Another newbie posting about clipless shoes and pedals. (May be long post!)



sgtpepper64

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Oct 2, 2007
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Hey everyone. I've gone through dozens of threads via search to find an answer to my specific question (which if you want to know, is pretty much at the end of the post, the rest is just filler. ;)) It was on here (I've been lurking around here for a couple months; I just registered 5 minutes ago) that I learned about Nashbar. I've ordered twice from there and it's a pretty decent online store. This is a short story about my most recent purchase....

So I had checked out their sizing charts meticulously, and printed out their little shoe-fit guide and this is what I did.
I measured my foot like it says and got a completely inaccurate size. I didn't order that size. I then tried sizing with my shoe, which is a Men's US9.5 Puma Alpine Runner(?) which registered a 44 on the chart. Nashbar's print-out chart said a US 9.5 is 44. The scaling was perfect. I decided to get the Exustar SR421 shoes in a 44. And that was after I had E-Mailed them to ask which size to go with and letting them know the instructions on Nashbar's printout thing were sketchy. (*Keep in mind that I have Puma RepliCat II shoes in a US10 which register as a 48 on Nashbar's printout.*)

Aside: I had ordered the Nashbar Special Road Pedal with them. There's no use in getting clipless shoes without pedals now, is there? :p This was the day last week, Wednesday or Thursday possibly, where there was 25% off all shoes.


So they come in today. I try them on. And...
They seem a bit long. I put the clips on to get the positioning and the shoes feel like they fit fine after I adjust the straps (wearing my regular socks which are a little bit thick), but there's about 3/4 of an inch of space at the front of the shoe.

Then I find this...
techbqj5.jpg


This is the Exustar website's chart which I have just found today. As you can see, a US9.5 shows up as a 43 and US10 is in the middle of 43 and 44! :eek:
I was confused when I read the Exustar box and it said US10.5. So now what do I do?
Should I call up Nashbar and ask for an exchange for a 43? OR.. Keep the 44's? Does the space in the front matter\will it affect my pedalling? The shoes are comfortable at the arch (I think, I don't know my foot vocab too well. :p Like where the first 2 straps are.)
 
sgtpepper64 said:
Should I call up Nashbar and ask for an exchange for a 43? OR.. Keep the 44's? Does the space in the front matter\will it affect my pedalling? The shoes are comfortable at the arch (I think, I don't know my foot vocab too well. :p Like where the first 2 straps are.)
Both Nashbar and Performance, who owns Nashbar, are very good about taking returns. I suspect that if you call up Nashbar customer service, you can arrange to mail the shoes back and have Nashbar not only pay the cost of shipping back out a new pair of 43s, but also reimburse you the cost of you having to ship the 44s back. Just tell them about that chart on the box and they will understand. So I think you will be able to make the exchange at no additional cost to you.

For what it is worth, I wear US 9.5, and always order my European shoes in a size 43. That Nashbar chart that you referred to sounds a little off to me. JMO.

As far as technical advice as to whether your 44s are fine the way they are---you say they fit the ball of your foot but are too long in the toe, I will leave that to someone else to respond to.
 
Thanks for your input, Chainstay. Yeah, I don't know whether to exchange them or not. Exustar isn't even on Nashbar's shoe size chart, shown here...

I don't remember where to find the PDF that I printed out at 100% scale, but it's on the Nashbar site somewhere. I have it downloaded on my other laptop.
Edit: Oh, I can probably attach it. I'll have to do that when I get on the other laptop.

Now, the shoes do have a little up-and-down space where my toes are - is that a good or bad or indifferent thing?? Should I follow the "you've gotta start somewhere" approach?

Obviously I'm pretty new to road cycling and brand new to clipless, it's gonna be maybe 2 weeks before I can get the pedals on my bike (I'm not gonna explain what it is or where it came from unless you really want to know). I hope to race next year, despite my not-top-of-the-line equipment. :rolleyes:
 
- I used to have a top-end exustar shoe (carbon sole).

- when the carbon sole slowly peeled away from the uppers ... I returned
the shoes.

- went with shimano carbon shoes , never looked back.

.

- and cycling shoe sizes are not comparable to normal walking shoes. Ie, the
cycling shoes must be very snug (combined with thin socks). Any substantial
movement vis the foot in the shoe will be uncomfortable , throw off the cleat
positioning and when you pull up on the pedals , you get a lifting-feeling.

cheers.

.
 
pistole said:
- and cycling shoe sizes are not comparable to normal walking shoes. Ie, the
cycling shoes must be very snug (combined with thin socks). Any substantial
movement vis the foot in the shoe will be uncomfortable , throw off the cleat
positioning and when you pull up on the pedals , you get a lifting-feeling.

cheers.

.
Thanks pistole.
I think the most direct question I can ask to get some other clipless people's opinions is how much space is between your toe and the front of the shoe??

For me there's about an inch of space, so if that's too much I'm going to end up having to call Nashbar and schedule an exchange. I'm going to want to make a decision soon.
 
- I can't even get my pinky finger into the (non-existant) space between
the heel and rear of the shoe.

- but can still wiggle my toes when I start to lose sensation in them (haha).

- the thing is supposed to be 'snug'. Definitely , not loose.

.

- I'd really rather you not persist with the exustar shoe. Can you , perhaps,
return it for a shimano / sidi ?

cheers.

.
 
Pistole, at this point it's not a concern to change to a more expensive product. It's really out of the question. This is the first time I'm going clipless, and I'm a college student with virtually no income at the moment. That's why I decided to take advantage of Nashbar's sale and get the Exustars.

If I wanted to get Shimanos, I could have gotten the $75 shoes from my LBS. Problem: I'm nowhere near an LBS I can get to easily, and just can't spend that much on shoes alone. I got shoes AND pedals for that price.

One thing I noticed was that since I'm 5'4" my frame size could be 43. Is it possible that your shoe size is your frame size, or close to it?
 
Oops. I was thinking wrong, my frame size would be a 53, not 43. Big typo. :eek:
Which invalidates that idea.

Alright well, I haven't used the shoes yet, I only attached the cleats to get an idea for positioning and I guess I'll call Nashbar soon to ask some questions and set up an exchange for 43s.
 
Definitely get a shoe that fits better, something like a half an inch in the toe, which allows for the foot to swell during the day.
 
kleng said:
Definitely get a shoe that fits better, something like a half an inch in the toe, which allows for the foot to swell during the day.
That's the kind of advice I was looking for.
Thank you kleng!!!

I'll be calling Nashbar tomorrow to see how this exchange thing is gonna work out.

Im going to exchange the 44 for 43. I hope that'll be a good enough size difference. If I have to go smaller I'll just have to do another exchange I suppose.
 
Not to thread-jack, but are the shoes made small, or do you have to down-size? For instance, if I wear a normal shoe in 8 comfortably, would I have to go down to a 7.5 or 7 to get the propper fit, or would the bike 8 just be naturally smaller compered to a normal 8?
 
kleng said:
Definitely get a shoe that fits better, something like a half an inch in the toe, which allows for the foot to swell during the day.
I'm not sure that the foot swells much along its long axis. My shoes have my big toe gently pressed against the toe of the shoe, it's always comfortable and has been over 3 years. You need a shoe that is wide enough to accommodate swelling, not long enough.
 
I think the width of the shoes is fine. There's nothing wrong in that aspect. It's just the length.
So it's definite that I should exchange for 43's?

(And yes, I agree that the foot doesn't swell lengthwise...)

But what I'm not sure is does it matter? Or does it come down to personal preference?

Edit: I don't think I would want my toes to be right at the front - doesn't seem like it would feel right on this model shoe. So I assume a 43 will be good...

This seems like such a simple thing yet it's so confusing. Maybe I'm thinking too much about it. :rolleyes:
 
- it is a simple thing.

- just that sometimes mistakes are made with our "first" shoe.

.
 
I don't think Exustar makes half sizes - they're not shown on Nashbar and they're not shown on the chart. I think it's a "size up or down" thing when it comes to a US size with a blank space. :confused:
 

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