Specialized claim that their top of the line road shoe can save 28 seconds per 10km or 6.5 watts… wow!
http://www.bikeradar.com/au/road/news/article/specialized-revamp-s-works-road-shoes-34568/
Sounds to good to be true… But, if it is valid, I dont care about the $400+ price tag I want them.
lol
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lol!
article is over 2 Yrs old!
Specialized claim that their top of the line road shoe can save 28 seconds per 10km or 6.5 watts… wow!
http://www.bikeradar.com/...ks-road-shoes-34568/
Sounds to good to be true… But, if it is valid, I dont care about the $400+ price tag I want them.
I love how the top of the line items claim to have totally insane savings. Maybe compared to the worst avaible counterpart like a broken winter shoe.
Pretty sure Bont had everybody beat on the most aero and stiff shoe. The old Zero is a carbon fiber bottom half with a fiberglass top half. SOLID.
forgive my newbiness on the issue- but is there much to be gained by shoes? I, like many others, become more obsessed with aero equipment than whats on our feet. Case in point: I use shimano TR31 which dont have a carbon sole, rather probably plastic or fibreglass or something. Anyway, much of an entry level shoe. I just purchased some PI Try Fly lV shoes which have a carbon sole. You read about ‘power transfer’ etc being better, but is this a measurable quantity or rather marketing hype?
Compared to Chuck Taylors, maybe.
I think good fitting shoes would be the more important thing. I switched from wearing shoes that were almost 2 sizes too big to something that fits properly, comfortable and is stiff and it has improved my pedal stroke/helped generate more power. Kind of obvious I guess.
This article had some stuff in it regarding generating more power in certain shoes, pretty tough to measure I would think.
Pretty sure Bont had everybody beat on the most aero and stiff shoe. The old Zero is a carbon fiber bottom half with a fiberglass top half. SOLID.
I have been using the same shoes since 2006…is it time for an upgrade?
no, that article is claiming 28w aero savings(ROT) and 6.5w increased output or 34.5w total. good luck with that. manipulation of data is, well, you decide…
Pretty sure Bont had everybody beat on the most aero and stiff shoe. The old Zero is a carbon fiber bottom half with a fiberglass top half. SOLID.
I have been using the same shoes since 2006…is it time for an upgrade?
Damn! Thats what I call getting every cent out of what you paid for… and then some. I would say ride it till the cleats fall off, but damn man its 2014… ‘nuff said. I’m sure you could put a big ol’ smile on your face with a new pair of cycling shoes.
The claim seems to be based on the shoe aligning the user’s foot/leg more efficiently (the whole Specialized body geometry approach)…but you could also do that with insoles/wedges, etc. on any shoe.
It’s kinda like claiming that your bike is faster than another bike because your bike has the seat adjusted to the right height.
If you order your Simmons shoe without any leather covering it, I think it might be the most aero shoe you can get.
http://simmons-racing.com/cycling-2/
Nice!
IIRC Dr Coggan who built his own wind-tunnel (albeit small) was doing some testing on the aero properties of shoes.
So, without overstating this (as no results published as yet) I’m not sure he would be bothering if there was nothing in it.
Think about it, they are wide and large. To use extremes, imagine you were cutting into a block of butter with a very thin knife, again and again and again and again. Take that same knife and make it a little fatter, cut into it again and again and you would fatigue faster. No air is not butter and our feet are not knives, but you get the point!
I have been using the same shoes since 2006…is it time for an upgrade?
If you fancy selling them to me when you’re done, that would be brand new shoes for me - my Sidi’s were bought in around 1997. In fairness they hadn’t seen much use since 1999 till last October. They are proving a right PITA to get on in T1 though with that buckle that needs to be threaded through the clippy bit, so maybe it will be time to treat myself!!!
I have been using the same shoes since 2006…is it time for an upgrade?
If you fancy selling them to me when you’re done, that would be brand new shoes for me - my Sidi’s were bought in around 1997. In fairness they hadn’t seen much use since 1999 till last October. They are proving a right PITA to get on in T1 though with that buckle that needs to be threaded through the clippy bit, so maybe it will be time to treat myself!!!
Haha! Glad I’m not the only one cursing at my SIDI’s clippy bits. May be time for a tri specific shoe.
Simmons Racing shoes, although damn nice, have such a hefty price tag. Starting $850 and The full mojo runs $1850… but Im sure you get what you pay for no doubt.
no, that article is claiming 28w aero savings(ROT) and 6.5w increased output or 34.5w total. good luck with that. manipulation of data is, well, you decide…
I don’t think they make any aero claim, just that the roller setup up they tested with had a linear relationship between speed and power:
With the shoe optimised with pro foot beds and inserts dedicated to that rider, they found they were 28 seconds faster over a 10km time trial (on a roller set-up in lab conditions) against the previous version - a huge gain.
BCSM also tested the shoes straight out of the box with no optimisation and found over the same course that the rider had a 6.5 watt improvement, with less knee deviation.
At least then a 6.5W improvement should jive pretty well with a 28 second faster time over 10 km. Let’s say that’s 16 minutes then 28 seconds is a 2.9% improvement, which juves with 6.5W if the rider is putting out 223W (wearing the old shoe). I have heard professors make the exact same mistake when they find e.g. a 2% power improvement with some equipment/technique they translate it to a 2% time decrease sigh. I still doubt you get 6.5W better with the new S-Work shoes compared to the old ones, though 
Must be compared to riding with flip-flops.
I’m still riding these as tri shoes
And i still prefer them over my new fizik r3 uomo!
Now that is getting your money’s worth