# Foot moving inside shoe, tips? For flat pedals.



## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

*Long story short. *My feet slide inside my shoes unless I tighten down to the point of being painful. How can I make the shoes just a little bit tighter to stop my feet sliding? I feel that this affects my balance and grip on the pedals since the weight moves around and keeps changing. Yes, they are my size. Any tips?

I got a pair of Fiveten Freeriders in size 9 (US) a couple years ago. They were way too big and I had to tighten them down to the point of being painful, so I changed them for a pair of 8.5s which felt a lot tighter and painful, but ended up loosening up almost too much.

I seem to have a slightly larger left foot (don't know how normal that is, but I can feel it). I don't need to tighten that one too much and usually feels just fine. The right one feels considerably roomier and I have to tighten it down a lot, becoming painful and causing numbness unless I leave it "normal" like I use all of my shoes.

I REALLY hate the feeling of my feet moving inside the shoes, and I feel the feet position on the pedals is affected. I try to position the ball of my feet just in front of the pedal's axle, and when I drop my heels, my feet slide back a little bit and throw off my balance and mess up the grip since the weight gets further back on the pedals and doesn't grip as well. It almost feels as riding on my toes, but that's obviously and exaggeration.
It's not impossible to ride, but it definitely annoys me, and I have to tighten the laces "just right" to not have numb feet and not have them slide inside too much. But I can't really find a happy medium.

The only solution I have found is riding with a mid shoe position on the pedals, which feels a little bit weird when pedaling, doesn't let me drop my heels appropiately, and has me switching positions when pedaling right after a descent, or right before one.

Maybe I'm just stupidly sensitive, or I need a different set of pedals, but I'm wondering if someone else feels the same, and maybe a couple tips to make the shoes (specially the right one) just a little bit tighter and keep me from tightening it so much.

I'm also considering getting a different kind of flat pedal shoe that fits my feet shape better, like the Giro Jacket or specialized 2fo, but I love the Freeriders and they were enough of an investment and I'd rather save the money since I might not like other shoes either.

Any tips? Thanks in advance.


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## jcd46 (Jul 25, 2012)

Double socks maybe?


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## TraxFactory (Sep 10, 1999)

In the winter a Hot Sockee might help your situation....check my signature.


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## cyclelicious (Oct 7, 2008)

Try extra insoles or a heel insert for the looser shoe


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## davez26 (Dec 2, 2004)

Try having size 13 feet. I guess really 12.5. I end up buying 13 and use an insole to make the magic happen. 


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## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

Will try double socks and maybe insoles. Thanks for the tips.

I also thought about putting a folded thin sock inside the shoe so it fills the space, but ended up being too tight. Will try to find something even smaller.

The sliding is fore and aft direction so I don't really see how a thicker, or double sock, or evne insole would help since it only increases friction, but I'll try it for sure.


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## noapathy (Jun 24, 2008)

I'd try just walking around in them for a couple days and get used to the feel. Shoes too tight is asking for foot probs later.


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## Miker J (Nov 4, 2003)

cyclelicious said:


> Try extra insoles or a heel insert for the looser shoe


This ^

I have a very large box of saved insoles from shoes that wore out.

Almost every shoe I own has an extra, or at least different than original, insole. Most cycling shoes have notoriously thin insoles. 5/10s are fairly roomy and I didn't care for the insole. That shoe got "customized".

With a belt sander (or a very sharp filet knife) and some tape you can make your own orthotic type insoles.

My left foot is about 3/4 a US size bigger than my right. Kind of a nuisance.


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## J.B. Weld (Aug 13, 2012)

Shoes with boa closures would help a lot, I don't know if they make a flat pedal shoe with them but if they don't they should.


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## Blatant (Apr 13, 2005)

Perhaps I’m missing something. If your foot is moving fire/aft inside the shoe, it seems to me the shoe is, in fact, not the right size.


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## Miker J (Nov 4, 2003)

Blatant said:


> Perhaps I'm missing something. If your foot is moving fire/aft inside the shoe, it seems to me the shoe is, in fact, not the right size.


Any more keen conclusions like that and you'll be head of detectives in no time.

We gave the op the benefit of the doubt on that one.


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## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

Well, short answer: Maybe the Freerider just doesn't fit my shape of feet. It's too long, but spot on height wise. Any smaller and my left foot would start suffering, though the right one would be perfect. I prefer roomy shoes to numb feet though, 




Both shoes felt really tight when new, and stretched out with use which made them...umm....taller? I don't know, but the upper side of my feet and toes relieved when the shoes started stretching.
I started feeling the fore/aft movement though, which makes me think the Freerider is too long for my size, but pretty much spot on height wise after breaking it in.


Also, I usually wear 9 sizes on casual shoes, and they feel pretty much spot on. I'm sure a 8 size on the freerider would be spot on length wise for the right foot, but my left one would feel too tight. I bought them online, so it's not like I had a chance to try them, and since the 9 ones were too roomy, I thought the 8.5 would be either spot on or a tiny bit roomy, and unless I find a fix, I won't buy another pair in 8 size just to check them out and realize they are too freaking small. 

So again, It feels like Freerider don't fit my shape of feet, but I'm not giving up such levels of grip because of that, hence this thread. I tried double socks btw, and they kinda worked. Just need to find a more flexible pair of socks since my toes felt very restricted, but at least the overall feeling improved.


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## Guest (Dec 24, 2017)

You need insoles with sufficient arch and perhaps a shim under the arch to heel. If you have normal to high arches most MTB shoes won't provide enough support to keep your foot in place. "Sole" brand insoles are stiffer, won't move and should keep your feet in place. If you still need more support, raising the back of your foot by putting shims under your insole helps keep your foot back by raising the part of the foot that the shoe should be holding (to prevent foot slippage) without pushing your toes into the top of the toe box.


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## davez26 (Dec 2, 2004)

Specialized has a whole system of insoles with different arches and wedges and stuff. I've made some shoes fit that way too. Your LBS may be able to help. 

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## root (Jan 24, 2006)

Forster said:


> You need insoles with sufficient arch and perhaps a shim under the arch to heel. If you have normal to high arches most MTB shoes won't provide enough support to keep your foot in place. "Sole" brand insoles are stiffer, won't move and should keep your feet in place. If you still need more support, raising the back of your foot by putting shims under your insole helps keep your foot back by raising the part of the foot that the shoe should be holding (to prevent foot slippage) without pushing your toes into the top of the toe box.


Sole insoles are heatformable and come in different thicknesses, every shoe i wear has them. My hiking boots also has a heel insert. I have thin feet, actually low volume. When measured on the sizer device, my foot width is normal, but many shoes are loose on me and i need to really tighten the laces where they dig into the top of foot and hurt. I actually use womens for snowboard boots now. The make inserts for boots that run along top front of feet, but i dont know how well theyd stay in normal shoes as snow boots have seperate liners. 
You could also experiment with different socks. Companies make different thickness socks. Youd be surprised how much a difference that can make.


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## Gilarider (Jul 13, 2009)

This will work: go to Walmart; buy cheap cotton socks, crew-length is good but it doesn't matter; what matters is that they have a terrycloth loop interior; now put them on inside out and they will keep your foot from sliding forward. Or buy new shoes- do not go to Walmart for that.


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## Deartist7 (Sep 28, 2014)

So I kept trying different socks.

Some of them just plain feel weird, but a couple worked pretty well. They still make my toes feel restricted, so I decided to try the adding a piece of insole I have from a pair of ripped shoes.
It's obviously not the right way to do it, but just adding something right below the arch under the insole seemed to make a bigger difference without using double socks, and to be honest, my feet have never felt so stable.

I'll definitely search around for insoles with arch support from an actual brand, thanks for al the tips! I'ts pretty much solved now, I need more arch support.


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## Miker J (Nov 4, 2003)

root said:


> Sole insoles are heatformable and come in different thicknesses, every shoe i wear has them. My hiking boots also has a heel insert. I have thin feet, actually low volume. When measured on the sizer device, my foot width is normal, but many shoes are loose on me and i need to really tighten the laces where they dig into the top of foot and hurt. I actually use womens for snowboard boots now. The make inserts for boots that run along top front of feet, but i dont know how well theyd stay in normal shoes as snow boots have seperate liners.
> You could also experiment with different socks. Companies make different thickness socks. Youd be surprised how much a difference that can make.


What are the inserts you are talking about ?


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## squareback (Sep 19, 2011)

Miker J said:


> What are the inserts you are talking about ?


Specialized Bicycles, name of product "foot bed"

Giro shoes also make the same thing (product name: super natural) which I like more because you can change the arch only). My feet ended up in heaven when I tried using different arches for each foot.

I have bought each off of ebay, sans shoes


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## 274898 (Nov 29, 2005)

A lot has to do with the insole insert. Getting a more grippy insole will help.


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## root (Jan 24, 2006)

Miker J said:


> What are the inserts you are talking about ?


Sole is the name of the brand. You pop them into oven until you see the heat indicator dot change, quickly put into shoe and put feet into shoe. stand on them until it cools off and forms to your foot shape.


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## leeboh (Aug 5, 2011)

Maybe OP actually need to buy 2 different sized shoes? Tried some high top shoes?


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## Harold (Dec 23, 2003)

I think OP would benefit from visiting a shop that actually has people who are knowledgeable about fitting footwear.

Bike shops aren't that. Neither are most mega-shoestores. Running shops have some people who really know their stuff when it comes to fitting footwear. Unfortunately, they're not likely to carry shoes for biking. It's likely going to take some effort.

My feet are about half a size different from each other, which creates problems with much more rigid traditional clipless shoes. One is long and narrow and the other is short and wide. So it's not like sizing up or down in one or the other will really help me, either. It's more like I'd need two totally different brand/model shoes to accommodate them. Frankly that's pretty unreasonable. Every pair of clipless shoes I've owned has pinched somewhere very uncomfortably. A shoe like 5.10's with a more flexible upper works extremely well for me.

I definitely agree that OP is going to need some custom shims/inserts to keep his foot from sliding around.


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