The right insole in your cycling shoes or cleats can make a big difference to your overall experience on your bicycle. Custom insoles can help make your pedal stroke more efficient and prevent pain and fatigue in your feet.
But what should you look for in an insole for your cycling shoes?
In this post we’ll discuss the essential elements of an effective insole for your cycling shoes. We’ll also explain why SOLE custom footbeds with a built-in metatarsal pad are the best cycling insoles you can get.
Two great options for cycling insoles.
Cycling insoles with built-in metatarsal pads.
With each pedal stroke, all your energy is transferred through your forefoot into your pedals. This can put a lot of strain on your metatarsals (the foot’s major bones) and the forefoot in general.
Many cyclists struggle with numb toes, tingling toes, or pain in the balls of their feet from conditions like metatarsalgia and Morton’s neuroma. The best solution is an insole with a built-in metatarsal pad in your cycling shoes.
The metatarsal pad (or Met Pad) is a small bump or ‘button’ that supports the foot’s transverse arch (the arch that runs across the foot). It promotes a natural and comfortable spread in your metatarsals.
SOLE Active with Met Pad footbeds include a Met Pad built right into the structure of the insole. This gives you targeted support that can’t shift around within your shoe, as many other Met Pad products tend to.
This targeted support for your metatarsals prevents pain from Morton’s neuroma or metatarsalgia in your cycling shoes. It also promotes better circulation, making the SOLE Active with Met Pad footbed the best cycling insole for numb toes.
Cycling insoles with arch support.
The best cycling insoles should always feature adequate arch support. With proper arch support you feel connected to your bike through your entire foot. Beyond this, good support for your arches will provide a couple of key benefits.
Arch support insoles for good alignment and efficient pedal stroke.
Arch support will help to promote good neutral alignment in your feet, ankles and knees. This alignment will reduce knee wobble and maximize the efficiency of your pedal stroke.
The better your joints are aligned, the less energy you lose as you deliver force from your legs into your pedals. Good alignment will also help prevent pain and injury in your ankles, knees and hips as you pedal.
Good alignment is best achieved when arch support is combined with a deep heel cup. The deep heel cup cradles your heel in place to prevent excess movement within the shoe.
SOLE footbeds feature a Signature Supportive Shape that combines these essential elements to promote neutral alignment and efficient energy transfer with every pedal stroke on your bicycle.
Cycling insoles for arch strain and plantar fasciitis.
As you push the force through your feet into your pedals, the connective tissue in your arch can become strained and inflamed. This can lead to painful conditions like plantar fasciitis. Adding inserts with good arch support to your cycling shoes reduces strain in your arch to prevent inflammation and pain.
SOLE footbeds’ supportive shape is clinically proven to reduce arch strain by an average of 34%. This means that people suffering from plantar fasciitis can continue to enjoy cycling while allowing their arches to recover.
By supporting your arch from beneath, you provide a platform for the energy to transfer directly through into your pedal. This effect is even greater when the insole you wear is customized to your unique feet.
Custom moldable cycling insoles.
SOLE footbeds are all custom moldable to your unique feet. You can heat mold the footbeds using your oven at home, or simply wear them in your cycling shoes and they’ll customize to your feet over a few rides.
Custom molding your footbeds allows them to conform to your foot’s contours perfectly. This means that the insole remains in constant even contact with the bottom of your feet, distributing pressure evenly within your cycling shoes.
This even pressure distribution helps you feel connected to your pedal, from your heel to your toes. It also means the custom insoles are excellent for preventing hot spots and pressure points in your cycling shoes or cleats.
Perhaps the biggest advantage of SOLE custom insoles for cycling shoes is that they conform to your unique arch height.
Cycling insoles for flat feet.
Adding arch support to your cycling shoes is especially important if you have flat feet. It will promote good alignment and prevent excessive strain on your feet and joints as described above. But arch support can be difficult to get right with flat feet. Too much is painful, but too little doesn’t do enough to correct the issue.
Heat molding SOLE footbeds allows you to conform the arch height to your unique feet, without compromising the support offered by the insoles. If you have flat feet, we recommend you follow the simple heat molding process, and repeat if necessary, until you have a comfortable level of arch support for your flat feet in your cycling shoes.
Cycling insoles for high arches.
SOLE footbeds feature one of the highest arches on the market from an over-the-counter insole. This makes SOLE footbeds an excellent insole for people with high arches who need something to add comfort to their cycling shoes.
SOLE's Active Thin and Performance Thin footbeds are low-profile and ultra-supportive.
SOLE's Active Thin and Performance Thin footbeds are low-profile and ultra-supportive.
Thin cycling insoles.
For many people, a top priority in buying a cycling insole is that it shouldn’t take up too much space in the cycling shoe or cleat. SOLE Thin footbeds are designed to offer all the benefits of the SOLE Signature Supportive Shape, without any bulky cushioning. This makes them the perfect insole for wearing in a cycling shoe.
SOLE Thin footbeds come in two material choices. The Performance Thin is made from recycled wine corks, while the Active Thin is made from super durable EVA. The Active thin is also available with a built-in metatarsal pad, as discussed above.
With SOLE Active Thin with Met Pad footbeds, you get all the combined benefits of a custom moldable insole with arch support and a built-in metatarsal pad, that’s thin enough to fit in your cycling shoes without altering the fit and feel of your shoes. This combination of factors make this orthotic insert the very best insole for cycling shoes.
Cycling insoles with odor control.
Cycling shoes are bound to get sweaty. Over time they can become a breeding ground for bacteria that cause bad odors, which thrive in dark, moist environments. SOLE footbeds are all treated with Polygiene StayFresh. This compound prevents the growth of odor-causing bacteria, in turn preventing stink in your cycling shoes.