By day, they are government workers, computer analysts and lawyers. After 7 p.m., this league of men and women morph into quasi-superheroes. At Primal Fitness’s Parkour Boot Camp in Washington D.C., gym short-clad participants cat-leap on to 8-foot boxes with the ease of lemurs.
Love was in the air this summer. No one planned it. No one was looking for it. Blame it on chemistry—or perhaps the gas prices.
Putting more power to the
pedals starts at the first point of contact—the shoes. The problem is that no
two feet are alike, not even your own. Shimano’s Custom-Fit line of
heat-moldable shoes allows cyclists to stay better connected.
In addition to their stiff carbon fiber outsoles, the shoes feature an upper that is woven with moldable carbon fiber through the top, sides and heel.
Authorized dealers with a fit kit heat the insoles, place them back in the shoes and have the cyclist stand in them as the insoles form around the bottom of the foot and cool. The process is repeated with the shoes themselves, this time wrapping each shoe in a vacuum bag that pulls the shoe snuggly to the foot, eliminating the gaps and uneven contact points that can reduce power transfer. As the carbon fiber weave cools, it stays in place to create a custom fit.
The system’s benefits are most noticeable on the upstroke as the
foot doesn’t slide around. The upper materials are also more resistant to
stretching when wet compared to shoes with leather uppers. The system is
available in the professional quality SH-R300 ($350), the “elite” quality
SH-R220 ($250), the women-specific SH-WR80 ($250) and the SH-M300 mountain bike
shoe ($350). See bike.shimano.com to
find a dealer near you.
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