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Aero Shoetout
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My goal in designing this shoe is not simply to make an aerodynamic shoe. It's to make the best triathlon shoe made, and to include in the design process a real analytical effort to reduce aerodynamic drag, without compromising fit or function. I hope that even if one does not believe the aero data, or tests the shoe themselves and gets different results, they still decide that this is the shoe for them.

I can truly say that this is the most comfortable cycling shoe I have ever worn. I can also say the materials and craftsmanship of the upper are top notch, as one would expect from an Italian factory that's been making shoes for 46 years.

Like aero helmets, the aerodynamics of shoes is individual to the rider and there are lots of complicated non-intuitive things going on. Not everyone will experience the same thing. The results below are what we got for me mounted on a 2020 Felt IA Advanced. All that being said, given that this shoe is the only one in which real analytical tools were used during the design process to reduce aerodynamic drag, I think most riders have a good chance of seeing an improvement if they use this shoe.

Testing was done at 30 mph. A little more geeky discussion about that a little lower down. All shoes were size 44, but that does not mean they are actually the same size. The S-Works shoe was the smallest by quite a bit, giving it the lowest frontal area. It's possible that someone who prefers a 44 in the Bontrager might actually prefer a 44.5 in the S-Works - but maybe not. I was able to wear all shoes comfortably. Every effort was made to keep q-factor identical between shoes.




(photo: Kenny Withrow)

(photo: Kenny Withrow)


The validity of testing at 30mph has been discussed a lot on ST and people question why tests are not done at a speed more representative of an AG athlete. The reason we did not do this is because at 30mph, we can get the CdA and use that to look at the differences in drag at any speed we want much more accurately than if we tested at 20mph. The reason for this is because the signal to noise ratio gets too high as the test speed gets slower and it could easily become impossible to detect differences in positions or equipment. Using the CdA of 30 mph at slower speeds is valid because CdA of a cyclist has low sensitivity to Reynolds number in these ranges of air velocity - in simple terms the behavior of the flow around the cyclist is not going to be sufficiently different at 20mph vs. 30mph, so the analysis is scalable in that range.


An example of using this scalability:

If a cyclist can complete a 40kTT in 1 hour, using the CdA's of the shoes and applying a typical distribution of yaw angles, we can calculate that based on this data, using the VeloVetta prototype that cyclist would complete the 40k 32 seconds faster.

If a triathlete can complete the bike leg of an Ironman in the TR9 in 5 hours, this data suggests using the VeloVetta prototype they could complete it 4 minutes and 20 seconds faster.

The distribution of yaw angles used for these analyses are essentially the one published by Flo (http://flocycling.blogspot.com/...n-series-step-2.html) massaged a bit to fit the data points we took.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Do we have a release date yet? Thanks for sharing the data and creating an amazing new product!
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Re: Aero Shoetout [EnderWiggan] [ In reply to ]
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my hope is April.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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I’m first in line to buy these 😜
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Re: Aero Shoetout [Sean H] [ In reply to ]
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I might be right there with ya!


Sean H wrote:
I’m first in line to buy these 😜

My YouTubes

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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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How are these guys to walk in? And i'll echo the sentiment from the other thread on how disappointing it is to see how the Bontrager performed.

My YouTubes

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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Some super impressive numbers. Nice work Ed. Can't wait to start using these when I get the chance!

Benjamin Deal - Professional - Instagram - TriRig - Lodi Cyclery
Deals on Wheels - Results, schedule, videos, sponsors
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Re: Aero Shoetout [LAI] [ In reply to ]
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LAI wrote:
How are these guys to walk in? And i'll echo the sentiment from the other thread on how disappointing it is to see how the Bontrager performed.

I thought they looked like they'd test better, but they are pretty fat. That being said I'm still surprised they did better than the S-works with Boa's. Would have been nice to have seen a Giro or Specialized lace up on here. But I understand very well the time constraints/costs of testing.



Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [LAI] [ In reply to ]
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LAI wrote:
How are these guys to walk in? And i'll echo the sentiment from the other thread on how disappointing it is to see how the Bontrager performed.


We're going to add a heel pad that you can remove for a race if you choose:



remember, in your preferred sizes, it is very possible that the Bontrager is faster than the S-Works. I actually like the shoe a lot.

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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Would you mind publishing the CdA numbers? The chart is a nice visual but hard to interpret the exact differences. Nice job on the shoe. Seems like you have a winner.



Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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This might certainly be the case, but I really thought the Bontrager would be tight with your shoe. Great work on proving me wrong in that respect! 😉
RowToTri wrote:
remember, in your preferred sizes, it is very possible that the Bontrager is faster than the S-Works. I actually like the shoe a lot

My YouTubes

Last edited by: LAI: Nov 4, 19 8:16
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Re: Aero Shoetout [Ex-cyclist] [ In reply to ]
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Ed O'Malley
www.VeloVetta.com
Founder of VeloVetta Cycling Shoes
Instagram • Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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RowToTri wrote:

Awesome, thanks!



Heath Dotson
HD Coaching:Website |Twitter: 140 Characters or Less|Facebook:Follow us on Facebook
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Let's do this!

Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Very impressive! Looking forward to seeing the final product

Matt
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Congratulations on some very promising looking data and best of luck with the next steps!

I've always wondered why more manufacturers aren't adopting the Boa-dial on the heel design. I appreciate it might disrupt airflow coming off the heel but it seems like that would still be a big improvement over sticking them on the side e.g. with the S-Works shoes. Could you comment on that given your experiences with CFD and tunnel-time?
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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please take my money. put me on for the first batch.
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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For most people the Shimano TR9 is the relevant benchmark. I'm reading that as about ~8-9 watts or nearly... oh you already did the math, lol.... about 30-35 seconds over 40k. That's very significant. Well done.

Not to distract from the aero conversation but one thing Bont has on their website is a sizing guide with a scaled printout that works pretty well IMO.
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Re: Aero Shoetout [GreenPlease] [ In reply to ]
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Any plans to compare against the Bont Zero?
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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What's the estimated price range for a pair, when they become available?
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Re: Aero Shoetout [timbasile] [ In reply to ]
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No TT love, only tri? I notice (since it said tri) the Sub-6 with shoe cover or a Giro with shoe cover isn't on the list.

Also, cleat selection on any of these is a RBD.....(Speedplay aero). Didn't see a link or info on that posted.
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Nice job on everything and thank you for posting both the graphs & CdA's.

Brian Stover USAT LII
Accelerate3 Coaching
Insta

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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Looks awesome, I like starting the day with a wind tunnel results email to read.
Couple of questions:
1. Did you weigh the shoes tested?
2. Are you going to supply monopoint sizing. If not - please do!!

Just for fun I've added shoes to my course modelling
This is for the IM Cairns course in 2018 weather conditions (a fast, low yaw year). Using the TR9 as the baseline. Mass differences not accounted for (hence question 1 above)


Why IM Cairns - because that was top of my folder and thus most up to date. So I updated Kona too



For context, here are the impact of other changes for the 4.30 rider at Kona

Cervelo testing:
P5D 20s slower than P5 (oops)
P5X 33s faster than P5 (fully loaded)

Tour Mag testing:
Canyon Speedmax SLX 1.56 faster than CF

My testing
Disc wheel instead of a 78 rear - 32s (not that you're allowed discs)
78s instead of 58s - 23s

So as long as the price is below the cost of a new bike or set of carbon wheels these shoes are stacking up pretty well...
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Re: Aero Shoetout [RowToTri] [ In reply to ]
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Gotta set aside a little cash for when these are ready. Looking good!

Dominic Pollizzi

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Re: Aero Shoetout [cyclenutnz] [ In reply to ]
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I did not weigh them. The prototype is currently very heavy - it will be a lot lighter in the production version.

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