2011 Specialized Shoes – Close Up Look

Maybe last year or the year before, the ‘S-works shoes got ‘thinner or more narrow’.
I have some ’07 or maybe ’08 (there was an orange pair released that year also) ones that are dying now but are my old favs.
The ones I bought last time (’09 I think) were distinctly thinner, or more narrow, in cut.
Toe is definitely more pointy in the later ones… both size 42 of course.
Another big difference was the BOA fasteners.
The old shoes have ‘opposite’ dials… where the direction that you rotate them to tighten is reversed on the other shoe.
On the more recent model, tighten is ‘clockwise’ on BOTH shoes which feels really unnatural if you want to tighten up before the sprint. It’s a totally different action for each hand.
Must be cheaper to mass produce dials that only rotate one way.

Anyway,
I have a broad foot and I like the feel and fit of Specialized’s footware… it’s just that the old one was even better.
Are these ones wider?
The Same?

Cheers

The best way to tell for yourself is to stop by your local bike shop and Specialized Dealer and try a pair or two, or three on for yourself. And support your bike shop by purchasing the shoes there if they do indeed fit as opposed to saving $10.00, buying from on online retailer.

Support your LBS, man! 🙂

@Mark Adam

Mate I get my fair share of stuff online… cassettes, tyres etc, however, I’ve never bought my shoes on-line.
As I mentioned, my first S-Works shoes almost felt like customs they fit so well… and I used to own 2 other ‘entry level’ pairs of Specialized shoes ( a road pair and an MTB pair).
All of these were size 42 and they all fit perfectly.

My latest pair of S-Works shoes came from my LBS… I just didn’t try them on.

Also

Thanks for the ‘support your LBS lecture’, however, it is getting harder and harder to do.
I’m not sure what it’s like for you… I’m assuming that you are from the USA… (‘assuming’ because it doesn’t say on your website that I can find… and when somebody uses a term like “across the country” [such as in your ‘about’ section] without first stating which country that is, it is almost invariably an American)… but for us here in Australia it requires a little more to support the LBS… or A LOT more.
Tyres that are around for below $40AU online are often $115AU in the shops… a wheelset that sits in the window at my LBS with a price tag of around $4000 is available online for $2000US or about $2200AU… and so on and so on.
It takes massive amounts of love to support your LBS… massive amounts of money too… sometimes it feels like massive amounts of stupidity.

If I can order my stuff online, it means I can have it.
At LBS prices… things like the ‘wheelset of my dreams’ remain just that.

Smthye.

Same issue here. I had 07, i believe. New S Works are just too narrow, and I get hot feet.

Ended up with Bontragers (Race X Lite Road). Nice wide toe box, and the eSoles are unparalled IMO.

Best of Luck