Lake

MX332 Wide Mountain Bike Shoe - Men's

Tongue-Seam Placement is a Deal Breaker

Familiarity:

I returned this product before using it

Size Bought:

42

Height:

5' 8"

Weight:

150

I don't normally write reviews, unless I find an incompatibility in a product as I experienced with these Lake shoes. I appreciate reviews that warn of these issues when making buying decisions, so I decided to write a review this time. I apologize in advance for the long length of this review; I didn't have time to write a short one ... I have had to "graduate" from normal-width shoes to wider shoes in recent years. That applies to my running shoes, casual shoes, dress shoes, etc., and I wanted wider new bike shoes to replace my older gravel bike shoes. My research on wide bike shoes led me to articles that cited only Lake, and perhaps one other brand, that went to the extent of designing and manufacturing their wide and extra-wide versions of their shoes with truly wider soles. That wider sole requires different (and comparatively more expensive) manufacturing tools and processes to make the wider versions, compared to the normal versions. Nearly all other manufacturers, including brands like Sidi, save their money and only increase the volume of the shoe's upper material to give more foot *volume*, but keep the same (narrow) sole/platform. The wider platform sounded good to me, so I decided to try these Lake shoes. First off, my experience is that the advice on the Competitive Cyclist website to size up for these shoes, because the shoe tends to run small, was completely wrong. I originally ordered a full size larger (43) than what the Lake size-guide recommended, and my feet were swimming in them. I could literally insert my entire index finger in the gap between my heel and the heel of the shoe. I returned that pair and ordered the size recommended by Lake's sizing guide, and the length and width are perfect, and consistent with nearly all my other shoes (size 42). From the perspective of length, width, and the overall shape of the sole, these shoes are an excellent match for my feet, and they immediately felt very comfortable. From a vertical height perspective however, there is a compatibility problem with my feet. The stitched seam at the base of the tongue, where it is sewn to the shoe upper material, protrudes down into the foot cavity, like every other shoe. However, the Lake design, as shown in the photo, and unlike all my other running, casual, dress, and bike shoes, places that stitched seam significantly farther "forward" (toward the toes). The seam therefore lands right on top of the middle "knuckles" of my toe bones that are arcing slightly upward at that point. This tongue-seam placement results in very noticeable contact between my toes and that seam, even when wearing a paper-thin summer cycling sock. All my other shoes have that have the tongue seam about 1 cm further rearward (see photo). That rearward position locates the seam above where the toes join the main foot bones (the metatarsals), and as shown in the X-ray photo, there is a natural vertical-height "depression" in our feet profiles at this point, which creates a nice "pocket" of space for that tongue-seam to occupy without unpleasantly rubbing up against our feet. For me, this tongue-seam placement of the Lake shoes is a deal-breaker. It feels like that contact with the tongue seam will cause serious chafing and blistering. It's a pity, since the shoe seemed to fit me so well in all other regards. Perhaps if the toe box of the Lake shoe was a little taller, I wouldn't feel the seam? Perhaps my toe bones arc up more than other people? YMMV.