# What a load of bollocks



## Sol (Jan 1, 2020)

Why are cheaper cycling shoes wider?


Do the pros wearing the very best shoes have fewer toes?




www.cyclingweekly.com





"This looser fit will be comfortable for a rider completing more endurance-based rides. The shoe will feel more familiar when compared with other sports footwear, such as trainers. However, if the rider begins to look for greater power transfer, the looser fit may become a hindrance."

It is not about a looser fit, it is about getting a sole shape that actually fits your goddamn foot.

"Habgood uses the example of ski boots, “If you’re going to learn to ski, you won’t go into a high-end boot. It’s very hard to learn how to turn the skis in an aggressive boot, and it’ll hurt like hell to wear them. If someone is skiing for the first time they’ll go into a boot that is super soft, super comfortable, it feels beautiful to wear – but in the end, it makes it really difficult to do anything that requires a bit of competency because the boots just aren’t stiff enough to donate enough power to do so. "

As someone who literally grown with skiing since I was 3, training every weekend, and then pulled off, because the risk of wearing my knees out (after my father talked to the pro skiers, aged 40, who could not even run anymore), this could not be a bigger load of bollocks.

Yes, the shoes need to be stiff, and so need to be the skis, if you want any chance to get the skis to hold onto the ice, and also prevent your ankles from wearing out. But shoe stiffness is not the same as shoe comfort. The worst thing you can do is get stiff shoes with not enough internal volume. Especially around the metatarsal bones. Then when you crank the buckles, instead of getting a firm grip, you will damage the nerves in your feet. And trust me, I know people who are not even 40 years old, who are in constant pain when walking. Now imagine not being able to perform without pain the most common thing people do. 

When I grew up, using a dremel to add more room in specific areas of the shoes was a common thing. That also allowed you to really crank the buckles, and get a more uniform pressure on the whole feet.

“When you look at it from a cycling shoe perspective, it’s not far off that,” he says.

It is really quite f-ing far off.

Just compare the time of a ski race to cycling. 90 seconds against 10.800+ seconds. And notice how much time it takes for a skier after crossing the finish line to loosen the buckles. It aint much, trust me, and it is the same when training.

And all the common skiers with a gram of common sense, who buy the "stiff ones", will loosen the buckles the moment they get down the hill. Unless we are talking about those who buy stiff shoes, and ski with loosen buckles, because the shoes costed a lot, and they like the looks.

“All brands will use the same last, because it’s just too expensive to have more than one type of last. "

Lake, Bont,....

"However, if the rider decides that they want to prioritise power transfer on the bike, they may find themselves longing for something different. "

Yes, a custom molded shoe, that fits your feet, like the pros do.

“The thin materials at the top end are firm and provide a super conformed fit. You get a more confined and tapered fit and the shoe just gets much, much stiffer, which aids power transfer,” Habgood says. He says he’s produced orthotics for riders that, in a top-end shoe, provide an additional 13% of power transfer for an elite rider. “But you wouldn’t get the same difference in a lower-end shoe, the shoe wouldn’t be able to retain the stiffness required to transfer all that power,” he says.

The only thing that a shoe that does not fit your feet aids, is a big medical bill when you hit the middle age. And you dont get a more confined and tapered fit that actually fits your feet. You just get a more confined and tapered fit. To some this might be a benefit, but to many people with normal sized feet it is not.


I am just getting sick and tired of salesman wearing the "expert" clothes.


----------

