn't work. That's okay for 4-5 hrs. of wear and not walking extensively much at all. ie. at a party.) and boots for the last 20 years. I wear them for snowshoeing, cycling, hiking, etc. If I don't wear any for a few consecutive days, my feet are in pain after only 15 min. of walking. I will have to wear orthotics for the rest of my life.

I tried one brand a few years ago, which did nothing but make my cycling shoes so tight, they went in the garbage.
Flash forward to 2 years ago. I got the new, Shimano road shoes, which are heat moldable. That is, the whole shoe and the innersole. The heat molding of the shoe was OK, but the innersoles, again were so tight, I had to take them out and go get a pair of the thinnest Superfeet ones at the Goodfeet store. Voila, perfection. There was no need for anything fancy. I basically can barely stand anything in my shoes,including socks. Getting the Shimano shoes to replace my Sidis, though made a huge difference, because of the wide toe box.

I've never done heat-mold ones. I used to use the Specialized green insoles, but they didn't work. Then I a) switched shoes (Specialized to Mavic, though I still use the Specs with my CX bike), and b)switched insoles to a set from Pearl Izumi that came with multiple shim things so you can independently "tune" arch support and whatever-it's-called under the toes. It took a little tweaking, and I really should take sandpaper to the left one to bring it down a bit, but it's pretty close.

Well ... my personal experience has brought me some pretty strong opinions, but I don't have any expertise ... all I know is that I've spent the last six or seven years trying to correct foot problems caused by years of wearing orthotics. And (my upper body injury notwithstanding) my feet, legs, hips and back are soooooo much better since I ditched the orthotics, started wearing minimal shoes when I'm not running or cycling, started wearing shoes that fit all the time, and started doing yoga and other foot mobility and strengthening work.

A rigid orthotic is like a brace or a cast. It prevents the joints from moving, and holds the limb in place while muscles go unused. It can be an important part of healing an injury. But if you've ever broken a bone, you know what wearing a cast even for a few weeks does to your muscles and joints. You wouldn't wear a brace or cast long term unless you had some pretty serious orthopedic problems - and in that case, you'd wear a brace prescribed for you by your treating professional and designed to address your particular anatomy. If your issues are caused by your feet and/or hips being weak and/or rigid, then orthotics will only exacerbate that.

JMO, IANAD, etc., etc., etc. ....

Each person is different, Oak. I didn't wear orthotics for a few days just a few months ago and my feet were in pain after 15 min. of walking. I was in the process of having new orthotics made. (Mine were over a decade old.) Just to be clear, I have customized insert thin shoe inserts.

I could not go walking around outdoors in barefeet for a long time. I have fallen arches, etc. Once I had to walk to restaurant for 20 min. walk one way in thin beach flip-flops that I normally wear around inside a hotel during bike trip stopovers. My cycling shoes were waterlogged after 4 hrs. of rain (north of Seattle area). Those beach flip flop rubber sandals were killers for my feet during a walk outdoors. No proper support,etc. on my feet. I was in pain after walking back to hotel.

Atrophied muscles don't get strong in an hour or even a few days, and joints that have become rigid with disuse may need manual mobilization besides regular stretching.... like I said, it's been six or seven years, and I'm still working to repair forty years' damage.

I think we are overlooking two things -- what are the problems that lgibster is trying to solve, and can she try the custom insoles from her street shoes in her cycling shoes to see if that solves them?

My custom foot orthotic inserts are for walking street shoes....which for me, work for tie up shoes and for cycling shoes. Not for pumps, etc.
I wear mountain bike shoes when cycling and have for the past 20 years (with orthotics), which tend to be wider than road clipless shoes.
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It would be good to know what the problem is though. I just wear big shoes as I really like a bit of room. I hate shoes that really fit tight. Officially my road shoes are a mens and a size too big but they are comfy and don't slip and I can move my toes. Obviously I don't have narrow feet. As they are not for walking, as long as they don't slip and the cleat is correctly positioned and your foot/arch feels supported, it is all good. Orthotics are placebo maybe, but bike shoes are not walking shoes so look at the specific issue rather than be so generalized. Bike shoes seem a lot more like stiff ballet shoes than the sort of shoes shooting star has in her pic. They are pretty rigid on their own.

Ok here are some more specifics. I wear custom orthotic insoles in my shoes because the orthopedic surgeon recommended them. They were about $500 to order. I only have one pair that I wear in my work shoes, hiking boots, athletic shoes, and rubber hunting boots. However, they DO NOT fit into my cycling shoes because they are too stiff and thick. I have plantar fasciitis and big heel spurs in both feet. I wore corrective insoles as a kid to correct my flat feet. That being said, I have had trouble with hot spots resulting from a hard deposit in the middle of the ball of my foot. I have tried the red and blue Specialized BG insoles and the blue ones were an improvement. I have changed to a wider bike shoe since the specialized shoes I had were too stiff (according to the orthopedic) and too narrow. I am currently trying the Superfeet Yellow insoles made for cycling. They fit just fine in my shoes but I have only ridden with them once for a 30 mile ride and I am not sure if they are helping or not. One of the guys suggested that I try a heat moldable insole because he said he has the same "hard spot" on the ball of his foot and the moldable insole formed around that spot and reduced the direct pressure and he hasn't had any trouble with hot foot after that. I was asking to see if anyone had experience with the two I listed. I currently ride with Look Keo 2 pedals and have been really happy with the wider platform. Everything I have changed so far has helped but not enough for me to stay in the larger chain ring very long because of the pain caused by the hot spots and on the hard spot on my feet. I want to do metric centuries and eventually a full century. Going without an orthotic is NOT an option in my street shoes because I want to avoid the possibility of breaking off the tip of the heel spurs which would cause the need for surgery.

How about not wearing bike shoes then? Plenty of people doing centuries don't clip in. Also have you had your cleats fitted to you properly? As you are not walking just address the issue at hand (the spot). If you have them properly fit and positioned maybe shim adjustments might be more helpful than inserting things. My Dh does this for me but people do pay for it as they do with bike fits. I am a speedplay fan though.

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Originally Posted by lgibster

Ok here are some more specifics. I wear custom orthotic insoles in my shoes because the orthopedic surgeon recommended them. They were about $500 to order. I only have one pair that I wear in my work shoes, hiking boots, athletic shoes, and rubber hunting boots. However, they DO NOT fit into my cycling shoes because they are too stiff and thick. I have plantar fasciitis and big heel spurs in both feet. I wore corrective insoles as a kid to correct my flat feet. That being said, I have had trouble with hot spots resulting from a hard deposit in the middle of the ball of my foot. I have tried the red and blue Specialized BG insoles and the blue ones were an improvement. I have changed to a wider bike shoe since the specialized shoes I had were too stiff (according to the orthopedic) and too narrow. I am currently trying the Superfeet Yellow insoles made for cycling. They fit just fine in my shoes but I have only ridden with them once for a 30 mile ride and I am not sure if they are helping or not. One of the guys suggested that I try a heat moldable insole because he said he has the same "hard spot" on the ball of his foot and the moldable insole formed around that spot and reduced the direct pressure and he hasn't had any trouble with hot foot after that. I was asking to see if anyone had experience with the two I listed. I currently ride with Look Keo 2 pedals and have been really happy with the wider platform. Everything I have changed so far has helped but not enough for me to stay in the larger chain ring very long because of the pain caused by the hot spots and on the hard spot on my feet. I want to do metric centuries and eventually a full century. Going without an orthotic is NOT an option in my street shoes because I want to avoid the possibility of breaking off the tip of the heel spurs which would cause the need for surgery.

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They guy who said that a moldable insole worked for him -- can you find out which brand/model he uses?

Also with the yellow Superfeet -- were they comfortable for 30 miles, and you're not sure if they'll be good for longer rides, or were they not as comfortable as you would like for the 30-mile ride?

I'm sure this is very frustrating, and costs can add up quickly when you're trying to find the best solution. If the yellow insoles were okay for 30 miles, I would test them with a longer ride to see if they continue to be comfortable. Another Superfeet option to consider -- the copper insoles have a memory foam insert. Perhaps this would be a less expensive thing to try than the moldable insoles.

http://www.superfeet.com/en-us/insol...sandals/copper

Good luck, and I hope you find something that works over long distances.

I'm afraid I'm not terribly familiar with heat moldable insoles but I will say that as a now solution, they could be very helpful. You might want to try to find a set with a metatarsal (MT) button. The MT button sits just behind the ball of the foot and helps to restore the normal MT arch. The button should not be right under your hard spot, but behind it, lifting the bones of the foot upward and relieving pressure off the bad bit.

Other things that help:
1) Moving your cleat back on your shoe. Possibly moving it towards the inner part of the shoe as well, although this can sometimes mess with your knee alignment so it's better done by a fit professional.
2) Making sure you are comfortable on your saddle. More weight through your tush, the less weight you put through your feet.
3) Working on single leg drills to improve pedaling mechanics

As for the orthotics debate, Oak is right, orthotics are in fact a bracing technique and long term will lead to muscle atrophy and potentially stiffness. Having said that, some people have structural change beyond what can be corrected with exercise and mobilization, those people may always need orthotics. The longer you've worn the orthotics, the more likely this is to be true and the longer it will take to regain strength and mobility if you are going to try to go that route. The situation I see most often in my work is that people have weakness and stiffness, they have to use orthotics at least part time to manage functionally but over time they can reduce or eliminate their time in orthotics through diligent exercise. I would say that less than 20% of the people I see fall into the category of having so much structural change that they will need orthotics always.