BikeBiz Bicycle and cycling retail news
Orb pedals are by M2Racer Products of Daly City, California. They are titanium cylinders and weigh just 99 grams per pair. There’s +/- 15 degrees of float. The spherical design is patent pending.
Internal, laterally-positioned springs are said to provide automatic Q-factor compensation, a first among available pedal systems. RRP is $228 for pedals and cleats.
Sharing a stand with the drop-dead gorgeous Temple ti-and-carbon custom cycles, was shoemaker Bart Sheldrake of Lighten Up Speed Technolgies, LUST.
Sheldrake started his Englewood, Colorado business five years ago whilst he was still an aerospace engineer with Lockheed. He hand crafted 10 or so shoes a year. Jonathan Vaughters rides with LUST shoes.
Now Sheldrake has gone full-time. He sold 40 pairs of his lightweight shoes last year. They retail for $900 and take him 15 hours to make. Each pair is created from casts made of the customer’s feet.
The carbon/Kevlar sole of the shoe is its own orthodic, wrapping the foot, forming the heel counter and the arch support. At an average of 320 grams per pair, LUST shoes are 200 to 400 grams lighter than normal cycling shoes. As well as offering less rotating weight, ‘stack height’ is lower too: LUST shoes are 3 to 12 mm thinner than other shoes
“They let me climb a gear higher,” says Vaughters.
Shelled out $900 to pamper your pinkies and youÂ’ve tired of the shoeÂ’s uppers? No problem, itÂ’s the sole thatÂ’s the key component, the uppers can be removed by Sheldrake and replaced with all-new materials: perfect, then, for pro riders who yo-yo between sponsors and teams…
Whilst it’s mainly a consumer-direct product, Sheldake says he’d share some cash with any IBDs who referred customers to him.
