Or put ur feet in ur shoes. Run to the line. Get on ur bike. Are u losing races by :05?

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http://www.TriScottsdale.org

Aero shoes actually save a fair bit of time (~1s/km). Enough so that they are worth the extra time in T1 for most races (certainly 70.3s). I use the Giro Empire-style setup for 70.3s (actually LG LA84s), and velcro-strapped Sidis for sprints (since T1 time matters more in short races).




The calculus is different for the pros, who place a premium on making the pack (and getting the draft), so extra T1 time means more energy to chase back to the group. Theirs is often more of a tactical race and less of a true TT.

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ECMGN Therapy Silicon Valley:
Depression, Neurocognitive problems, Dementias (Testing and Evaluation), Trauma and PTSD, Traumatic Brain Injury (TBI)

I am currently using the Scott Road Tri carbon with the boa dial on the heal I like. Sebi does flying mounts with them and seems possible I just put them on in T1 so haven't tried. I used the DMT KR1 for a few tri seasons and now use it on my road bike and are IMO the best cycling shoe I have ever worn. They are like a slipper, the soles are shaped like an to the insole and a very comfortable shoe. I even kicked the edge of one of the wooden bike boxes they use to hold your bike in T1 Kona smashing the boa dial off and it was not as tight as I'd like but fine for the ride. After Pogacar's win at the TDF last year they brought out this lace up model KR-TDF he had been wearing and I am waiting until they release the other colour options besides yellow to be my tri shoe. You will have to put them on in T1 but they are comfortable, slip off ok on the fly and my guess as aero if not better than anything else out there...


https://www.scott-sports.com/au/en/product/scott-road-tri-carbon-shoe


https://www.dmtcycling.com/en/road/kr-tdf

To answer your question about Zero+:
- Opens wide enough for flying mount
- Easy to tighten since it uses just one Boa
- Fine sockless for me, including IM distance
- No place to attach rubber bands

myself i am avid bont user both zero and vaypor (duck feet)

however i remember zero tested quite poorly in aerotunnel

If you're trying to pick shoes for aero purposes... I'd either wait for the Velovetta's or stick with the Empire style (narrow) shoes. The Bont's LOOK aero, but that's about it.

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My Blog - http://leegoocrap.blogspot.com

Yep, if memory serves, from those who did testing, the aerodynamics seemed to have nothing to do with the types of straos/laces, and everything to do with the width of the shoe.

If you can squeeze your foot into the narrow Giro Empire SLX's, you're aero. For those of us with wide feet, we need to sacrifice some aero for comfort.

Testing multiple pair of shoes has been very trendy in the tunnel the last couple of sessions. If I had to guess I'd say 2/3 are testing at least 2 different shoes.

I have seen some aero shoes do quite well on people and those same shoes do rather poorly on others. I did see one shoe where the brand new model tested worst by 2-3w over a broken in pair.

IDK if I've seen enough consistency from any shoe that makes me want to order another pair of shoes, certainly nothing like the aerohead for helmets.

as always with testing one test result is worth 1000 guesses or posts on the subject

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Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

This and there are many ways to fudge shoe tests (intentionally or not). Cleat placement and stack all can have an effect. Is the foot in the exact same position relative to the pedal spindle? Difficult to judge if everybody is doing their homework properly.

Hey, Just here to share some photos and info with VeloVetta.

Our molds are going through a few modifications. Our factory in Italy is also shut down for a Covid outbreak.... again... hopefully back up after this week.


Carbon fiber sole


carbon sole fit into the aerodynamic rear portion of the shoe


The lasted upper gets glued into here.


The walking cover is removable to expose the internal cable routing for the closure. There is an aero and a flat version of this cover to chose from.


That hole by the index finger is one of the things we need to fix with the mold - the molten plastic is not flowing well to that location.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

The Bont Zero+ are real easy. I use the flap to keep the shoe open and with the single Boa centered pretty easy to get the fit right once clear.

So I shouldn't keep refreshing your website multiple times a day? So interested and excited!

I'm glad you posted!

I'm super stoked and will likely wait until they're ready for purchase. Hopefully before Worlds! I'm sure you'll have quite a few of us rocking them at St. George if they're ready in time.

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

The problem is that the Bont carbon tub adds a lot of width, whether you have wide feed or not. I have pretty wide feed. But something voluminous like an S-works is far narrower externally than my Bonts were, even though internal width is the same.

Love the concept of these Velovetta shoes. When would they actually be available to the public though?

I see videos going back to March 2019. Obviously going from proof of concept to having a product in market takes time, but are we talking months, 1yr, 3yrs, etc?

After a deep dive into available shoes, the Bontrager Ballista seriously seems like it checks all the boxes for me... It's more narrow than my current Bonts (and anything Bont has to offer), it seems pretty sleek (i.e., no big straps or dials sticking out), and it would presumably secure my feet better than the elastic lace setup of the Empire (which I can fit my feet in anyway).

Until Ed rolls out the Velovetta, I'm likely going to be racing with the Ballista (if I can find a pair).

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@floathammerholdon | @partners_in_tri

Given that this has taken me WAY longer than I expected, this is a totally fair question. We have made the first set of molds to make a small group of sizes of shoe. The first parts that came out of those molds needed some adjusting, so those molds are being modified now. Our factory is shut down this week because they had 2 employees test positive for COVID. I think that if all the rest of them test negative at the end of this week, they will be allowed to re-open. Then we should have new parts in a week or two. IF those are good, then we will make the rest of the molds and tooling for all the sizes. That will take 8-10 weeks... I hope. That is what they say, but they are often late. THEN we will be ready to manufacture.

There have been so many factors in our delays - first it was the tariff trade war with China. That meant that when we talked to the usual suspects for contract cycling shoe manufacturing, they basically told us to f-off. Not using those words specifically, but by telling us their minimum order quantity was now 2 million pairs. The factories in Vietnam that most US companies were fleeing to were not technically capable of producing a shoe was as complex as ours. So then I had to search in Europe. I found a great company in Italy. Quality and design are top-notch. Meeting deadlines, however, is not an Italian specialty.

We finished the basic design of the last for size 44 and we got our first rideable prototypes done in October of 2019. Then Covid hit and Italy was basically entirely shut down for all of 2020, so we lost an entire year there. Now, things are moving there, but very slowly. Obtaining aluminum to make the molds and tooling is still very difficult. Tooling that that used to take 5 weeks to make now take 10 weeks.

Then we had to complete the design of the plastic and carbon parts, then have those re-designed by the mold making companies to make them manufacturable by injection molding. Then we had to do the scaling of the last for all the sizes with an eye towards making the plastic parts which surround the shoe fit as broad a range of sizes as we can to reduce mold costs. This is a complicated thing and took a long time. Then we had to scale the design of all the plastic parts for all the different size lasts. Then we had to design the molds and make the first set....

And there is a lot of tooling to make these shoes

for every ~ 2 sizes of shoe we need:

4 injection molds for plastic parts
mold for carbon sole
cutting tools for upper
molds and cutting tools for insoles
Lasts for every half size
And then there are machined metal parts - no tooling needed there, but CNC programming.

I'm working as hard as I can to get them out. But unfortunately there is only so much I can accomplish with putting pressure on suppliers.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

That sounds like an absolutely brutal process. I figured Covid caused complications, but didn’t even consider all the trade war chaos.

Best of luck! They truly look like they’re gonna be incredible shoes

Phew. That is quite the journey. It deserves its own episode on Planet Money. Or will make a great interview someday on How I Built This. Good luck.

What is the price point going to be on the VeloVetta Monarchs? I am interested in a pair and I appreciate that you are having them made in a country that has fair wages and respectable working standards.

I do not want to publish a specific number because it could still change. But likely they will be on the expensive side - but not quite as expensive as the top of the line shoes from the biggest brands. They will cost a lot more to make than those other brands though! They certainly won't be priced anywhere near the custom shoes.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook

Fair enough, thank you for the response. I will keep an eye open.