# Shoe-sole separation



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

*DMT Shoe-sole separation*

As I'm getting ready to head out, I picked up the shoes and noticed the heel looked a bit funny on one. Closer examination revealed this.  Didn't expect this, bought them in 12-07 and these have about 1,500-1,700 miles on them. What would you do?


----------



## MR_GRUMPY (Aug 21, 2002)

I had some Shimano R210's that did the same thing. I just bought sone two part liquid epoxy and glued than together. I found that I had to repeat every two years.


----------



## MisterMike (Aug 12, 2004)

You could probably use the same cement any good shoe repair guy would have but it may end up failing again. If they aren't warranted any more what have you got to loose.

If it were me I'd use this stuff http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=48915-1149-140042&lpage=none Goop it up and clamp it overnight with some C-clamps. Plumbers goop would work too. http://www.lowes.com/lowes/lkn?action=productDetail&productId=48915-1149-140042&lpage=none


----------



## Kerry Irons (Feb 25, 2002)

*Warranty?*



Kuma601 said:


> As I'm getting ready to head out, I picked up the shoes and noticed the heel looked a bit funny on one. Closer examination revealed this.  Didn't expect this, bought them in 12-07 and these have about 1,500-1,700 miles on them. What would you do?


IIRC those are expensive shoes, so you might contact the maker about a warranty fix. If you do decide to fix them yourself, be sure to get things as clean as possible on both surfaces before applying the adhesive. That means: 1) mechanically clean by getting all the loose junk out of there, and 2) chemically clean by swabing the surfaces with solvent and letting them dry completely.


----------



## ARP (Mar 7, 2002)

*Gorilla glue*

I hear it is pretty tuff stuff. I would glue. In PGH we have a guy that is an athletic shoe repair guy, he used to do alot of pro player shoes. I'm sure any shoe repair place can fix, Glue and a press, could do it with 2 C clamps and a flat piece of wood on the sole.


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

Thanks...I'll give a ring to Gita Sports and see what they say. Otherwise, I'll take it to the shoe guy and have him do it. Sucks though...no bike time unless I take the commuter out and ride with sneakers.  

I may just buy another pair so I have back-up. Do you guys have back-up shoes?


----------



## uzziefly (Jul 15, 2006)

Kuma601 said:


> Thanks...I'll give a ring to Gita Sports and see what they say. Otherwise, I'll take it to the shoe guy and have him do it. Sucks though...no bike time unless I take the commuter out and ride with sneakers.
> 
> I may just buy another pair so I have back-up. Do you guys have back-up shoes?


Sounds like a plan.

My older Nike shoes look to be having something similar happening so I'll keep an eye on this thread to see if your method works. I doubt I can call Nike anyway since they stop selling their products/making them for consumers now.

I have a new pair of Nike shoes that I just got so that's the spare and worse case, I could use my yet another Nike pair that's mounted with Look cleats and just swap them out. Or swap the pedals. 

IMO, it's a good idea to have a spare pair but then again, you don't really need a spare most of the time too right?

Keep us updated on what the stat is with the shoes. Thanks and good luck.


----------



## Export A (Mar 18, 2007)

Kuma601 said:


> Thanks...I'll give a ring to Gita Sports and see what they say. Otherwise, I'll take it to the shoe guy and have him do it. Sucks though...no bike time unless I take the commuter out and ride with sneakers.
> 
> I may just buy another pair so I have back-up. Do you guys have back-up shoes?



did imelda marcos have more than one closet?


----------



## Sasquatch (Feb 3, 2004)

Export A said:


> did imelda marcos have more than one closet?


she had one BIG one :frown2:


----------



## rdolson (Sep 2, 2003)

A little different take...

I would steer clear of any of the super stiff glues. With the flexing in a shoe, they would probably either shear or tear either the sole or the body.

If it were me, I'd go down to my local marine store and get a tube of GE 5200 silicone adhesive. Probably the white fast cure stuff. It will make an incredibly strong bond that will never fail, yet remain flexible enough to handle the shoe/sole flex. The white fast cure takes 24 hours to set up, the black long cure takes 7 days, YMMV


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

Contacted Gita e-mail and sent along the pic. They relayed this to the DMT division and they will warranty the shoes. I'll pack them up and send them off.  :thumbsup: 

Meantime, Glory Cycles has some black versions available, I'll order those.


----------



## melusive (Sep 18, 2008)

glad to hear it worked out


----------



## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

Glad they're making an adjustment for you. I, myself, like to use Shoe Goo for those kinds of repairs. IME, it's great stuff.


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

I'll keep Shoe Goo in mind. From the responses, seems that this occurs with some frequency? With such a high stress area, the manufacturers I'd think would adjust for this and design the heel area better. Unless I need to pony in excess of 2 bills for a durable shoe? 

So far, very pleased with Gita's response. Their reply was in my mail box at 6am, DMT's response at 6:44am, a follow-up question by 10:19am.


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

The replacements arrived today so I'll put the cleat base plates on and get back on the road.  Happy with the way Gita handled this matter...no resistance, e-mails returned timely and any phone calls I made they provided the necessary needed info. 

:thumbsup: to GITA Sports and DMT.


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

<sigh> Here I go again...Disappointing to experience this again. These are out of warranty so I'll run these by the shoe repair shop or I'll do the epoxy route myself. Some well aged leather Lotto's lasted a good decade before the drying leather and wear caused the soles to separate. 

It's not like I'm some mega watt rider nor do I walk in these much. From door to entryway...maybe 16' of walking per ride.


----------



## Milk-Bone (Jul 10, 2011)

Kuma601 said:


> <sigh> Here I go again...Disappointing to experience this again. These are out of warranty so I'll run these by the shoe repair shop or I'll do the epoxy route myself. Some well aged leather Lotto's lasted a good decade before the drying leather and wear caused the soles to separate.
> 
> It's not like I'm some mega watt rider nor do I walk in these much. From door to entryway...maybe 16' of walking per ride.


At this point I would pull them apart the rest of the way and clean with a wire brush. Coat each piece with a good coat or contact cement or rubber cement, basically the same thing. and clamp the two pieces together. Let dry and cure over night and you should be golden for years to come. Epoxy and Gorilla glue work, but get brittle over time and fail. There is a reason shoe manufacturers use rubber cement.


----------



## Mr. Versatile (Nov 24, 2005)

Shoe Goo is like industrial strength rubber cement. Rubber cement on steroids. I'd put it on generously after cleaning the surfaces. I'd also clamp it over night using a 1x4 & a couple of C clamps.


----------



## Tripleblack (Apr 13, 2011)

It's kind of interesting that this thread should resurface today... 

It's my dad's birthday today, but as an early birthday present I took him to a LBS yesterday to get a new pair of cycling shoes...

Well he decided on a nice looking pair of DMT shoes. He liked them because they fit great and they kind of looked like soccer cleats which reminded him of his semi-pro days. As I began to take a closer look at the display model I checked the stiffness of the sole and BAM the heel end of it detached just like your second picture shows!

I assumed that maybe since it was the display model it must have been abused from people trying it on so I pulled another one out of a box and I checked that one again and the same exact thing happened! 


Well I'm assuming the manager must have been pretty embarrassed when my dad told him about it (since he was set on that pair) that he ended up giving us a solid deal on a pair of Giro Factors. So much so, that I ended up picking up a pair for myself!


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

I like these shoes since they fit me well. BUT, this drill does become tiresome. I'll look for a flexible bonding adhesive for these. This pair has about 3K miles. I have a back-up pair of the same shoe but the confidence is gone.

Not long ago I was browsing a higher line bike shop in the area. A guy brought some very well used Sidi's and asked if spare parts were still available. The sales guy went to get the Sidi book and make some calls. I started talking to him. He's had the shoes for 6 years and rides about 8K annually. He said he loves them and while he could buy a new pair, why? Though ugly they still did what they needed to. I was impressed. Parts could be obtained and the sales guy said he might like model X that replaced his current ones. He declined and ordered the buckle and strap.


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

*happened twice to me*



Kuma601 said:


> <sigh> Here I go again...Disappointing to experience this again. These are out of warranty so I'll run these by the shoe repair shop or I'll do the epoxy route myself. Some well aged leather Lotto's lasted a good decade before the drying leather and wear caused the soles to separate.
> 
> It's not like I'm some mega watt rider nor do I walk in these much. From door to entryway...maybe 16' of walking per ride.


I have had two pair of DMT shoes, an older Ultimax model and the RSX Spririt. Both of them had the heel separate in less than one season. I believe I glued them with a Plastic epoxy from Loctite after I cleaned and roughed up the joining area. I have never had this happen with any other shoe brand. I currently am using Diadora and Giro shoes. I do like the fit of the DMTs and after gluing them they lasted for many seasons but that should never happen. I still use the RSX's as a backup shoe and for bad weather


----------



## onlineflyer (Aug 8, 2005)

I have 2 different pairs of DMT shoes. Both came apart like yours. I super glued 1 pair and Gorella glued the other. That was over a year ago. Both pairs still going strong. If they come apart again, I'll just reglue. Just following the instructions on the glue container. Clamp for at least 24 hours and your good to go. No need to pay some one to glue for you.


----------



## sonsofanarchy (Oct 9, 2011)

They're shoes. Take them to a shoe store. They'll have the adhesive you need.


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

I'll call Gita on Monday and see what the rep has to say.


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

GITA is :thumbsup:
The rep contacted me e-mail and we'll work something out, I'll call Monday and go over some details. 

With my main pair down, I grabbed the back-up shoes. Same model but a previous year. They have been worn 4 times counting today's ride...whatever adhesive is being used is :nonod:


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

My fix using a flexible silicone adhesive didn't last long. I took the shoes to the repair guy for his thoughts. He said that not knowing what the sole actually was, he couldn't guarantee the repair. Composites containing polyethylene or polypropylene and thermo plastics were difficult to bond. He'd worked on others and said it depends on the sole composition and that these are thermally bonded/welded which was beyond his capability. What he had in adhesives he wasn't sure, more than likely from past tries, I'd be back. 

His continuing comment was that the shoes were defective to split like that. It occurs but was a sign they didn't have it set-up right when attached. Sad because they don't look to have lots of miles/wear. He's right, the back-up pair has about 6 hours of road time. So basically they are circular file. I'll experiment just for the sake of it but new shoes will be the conclusion. Life goes on and some instance ya do good, and in this case :frown2:


----------



## DaveG (Feb 4, 2004)

*loctite plastic epoxy*



Kuma601 said:


> My fix using a flexible silicone adhesive didn't last long. I took the shoes to the repair guy for his thoughts. He said that not knowing what the sole actually was, he couldn't guarantee the repair. Composites containing polyethylene or polypropylene and thermo plastics were difficult to bond. He'd worked on others and said it depends on the sole composition and that these are thermally bonded/welded which was beyond his capability. What he had in adhesives he wasn't sure, more than likely from past tries, I'd be back.
> 
> His continuing comment was that the shoes were defective to split like that. It occurs but was a sign they didn't have it set-up right when attached. Sad because they don't look to have lots of miles/wear. He's right, the back-up pair has about 6 hours of road time. So basically they are circular file. I'll experiment just for the sake of it but new shoes will be the conclusion. Life goes on and some instance ya do good, and in this case :frown2:


I used Loctite plastic epoxy on my DMT RSX soles and that has held for two seasons. Towards the end of last season I decided to get a pair a Giro shoes so I put the DMTs in backup. After two sole separation experiences with DMT I am gun shy about buying DMT again. Good luck


----------



## Kuma601 (Jan 22, 2004)

Thanks for mentioning that, I'll pick that one up.


----------



## BacDoc (Aug 1, 2011)

If you have a West Marine (or any boating supply store) get some 5200 sealant. Comes in black or white and fast or slow cure. Even the fast cure takes hours to set up, but when it does it sticks really good and lasts years in high UV and salt water environments.

I've used it on snowboard boots and footstrap pads on my kiteboards. I would be suprised if this didn't work on your shoes.


----------

