Lore One 3D Cycling Shoe

In Step With Science – The Lore One 3D Cycling Shoe

by Robert Thorpe

LORE ONE - CYCLING SHOE
Taking 3D Printing to a new dimension

A shoe is a shoe is a shoe – or is it? All of our feet are different, trust me. Even the police collect footwear samples, as everyone walks differently and leaves a different footprint, even if you bought the same pair of shoes for twins and they walked side by side together for weeks – the footwear impressions would differ. Few brands cater for such variations. Here at Pedalnorth we like comfortable feet and have worked closely with our footwear expert friends at RXM Custom for a few years, and many of our riders use leading brands such as Lake, who have numerous foot-bed options and custom made shoes.

Remember, your feet are one of the most important parts of your body in terms of cycling. They’re directly connected to the bike and transfer the power directly to the bike – so it’s critical to get the maximum benefit from your cycling shoes, and ultimately that means looking closely at your feet. Imagine our surprise then when an email arrived in our media folder, telling us about 3D printed cycle shoes by a new brand – LORE – what! Being a geek myself, I was definitely intrigued. More information was definitely required.

The LOREOne performance cycling shoe looks across all aspects of how the foot works, and how each aspect of the foot can differ in structure and use for various people. Rather than following the traditional footwear design, LORE scan the foot and produce an exact wrapped LORE shoe, encased in carbon, which according to their pre-production research and testing maximises performance and power outputs.

“This is an exciting moment for cycling as a sport, footwear, and manufacturing as a whole. The LOREOne realizes the long-held promise of 3D printing for groundbreaking end-use products: it is incredibly complex in its organic, custom-built form, and transmits power very effectively due to its novel composite structure,” said Stephan Drake, CEO of LORE. “The technology is transformative and almost alien. What matters most is biomechanical performance and feel on the bike. It’s been amazing to watch the extent to which top athletes have been blown away by how the LoreOne dramatically improves their pedaling experience.”

Timothy O’Donnell, a world champion triathlete, has been testing the LoreOne and said of his experience, “I was amazed to look down at my Garmin and see the watts jump significantly over my normal shoes– the sensation of pedal drive and broader power band was instantly apparent. The better power transfer and improved efficiency are clear, and I’m excited for the potential gains that those energy savings can bring on the run. The LoreOne is a sport-changing piece of equipment.”

Cycling more than many sports over recent years, has always looked for those tiny areas of scientific development that can bring marginal gains. The LORE concept takes on technological science and blends it with sporting science, hopefully to produce the ultimate performance cycling shoe. It certainly looks like something unique and yes, even Space-Age. However, as we’re living through an epoch where we’ll soon be sending tourists into space, maybe LORE have got something here. Time will tell, and we’re looking forward to getting our hands, or rather our feet on a pair to test.

Nadezhda – let’s see those feet please 😉 – Yes, we’ll be using our Triathlon Coach and Editor, and recent World Gran Fondo Championships qualifier Nadezhda Pavlova to test them out.