Cycling's Imelda Marcos
For those that understand the title's reference:
Fuck dude, you're old.
Lately I've come to the realization that I need to change shoe brands. For over 15 years, I've been a Specialized shoe guy. Size 45 wide, mostly at the Pro Road level. They fit, were stiff enough to hold up under all 20 of my watts, and weren't S-Works expensive. There were a couple versions along the line that didn't work out so well, but the Pro Road was my go-to. I'd buy them any time a decent pair popped up on my size on eBay. The last few years it's been kinda quiet on that front, so while my existing pairs slowly rotted off my flippers, there weren't any new ones in the pipeline to take their place. Well... maybe 2 or three pairs, but how am I supposed to operate at peak performance without a sufficient number of spare shoess? What is this, North Korea?
I tried other, newer Specialized models, and was completely underwhelmed. They pinched my foot here, rubbed there, folded over the pedal spindle like a lukewarm slice of American cheese, or were crazy expensive. Sometimes they were all off the above. As much as I was assured they hadn't changed lasts or whatever, the alterations to materials, cinching systems, and other changes resulted it an end product that was not at all to my liking.
So, like always, I started shopping. The first place I looked was Specialized's great rival, Trek. Bontrager makes a pretty decent shoe at their mid-tier, which is also the highest level they make wide shoes in. I ordered a pair from the Evil Empire, and after a few long rides I decided to return them. I swapped the footbeds and made some tweaks here and there, and at the end of the day they just weren't for me.
I did a little reading and found out only two companies (Bont and Lake) actually make wide lasts. The rest just add materials to an existing last to make the shoe wider. It saves them money, but I began to wonder if I wasn't missing something. Kinda like that Chris King espresso tamper even though I don't drink coffee.
Seriously though, I've always heard that your money should be invested in the contact points. I've done that with handlebars (ENVE) and saddles (Specialized Power, so why not shoes?
Then I visited their sites and priced out the offerings. Oof. There's probably a good reason I stuck with buying NOS, discontinued shoes off of eBay. I was looking at $400-$550 for shoes that matched my tastes. Double oof, Especially when you're not 100% sure the shape of the shoe is going to match your feet.
With a little looking, I tracked down some NOS shoes from both manufacturers on clearance, so I'm going to give them a try. I've got my fingers crossed, because even at the discount I got them for, they were still more expensive than any shoes I've ever used. But if they do work, I'll at least know there's hope for my ungainly flippers.
Fuck dude, you're old.
Lately I've come to the realization that I need to change shoe brands. For over 15 years, I've been a Specialized shoe guy. Size 45 wide, mostly at the Pro Road level. They fit, were stiff enough to hold up under all 20 of my watts, and weren't S-Works expensive. There were a couple versions along the line that didn't work out so well, but the Pro Road was my go-to. I'd buy them any time a decent pair popped up on my size on eBay. The last few years it's been kinda quiet on that front, so while my existing pairs slowly rotted off my flippers, there weren't any new ones in the pipeline to take their place. Well... maybe 2 or three pairs, but how am I supposed to operate at peak performance without a sufficient number of spare shoess? What is this, North Korea?
I tried other, newer Specialized models, and was completely underwhelmed. They pinched my foot here, rubbed there, folded over the pedal spindle like a lukewarm slice of American cheese, or were crazy expensive. Sometimes they were all off the above. As much as I was assured they hadn't changed lasts or whatever, the alterations to materials, cinching systems, and other changes resulted it an end product that was not at all to my liking.
So, like always, I started shopping. The first place I looked was Specialized's great rival, Trek. Bontrager makes a pretty decent shoe at their mid-tier, which is also the highest level they make wide shoes in. I ordered a pair from the Evil Empire, and after a few long rides I decided to return them. I swapped the footbeds and made some tweaks here and there, and at the end of the day they just weren't for me.
I did a little reading and found out only two companies (Bont and Lake) actually make wide lasts. The rest just add materials to an existing last to make the shoe wider. It saves them money, but I began to wonder if I wasn't missing something. Kinda like that Chris King espresso tamper even though I don't drink coffee.
Seriously though, I've always heard that your money should be invested in the contact points. I've done that with handlebars (ENVE) and saddles (Specialized Power, so why not shoes?
Then I visited their sites and priced out the offerings. Oof. There's probably a good reason I stuck with buying NOS, discontinued shoes off of eBay. I was looking at $400-$550 for shoes that matched my tastes. Double oof, Especially when you're not 100% sure the shape of the shoe is going to match your feet.
With a little looking, I tracked down some NOS shoes from both manufacturers on clearance, so I'm going to give them a try. I've got my fingers crossed, because even at the discount I got them for, they were still more expensive than any shoes I've ever used. But if they do work, I'll at least know there's hope for my ungainly flippers.
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