Nike Makes Cycling Shoes? Who Knew!
Written: Jan 05 '05
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Product Rating:
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Pros: they're what a cycling shoe should be: stiff yet comfortable while staying very light
Cons: hard to install cleats, "aggressive" fashion statement
The Bottom Line: Need new road shoes? Check 'em out: if you didn't know Nike sells cycling shoes, the quality of the Poggio may come as a surprise.
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| scmrak's Full Review: Nike Poggio II Road Cycling Shoe |
For more than a decade I made it a life mission to assiduously avoid buying (or even accepting as a gift) anything that bore that ridiculous Nike "swoosh." After quickly wearing out a couple pair of shoddily-made running shoes from the company in the '80s and then becoming disgusted with the ubiquity of their stupid melted teardrop in the nineties, I decided that I wasn't going to give Phil Knight and company any more free advertising (or any more money).
Happily, fashion fads have changed and one no longer sees swooshes everywhere one looks - nowadays there's some strange, crooked, blocky number "3" sprouting up everywhere - so I decided it was more or less safe to buy from Nike again. That's assuming I could find anything I wanted to buy. But what in the world could that be?
Who knew that Nike makes cycling shoes? I sure didn't! at least not until I started searching for some real road shoes to replace my battered (and stinky) Shimano touring shoes. The Ms promised me a pair as a birthday present so out we went, looking for a good end-of-season bargain. After some fruitless searching, we spotted a stack of Nike Poggio II boxes at a store in Indy, and I tried 'em on and bought my first swoosh-adorned product in at least fifteen years. And I'm glad I did!
They're What Road Shoes Need to Be
When choosing road shoes, you have to keep in mind that their purpose is to make the connection between your foot and the pedal as mechanically efficient as possible. That means that first, the soles need to be extremely rigid so that on the downstroke no leg power is lost to flexing the sole instead of turning the crank. Second, to prevent power loss on the upstroke, there can be zero stretchiness to the uppers. Combine this with the shoe's need for comfort and ventilation, and you've got a pretty tall order - especially when you factor in the road cyclist's absolute phobia about weight. So how does the Poggio II measure up?
The soles are stiff as boards: the carbon-composite soles are remarkably stiff, with almost 100% of leg power transmitted to the crankset. The soles (which have the requisite, cunning little swoosh imprint) have small raised reinforcements at toe and heel, which makes them marginally easier to walk in. Note I said "marginally easier": you still walk as though you have casts on both feet. Nike designed the soles with mounts to accept Shimano SPD, SPD-L, and SPD-R cleats as well as Look mounts. There are two sets of lines printed on each sole to help installers match up the cleat mounting. I installed my own SPD-Rs, which proved a bit difficult (more on that below).
The uppers are stretchy where they should be and not where they shouldn't be: Nike sells the Poggio II in two color schemes (see product photo) - black breathable mesh with chrome straps or black mesh with candy-apple red straps. The design allows the rider to slip into the shoes as if putting on a slipper, and then close the shoe with three hook-and-loop (Velcro) straps across the instep. These straps are reinforced with a high-tech non-stretch material. SInce they're non-stretch, that means that the leg doing the upstroke isn't transmitting part of its energy to the elastic of the shoe's upper - as much as possible goes to the crankset (again). The use of three straps allows for adjustment to fit a wide range of feet, including my relatively high insteps. The shoes are wider than one might expect for cycling shoes built on an Italian last, accommodating my D-width with ease. The heel counters are loose enough that they slip when I'm walking, which is exacerbated by the stiff soles, but they don't slip when I'm cleated in.
They're comfortable on the road: the mesh liner is nice; soft, smooth, and breathable. Since half the upper is nothing more than an open fabric mesh, this is not a wet-climate shoe or a cold-climate shoe. It is very well-suited for those summer rides, when the heat starts rising off the pavement and your feet feel like they're in an oven...
They're light: Nike claims that a pair of 44s weighs less than a pound (550 grams). At that weight, I could afford to carry an extra Power Bar or two!
Are Looks Everything to You?
These are some... aggressive-looking shoes, especially the red ones (mine are chrome, I'll have you know). Fortunately, those of us who wear them are so much faster than those poor schlubs in Carnacs, SIDIs, and Diadoras that we don't have to worry about getting grief. But seriously, be forewarned: the looks aren't for everyone...
A Couple of Caveats
First: I had a tough time installing a new set of SPD-R cleats - the screw sockets are set so deep that I couldn't get the threads to start. I had to screw the cleats down without the "washer," thereby imprinting the cleat shape in the carbon-fiber sole to reduce the standoff, then re-attach with the entire cleat assembly. It was either that, sand down the sole, or grind off the bumps on the cleat backs, and neither of those other two seemed to be a good idea.
Second: At least on my feet, the straps don't line up nicely with the other trim on the shoe when it's on. This isn't a functional problem, but it spoils the line of the shoe somewhat (refer to the section titled "if looks are everything to you").
Recommendations
An excellent choice, especially if you can get them on sale at the end of the year - all that Nike technology and Italian workmanship raises the price above $200 otherwise. These aren't shoes for the faint-hearted (fashion-wise) and are also not well-suited to cold and/or typically wet climates. The rest of us will love 'em!
Recommended:
Yes
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