 |
A typical Specialized dealer |
 |
Hot feet |
 |
Stand on mat |
 |
Types of feet |
 |
Knee bends to the right or left? |
 |
Insoles |
 |
Wedges |
The idea is quite simple - the basic concept of the cyclefit procedure, which
uses scientific measuring methods to establish the correct position for your
individual cycling experience, has trickled down to the main stream.
The specialized way of finding out what fits before you buy is somewhat simplyfied,
quicker and offered free to any customer who will buy the product after the
fitting. Armed with this information we visited Corridori
Cycles, Sutton for some new MTB shoes.
What Specialized method stops short of is the ultimate fine tuning, what you
do get is acccess to a fitting that takes your individual shape and needs into
account (as opposed to one size fits all as long as you’re an average
size bloke and happy to suffer).
What is on offer: - Foot comfort
1) Foot measuring
You are made to stand in bare feet on a rather clever, heat sensitive black
board, that reacts to the warmth of your soles and leaves a faithful image in
shades of green and yellow of the areas where your feet are in contact with
the ground, so you can determine weather someone has over arched, normal or
flat feet, (or fallen arches which is not the same as naturally flat feet).
Should you suffer from cold feet you may have a slight problem (not me, having
on a hot day walked about a mile a mile from Sutton station which is for some
reason situated rather remotely on the outskirts of Sutton in the middle of
nowhere - and the board virtually steamed up before my feet even made contact),
but ingenuity finds a way even for the cold footed type; the board is warmed
up beforehand until it goes quite green and the cold foot then leaves a black
imprint - simple.
2) Insoles
There are three types of insoles to match the three foot types; over-arched,
normal and flat, and according to Brian my friendly Specialized fitter, most
people are in the “normal” category. The difference between the
three types is mainly in the arch support and the size of the metatarsal button,
whose job it is to allow the foot to retain a natural, relaxed position and
as opposewd to being squashed in a tight space. There is one more differentiation;
that between fallen arches and flat feet - the truly flat footed specimen must
under no circumstances be given arch supports. For this reason all Specialized
shoes are sold with the flat foot version of the insole, rather than providing
the most commonly required insole with medium arch support.
3) Wedges
The insole package also includes two sets of wedges either set to go inside
the shoe under the insole in the toe area. One set wedges to the right, the
other to the left (and never the twain shall meet). This is Specialized’s
answer to the problem of non-linear power transmission from the knee downward
onto the pedal (basically if your knee wobbles either to the left or the right
when pedalling, you’re wasting precious energy) . And unlike the Lewedges
brought to you by Greg Lemond (which represented huge progress in their time)
you don’t fit them between the cleat and the sole of the shoe (a rather
fiddly operation), you just shove them in the front of the shoe and see what
happens.
There is of course a special Specialized method designed to find out whether
to use the left-wedging wedge or the right-wedging wedge or no wedge at all.
For this you have to establish which way your knee wobbles.
This part of the fitting procedure seemed a little improvised: I was asked
to slowly lower myself into a half squatting posittion on one leg, not an easy
thing to do at the best of times and pretty painful if you’re recovering
from lactic acid due to a rather strenuous bike ride the day before (which I
was). My knee duly wobbled first to the left an then to the right. Same with
the other knee. So which way to wedge? Use both the left and right wedge on
top of each other, so they cancel each other out?
I decided to do the squat again and this time concentrate a bit harder an lo
and behold I managed the semi squat without any wobble whatsoever, although
that could have been due to me trying extra hard in order to achieve a smooth
movement. Nerves of steel - what a model of self-control!
The good news is that you get both sets of wedges in the packet to try them
out at your convenience, and switch them round or discard them as you see fit.
Alternatively you could sit on a turbo and let a a weight dangle on a piece
of string from you knee cap down your shin, and then get a mate to tell you
whether your knee and shin are deviating from the plum line (the Andy Pruitt
(MD) method and pioneer of cylce fitting).
Shoes
In Specialized’s shoe design width of toes and heels are taken
into acount, with different models available to match. In my case Brian, my
specialist fitter, noticed from the imprint of my foot on the heat sensitive
board that I had a fairly wide foot in the tow area and a narrow heal. The first
pair of shoes he fetched me had a toe box that was slighty too roomy for me,
the second pair was a perfect fit.
In conclusion I have to say that the shoes plus the insoles where super comfy
on a long and strenuous bike ride I did the following week and providing plenty
of soft cushioning under foot.
Body Geometry - www.specialized.com/bodygeometry
(It also has a store finder)
Corridori - www.corridori.co.uk
Fiona Kidd
