Plenty of riders with broad forefeet gave up on mainstream race shoes years ago and went off to Bont or Lake. That's the backdrop for the S-Works Ares 2 Road Shoe WIDE from Specialized, which takes an already reshaped last and adds volume through the forefoot. The standard Ares 2 is built on a new Body Geometry last developed from more than 100,000 3D foot scans, with a squared-off toe box that puts the forwardmost point of the shoe over the big toe instead of near the centerline. Published testing puts that forefoot at 2.4mm of additional width over the S-Works Torch and 7mm over the original Ares. The wide version extends that same geometry further.
Closure comes from a dual-dial BOA Li2 system, and there's no conventional tongue. The sculpted upper structure wraps the foot instead, spreading pressure across the metatarsals rather than concentrating it under a lace guard. Specialized puts the contact surface increase at 20% and pairs it with an enlarged heel counter meant to eliminate heel lift during high-threshold efforts. Testers have repeatedly singled out the adjustment range on the Li2 dials, and the dials pop to release rather than needing to be unwound.
Underfoot is a unidirectional carbon outsole from the same plate family as the S-Works Torch, with the widened forefoot and pie-crust edging around the perimeter to limit flex and resin buildup. Specialized's headline figures for the Ares 2 are a 7-watt power increase and a 44% reduction in forefoot pressure. Read those as engineering targets rather than numbers you'll watch appear on your head unit, but the reasoning behind them — reduced pressure, controlled foot roll, and a stable platform under load — lines up with what long-term testers have reported.... Read More
The Body Geometry package underneath is unchanged in principle: a 1.5mm varus wedge to align the knee over the pedal spindle, a metatarsal button that spreads the forefoot bones to reduce the nerve compression behind hot foot, and longitudinal arch support to keep the foot from collapsing through the pedal stroke. The Ares 2 accepts Body Geometry SL Footbeds Gen 2, so if you want a different arch height than what ships in the box, that's a straightforward swap.
One practical note on the white colorway: the exterior is a synthetic leather that wipes clean, a direct answer to the original Ares and its knit sock liner that absorbed road grime and never fully released it. White S-Works shoes have historically been a commitment, and this upper is built to survive that. If you've been buying standard-width race shoes a half size up just to find room across the ball of your foot, then dealing with a heel that floats as a consequence, this is the version to order instead. You get length that matches your foot and width that matches your forefoot, which is the point of a wide-fit last. Sizing runs in half steps through most of the range, so dial it in with the team at Excel if you're between sizes.
