Hand made leather shoes

[JOFF]

Nice looking shoes Mick, but WHAT are those very strange looking things sticking out of them!!!!!

[Mick F]

If I'd not put those socks on, you would've been seeing my hairy legs!

[reohn2]

Nice bit of cubism Mick!

[Beakyboy]

These shoes are fantastic, they take a couple of hundred miles to break in. However my problem is that they can't be worn with my tights or my leg warmers as both are black and brown shoes and black doesn't go!

[Mick F]

Hi BB,
Mine broke in in about 50 miles.

They're supremely comfortable. I thanked Martin and told him how happy I am with them and asked if he did the little rubber pads as spare parts. He said that he'll ask about them when he next goes to Italy.

Hi Martin,
My shoes have arrived, and I've taken them for a ride!
Fantastic!
They fit beautifully, and look tremendous. They are comfortable too, and have that "leather new shoes feel". A sheer pleasure!

A quick question:
The rubber pads at the front and rear of the soles, can they be replaced as they wear? Do you stock them?
Thanks so much,
Mick.

Hi Mick
That’s great to hear, I’m really please that you like them.
We don’t have a replacement service for the pads, though it’s something I’m raising during my next visit to Italy.
Thanks, again.
Martin

[Mick F]

Just an update and a road report:

Although I bought them in the early spring, I didn't wear them much as I wore others when riding my Raleigh Chopper. From mid March to the end of May, I never wore my fancy new shoes - now I'm hardly out of them!

Comfortable a well-fitting, light and strong, but I've found a fly in the ointment.

In the wet, they absorb one heck of a lot of water! I was almost drowned on a long ride yesterday, and when I took them off I noticed how heavy they were.

I weighed them wet - 625g each
Just weighed them again today, dry - 504g each.
That's 242g of water I'd been lugging up and down for 89 miles and 7 hours in the rain!
At an average cadence of 70rpm, how much energy did I expend just lifting water?
(Are there any mathematicians in the house?)

I must see if I can find some waterproofing for them. They're well coated in dubbin and polish, but what is needed is to make them water-repellent. The sort of stuff that makes water form droplets and drop off.

Ideas?

[snibgo]

At an average cadence of 70rpm, how much energy did I expend just lifting water?

Almost none, because you get almost all of it back when your feet go down. (All of it, less the friction resistance in your legs, pedal and BB bearings etc.) But the added weight will increase rolling resistance.

However, we can calculate the energy involved.

Energy (Joules) = m.g.h
where m is mass (kg), g = 9.81 m/s/s, h is height (metres).

Assuming crank length is 170mm, the rise (and fall) per revolution is 0.34 metres.
Total revolutions in 7 hours at 70 rpm is 7*60*70.
Total rise (and fall) in 7 hours at 70 rpm is 7*60*70*0.34 = 9996 metres.

Energy = 0.242 * 9.81 * 9996
= 23,731 Joules

How much power does this represent?
Power (Watts) = Energy (Joules) / Time (seconds)
= 23,731 / (7*60*60)
= 0.942 Watts

You probably pedal at something like 200 Watts. So, even if none of the energy was returned, the extra power you need is trivial. (Or I've made a mistake somewhere.)

Wet and cold feet will decrease your efficiency, but I've no idea by how much.

[Beakyboy]

Mine were always too tight so I had to remove the inner sole and it made them fit better. The length was fine but on one shoe the width was smaller than the other and it made it too tight. I have spent many hours trying to stretch it one way or another but to no avail.

I wear them very seldom, but one word of advice.... tuck the laces in on the drive side! I didn't one day and the loop of the lace got caught in the big ring and nearly ended up on the deck.

I agree they are very well made and a beautiful shoe though.

[Mick F]

Update.
The lace in one shoe broke the other day, so I've bought another pair of laces from town.

They didn't have any the same - thin and round - so I bought flat ones. Also the old ones were 110mm long, but I could only buy 100mm or 120mm.
I went for the 100mm.

The shoes are still excellent and comfortable but the lovely nut-brown colour has faded somewhat. Decent shoe polish is a must with these shoes.