Hole in my bike shoe?

Posted on April 22, 2011 by .
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Can anybody explain the holes in my cycling shoes?

My Specialized mountain bike shoes are getting a little long in the tooth, but something I can’t figure out are the holes near the front of both shoes. You can see my white sock peeking through on this photo.


Road bike mountain shoe

As far as I know, I don’t rub or hit that spot on a regular basis. That’s about where my pinky toe goes I guess, but I’ve never had shoes wear through at this location before.

Any ideas?



See also:

  1. Shoe drying trick
  2. Ode to a cycling shoe
  3. Shoe commercial
  4. Shoe bicycle video


  • Ryan

    No clue. Similar problem on mine. Perhaps it has something to do with stress moving through the shoe as you pedal? Often wondered the same myself. I’ve see similar things happen on running shoes too.

  • Klcoll

    Had the same happen to a pair of Spec mtb shoes. It’s a failure of the more pliable mesh tearing near the stiffer leather (or whatever it is). If you want to keep it from ripping more go over the hole with a little liquid electrical tape (or tool dip). It’s pretty durable; mine is still intact.

  • http://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=505405043 Curtis Corlew

    You are clearly applying way to much power through those shoes. Dial back the wattage.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    That’s exactly where the hole is — the mesh near the stiffer material on the toe. Thanks for the tool dip tip — good idea.

  • http://twitter.com/chrismanbrown Christopher P. Brown

    You’re snikt-ing with your pinkie toe. Could be a subconscious adrenaline response. Dial it back, Wolverine.

  • Princessarchie

    How did you take this photo? Just curious.

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    Heh heh. “Wolverine” Maybe I should clip my toe nails!

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    This was the best shot out of about a dozen that I took. I set the self timer on my phone cam, got going to about 12 MPH, pushed the shutter button, leaned way over and aimed in the general direction of my shoe, and waited for the beep telling me the photo was done. Most of the were off — blurry and pointed at the ground, but I finally got the aim right on this one.

    Although I wasn’t going that fast, I ground has that blurry “speed” look because it was nearing dusk. The shutter speed here is 1/50 second, which is fast enough to avoid camera shake blur on my tiny 3.8mm focal length but slow enough to catch the road movement.

  • Princessarchie

    Wow. I love it. I just love it. Not the hole, of course, but how the picture was taken and the effect on the background.

  • Princessarchie

    Wow. I love it. I just love it. Not the hole, of course, but how the picture was taken and the effect on the background.

  • http://www.facebook.com/corrie.rosetti Corrie C Rosetti

    I don’t know why, but I have a perfectly good pair of cycling shoes with a hole on the right just like this one.

  • http://www.road-cycling-shoes.co.uk/ Randall Smith

    Wait! i have a hole in my cycling shoes like this one too. except that its in the left shoe. :)

  • http://www.cyclelicio.us/ Cyclelicious

    What brand shoes?