[BergMann]

Wanted: recs on the best place in Portland Oregon to have cycling-specific orthotics made.

I'm visiting a friend here in PDX who has been complaining of numbness in his toes.
Since his feet are much like mine (narrow, flat, fallen arches), I loaned him my custom orthotics, just to show him the benefit of a tarsal ball supporting the forefoot, and *voila* his numbness is gone!

So now the mission is to find him a local fitter or cycling-savvy podiatrist that can build a set of custom orthotics for his Sidis.

Anyone have any experience or recommendations they'd like to share?

 

[ColoradoVeloDude]

Check this place out:

http://www.bikefit.com/index.php - look under "products"

The issue may be the interface angle between the shoe and the cleat and the pedal. These guys have a set of shims that go under the cleat. One shim didn't seem like much but it took all the voids out between the ball of my foot and the pedal and now I have great contact.

Also look up the nearest Surefoot near to you (www.surefoot.com). These guys specialize in making orthotics for ski boots but I also had them make a set for my bike shoes. Not cheap. These guys have a machine you step on, little feelers come up and make a topographic map of the bottom of your foot. A N/C machine in the store makes a custom footbed for your foot. The folks in the store then do the fine tuning to make the orthotic fit the shoe, ski boot, or whatever.

Hope it helps....

 

[richjones]

I ski shop made me a pair of foot beds 20 years ago and they still work great. I have had them in my Ergo 2's for the last 5 years and I get an awesome fit. They way they made them was to first heat them up in a toaster oven, then I stood on them so they formed to the underside of my foot. Then they built up the underside with hard foam so that all areas were fully supported. Not sure if anybody is still making foot beds using this technique. You end up with a totally custom foot bed.

 

[BryanSayer]

Mine come from this producer, which is in the pacific NW,
http://www.nwpodiatric.com/products/index_prodfunc.html

So you might contact them and ask who they deal with in your area. I know they keep a list of the podiatrists that they work with. I'm very happy with mine, but it does cause me to get a larger shoe. I wear Sidi.

 

[BergMann]

Thanks for the suggestions everyone.
I actually used to fit skiboots & make heat-moldable inserts myself, so I'm familiar with the technology involved.

What I'm really trying to help my buddy find is a local, Portland-based bikefitting guru who can make him orthotics that will take into account the mechanics of his pedaling stroke.
I've had a number of podiatrists and bootfitters make me running or skiing-specific orthotics, but none of those address cycling-specific alignment issues.
My friend doesn't ski, and doesn't experience any issues while running, so our major objective here is to get cycling-specific orthotics made, so that e.g. if he is determined to have canting issues, he'll be in the hands of someone who knows how to address this either in the orthotic itself, or in the form of cleat wedges.

With this in mind, any PDX locals who know who the city's top fitters are?
Maybe I can start by calling a couple of fitters and see who they'd recommend in the event they don't make orthotics themselves.