Nice job advertising for Giro ;) I was in the market for some new shoes and just pulled the trigger on some Empire's. I'd been admiring them in one of my riding buddies, but hadn't appreciated the aero aspect till now. I was thinking it would be pretty easy to construct the equivalent of the Sub6 warp sleeve out of an old pair of velotoze that ripped. Anyone given that a try?

Isn't the plastic bumper on the zero+ removable? That was my plan when I was considering them.

Hello Thomas Gerlach and All,

Giro Empire SLX model ...... both of my Bonts and Empires have a small amount of crepe shoe material added (as shown on the shoe on the left below) so I can run on (for a short distance) them without damaging the SpeedPlay cleats .... and this makes them a bit heavier than the standard shoes.

This also makes the bottom of your shoes look as nice as the top of your shoes with the SpeedPlay pedal clicking smoothly into the shoe like the retracting wheels on an aircraft folding smoothly into the wheel wells.

What has less slip but is more slippery? ......... View-Speed Cycling Shoe Modification

Sort of a conundrum since the View-Speed modification makes the shoes so they will not slip easily when you run on them but also makes them more slippery (aero).

This View-Speed Mod is effective for lowering shoe drag as tested in San Diego Low Speed Wind Tunnel.

The protective heel tab comes off for racing.

---

Cheers, Neal

+1 mph Faster

This is where the track is going to hurt you. For me they test way faster at yaw than an 0. You are mainly stuck at 0 with the Velo.

---

---

Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

Blogs: Best CHEAP Zwift / Bike Trainer Desk | Theragun G3 vs $140 Bivi Percussive Massager | Normatec Pulse 2.0 vs Normatec Pulse | Speed Hound vs Normatec | Air Relax vs Normatec | Q1 2018 Blood Test Results | | Why HED JET+ Is The BEST value wheelset

Well the way we worked in the tunnel is we went position, clothing, helmets, other. We kept whatever was fast and keep iterating. Shoes were last. I am not in the kit that we tested, Frankly, the kit was fast but it was supertight. Like, so tight that I felt it actually forced my position on the bike - which was actually good - but I didn't think it would be good to swim and bike. Although kits test fast in the tunnel, I am still a firm believer that you get may 1/2 the gains you see in the tunnel for most things, and with kits maybe it is 1/3, because inevitably after swimming, it is all bunched, or sits differently given that you just swam 2k-4k in water.

---

---

Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

Blogs: Best CHEAP Zwift / Bike Trainer Desk | Theragun G3 vs $140 Bivi Percussive Massager | Normatec Pulse 2.0 vs Normatec Pulse | Speed Hound vs Normatec | Air Relax vs Normatec | Q1 2018 Blood Test Results | | Why HED JET+ Is The BEST value wheelset

Except that isn't the case. Velodrome is 0-5 degrees which is what I see when I race.

Edit- also worth noting the numbers I've seen for the Crono are from the tunnel.

I got a pair of Empires 2 years ago, because they were comfortable, super light, and fit me just right. That last point being absolutely key with cycling shoes of any kind.

I just road ride, and do the odd Gran Fondo. I had not considered them for their aerodynamics and certainly had not thought of them on any way as a Tri shoe - due to the laces.

My initial thoughts when I got the shoes from two years back - http://stevefleck.blogspot.ca/...-on-bike-part-2.html

But as Thomas Gerlach has noted in another thread, you could sub in elastic laces, and if you can get the tension dialed in just right, that solves the easy on/off issue, and perhaps it is a shoe for triathletes!

---

---

Steve Fleck @stevefleck | Blog

I'm liking the look of these.


http://www.bikerumor.com/...lympics/#more-134293

---

Suffer Well.

Me too

---

---

Save: $50 on Speed Hound Recovery Boots | $20 on Air Relax| $100 on Normatec| 15% on Most Absorbable Magnesium

Blogs: Best CHEAP Zwift / Bike Trainer Desk | Theragun G3 vs $140 Bivi Percussive Massager | Normatec Pulse 2.0 vs Normatec Pulse | Speed Hound vs Normatec | Air Relax vs Normatec | Q1 2018 Blood Test Results | | Why HED JET+ Is The BEST value wheelset

Too bad the empires are made in a width for skinny Italian feet... :(

I have pretty wide feet and the empires fit me great

You need to specifically test stance width, narrow could be worse or better.

Maurice

Geez I tried them on and felt like my feet were falling off the sides.

Specialized has the warp sleeve for the sub6...which if sold separately could surely work on empires. I'd guess Giro would eventually respond with a similar product.

Or use the orca shoe covers on any shoes?

This (below) looks a lot easier to do, considering we are talking about ease of entry/putting on shoes after mounting...than what the Orca's (or any other 'covers' require).

https://www.youtube.com/...DKCKR97t&index=4