"I do not let you write badly about these shoes, they are the best"

Panda ~

Are laced cycling shoes the future?

Dino Signori, founder of the SIDI company: No - because less comfort, and their only advantage is the appearance

Stuart Hayes, product manager for Giro footwear: Yes - because better efficiency and comfort

... and be wise.

EXPERIMENT

Let's run this exercise:

Look at your foot. Now look at the foot of your girlfriend. If you do not have it, which is the most reasonable (girls, not feet), look at your colleague's foot. Not having a girlfriend is justified, because women are weakening their legs (here jutut proof from 1976 - if Rockie's trainer is wrong, no one is in this world anymore). It's best to check your friend's foot in the locker room, at the gym. If you do not go there either, because you do not have time - find some feet on the internet. Now take a good look at them (people with a girl are better here). They are a little different, right? Even if the size is close, the foot itself looks a bit different. Now, remember that the only property you change when buying a particular shoe model is its length. If anyone says that the shoe is comfortable, can we trust him? Is it not that the only right statement should be "the shoe is comfortable for me"?

* I omit inventions here like Bont Zero, which can be thermoformed in order to fit perfectly (PLN 2100 :))

How to choose a shoe?

When it comes to choosing shoes, the issue seems to be simple. Just like with shoes for walking and running ... until the day you discover that nothing in life is simple. My current job has taught me one thing - there is no such thing as a simple question. It all depends on the details that we expect in response. And just as the choice of a running shoe is simple to the day you find out about different types of soles (treads, hardness, thickness, cushioning), different types of feet (supination, pronation), different types of running (fast, free, heel) , from fingers, far, close) and you want to combine it with a specific color that suits your club outfit, so choosing a bike shoe is not easy either.

Choosing the perfect size is like hitting 6 in a tote. It does not matter how long we would measure the shoe in the shop, anyway, only after the first 200km it will be clear at once whether the choice was good. It should be easy:

if any finger touches the end of the shoe - it is too small

if we are on tip and the heel is getting a hole - it is too big, although some brands, for example Sidi, allow here a little cheat on the screw at the end of the shoe that matches it to our heel.

For better shoes, we usually get different types of inserts depending on the appearance of our foot. Alternatively, we can earn some extra money at bikefitting points. Sometimes the shoe is also marked as wide or narrow.

The most important change in cycling life

If someone asks me what he should change in his bike, because he has some free cash (because his children had communion and hidden envelopes in front of them) - I answer: shoes. Change of shoes from mountain to road or medium road to top, it's the best money spent. In the second place are shorts, especially on long routes. T-shirt can be cheap and Chinese (but maybe not necessarily a trip), shorts from the mid-decathlon shelf (or upper, because it's still cheaper than letterhead), and everything that was left in the budget, I recommend putting in the purchase of shoes.

While the change of shoe for the better may not be felt right away, the attempt to return to the lower models may after some time prove very painful. Cheaper shoes are less stiff, which may not be a disadvantage for everyone, but for the purposes of this blog, we will stick to the version that is very important.

A good shoe is enough for tens of thousands of kilometers. Of course, it will not look as good as it was at the beginning, but many parts with the potential for corruption can be exchanged. Staples, belts, velcro, screws, rubber on soles, etc. Unless you just do not have all these inventions .... but how is it not?

Back to the past

When I was small, I had turnip boots. Then came the time of adulthood (around the primary school) and you had to learn to tie laces. A few years later, I bought myself a tracksuit, which had a shoelace, but there was a great Velcro with a logo and three stripes above it. This allowed for sloppy tying or just cracking the laces with Velcro. These were the best shoes in my life. I did not know then that a dozen or so years later, the most expensive road shoes would look almost the same ...

Because once everyone had laces, then there were different magical, better and worse systems that were to stay with us forever. [pullquote] Phones with a touch screen instead of buttons would also be better for everyone. [/ pullquote] The situation changed in 2012, when Taylor Phinney appeared on Giro in shoes with laces. So the question returned: WHY?

The answer is simple. Same as with skates. Good tucks usually have laces instead of Velcro / straps, which allows you to better match the shoe to the foot. Instead of 3 or 4 points tightening (velcro, with 2 times a line and a buckle) we have them around 7 and almost every one of them, we can individually adjust.

The advantage of laces is more: above all, the weight. The abandonment of plastics, veins, magic systems and knobs saves a lot. Top Sidi Wire Carbon weighs almost 660g in size 45, Bonty Vaypor + for PLN 1559 is 450g in size 42, and the bundled Giro Empire SLX is .... 350g in size 42.5. It is a very important weight for peasant reason, because we are moving it all the time. Where do we save these games? We give up many parts that are aging over the years and which we can simply replace. Only if there are none - what to exchange?

The advantages of laces?

Look. This is a point that would be enough for most people instead of the whole text. Tied shoes are simply prettier. They look neater, more classic. The bonded Specialized S-works Sub6 look like a BMW M6 in a black mat, next to a Japanese mower in 100 shining rainbow colors and 7 spoilers when it's next to Sidi Wire or Ergo. As they are still a relatively new novelty, they are obvious and arouse interest in larger than the most colorful shoe. Unless some hand-painted, but here too, due to the simplicity of construction, it is easier to paint the tied.

In addition, we get the ability to quickly change the look. At Giro we put on pink laces, on TdF yellow, on Tour de Pologne one white, one red, etc. Depart.

... but what counts is the interior, not the look (they say ugly)

I've never understood why the fishing shoes always have a turnip on the front - after all it's so ugly.

[pullquote] The shorter the route, the laces are better. [/ pullquote] The lace-up shoes are faster. A man from Specialized says that shoelaces save up to 35 seconds on a 40-kilometer time trial compared to standard equivalents. Why would a guest who designs shoes would lie? ;-) Not only are they lighter, but because of the lack of all these knobs and buttons, they are more aero. In the end, in the bindings Bontach Bradley Wiggins competed in the time trials during the Olympics and Tour. Of course, pros should be treated with a grain of salt, just like such calculations, because when you add up the gains from a bike, outfit, accessories, etc. it turns out that the travel time of 40km is approaching 0.

Laces, unlike modern inventions, do not spoil, and even when they break, we replace them with any other. Even bought in a Czech kiosk. Unlike velcro, they do not loose when driving on dirt, pollution does not affect the strength of their holding. Everyone knows at least one person who was looking for a part for their veins, because something broke, something broke ... If you ever drove in civilian shoes, you probably know what they are getting into the pedal - you get to the intersection, you notice that it can not be removed from the pedal feet and start the prayer so that you can lean against a post. In bicycle shoes, this problem does not exist, because a special rubber prevents both solving and keeps them properly in place.

Lace-up shoes adapt better to the foot. The greater number of interlaces allows them to be better pressed in selected places. They say it on the internet custom fitI do not know how it will be ours.

The possibility of taking out the laces allows for a better opening of the shoe when it has completely soaked us - it should then dry faster (although the Giro Empire dry extremely long).

Why do not I buy more laces

It's been an equal year since I was driving in my Giro Empire. I hate them. To get this well indexed in guglach, I will write again: I hate my Giro Empire. This is the most common point in disputes in our home, more frequent even than this one, why the grease has again dropped on the wooden parquet and what do black spots on the toilet mirror. For me, these shoes are simply uncomfortable, both in wearing and handling. They are brilliant for Panda. I also know many other people for whom they are wonderful. What should my review look like now and what should I write? I can say that they are uncomfortable if I have any non-standard feet (such as long, low and with cubes sticking out on the sides?). Apparently laces should allow looser binding on the tips, and stronger above - but I never fail.

[pullquote] A lot of people are talking about putting on the shoes for the finish. It's usually the same ones who drive in aero-covers on shoes. [/ Pullquote] I have a general problem with choosing a suitably strong tie. Either it is too strong or too weak. The vein can be quickly dropped or pulled one snap. In Giro, I have to take out the laces from the elastic, solve the solutions, tighten them or let them slip on the next intersections, tie them, put them in the elastic band. Nothing, but first, I risk overdoing the other way, secondly: when I'm going by bike, stopping and having fun with both shoes is the last thing I want. Especially when the frozen fingers do not work as they should. The question of random people after the race: "Excuse me, you'll loosen your shoelaces so that I can take my foot off?", Maybe a good way to pick up, but not necessarily pleasant.

Because matching the binding is against the internet text, not undoing the fasteners before the sprint at the finish. It is the loosening of the shoe, when after a long heat tour the foot begins to swell. It is also a quick photo of the shoe and pouring out of it a stone, when we had to pass a piece of grass.

These are problems that we will not find or will not bother us when we go on a 100-kilometer route. Worse, when we go 10 hours .... and the next day another 10 - then each little discomfort increases many times.

... and whites

I also never buy white, dull, rough shoes. My shoe will always touch the chain, even though I have specially chosen a bike in which it does not exist toe ovelap (ie the tip of the fastened shoe does not touch the tire during a strong turn), somehow the tire and so always it's up. Clearing this is a massacre. It's the equivalent of a white wrapper. Beautiful and impractical. If you see someone with a white, clean wrapper, you know that he spends more time cleaning his bike than riding it, or his bike lives on the website.

You can find a discussion about cleaning white shoes here:

This text does not make sense

This article is a lie. I write it in good faith and in accordance with my beliefs, but it is a lie. When I stand before the choice of shoes again, I will look at the point "why not buy laces?", I will read it, I will remember, I will keep repeating myself in my head ... and then again in the shop I will buy the most beautiful, or laced ones, and I will spoil the whole season sitting on the wall near the road. Because nice things are faster. It's better to put them on. It's like choosing between expensive high heels and sneakers (I'm guessing). It is known that old sneakers are the most comfortable in the world, even those with a hole - from this I have my old Sidi, who probably will never die. going To peoplebut I will choose other ;-)