Understanding the Lore One Custom Shoes
This is a log book for my thoughts on LORE Shoes and is by no means a conclusive summary. This is not a review or an endorsement. I paid my own money for these shoes. These cost me a lot more money than top-tier Lake CX403s or Bont Vaypours but I just had to feed my curiosity. At the point of writing, there are very few pairs of these shoes in the world but since riding them I have begun to rethink cycling shoes entirely. I’m still experimenting with them and I have yet to find perfection but I am optimistic that Lore could be a game-changer to how we view cycling shoes. It also solidifies in my mind just how good some elements of shoes that you can get off-the-shelf are.
First Impressions
So the shoes are printed off a 3D scan of my feet. So I was expecting them to fit perfectly, however, out of the box, they felt insanely tight. I could barely get them on. My feet went numb as soon as I wore them on the indoor trainer. My 4th toe hit the end and my medial malleolus’ felt very painful - like I was being stabbed in the ankle on every pedal stroke. However, I also felt like I could rip my cranks off the bike. The force transfer was like nothing else. So then I went back and read the instructions!
I heat-molded them and removed all of the additional pads that were fitted as standard. This helped to increase the volume of the shoe and my heel came back in the shoe and the pain I was feeling on my medial malleolus and 4th toe went away however my feet still went numb after about 20mins. I had a Skype call with Lore and was impressed with their desire to learn from their customers. They talked me through a few things to try and expressed a slight concern that I had to remove all of the “thin” pads, saying that I should try a few changes before we opt for re-printing the shoes. I have to be clear, this is still an ongoing journey for me and not all the issues have been addressed yet. However, this article will be updated as I go - I just know a lot of readers are desperate to hear my feedback!
Proprioceptive Insoles
I have to admit the proprioceptive insoles are a great idea but I couldn’t get on with them. I thought it might be a shoe volume issue but I first took them out then flipped them upside down and the issue went away on both trials They seem to catch a nerve or something and my feet just feel this numbing sensation after about 15 minutes. I did two months of riding with different configurations before swapping them out for some of my home-made custom molded insoles from another pair of shoes and a lot of other issue went away. However now I’m starting to muddy the waters though as the whole concept of the LORE shoe is built around supporting the ankle not using arch support - which I will expand upon below.
Drilled for Speedplay
The slots for the cleats are really long. I was so happy that I could get the cleats back far enough without having the get the drill out ( like I have done on my MX238s) or using a baseplate extender on my CX201s. When a manufacturer builds toe spring into their shoe it starts to impact manfacturing choices so they are limited by how far back the holes can go whilst still allowing the cleat to engage. It might just be the 4 bolt versions I have but they can get around this as they are completely flat so they can put the cleat holes wherever on the base of the shoe ( similar to a Bont).
This also means my foot has much less stack height and rolling torque meaning everything feels more stable and planted. This feels amazing. I have a pair of homemade custom carbon shoes with direct speedplay mount which I need to get repaired so I can do some back-to-back comparisons but I know the less stack has a positive effect over my Lake 201s with the metal Speedplay baseplate extender. In fact you can even see the difference in stack height in the next photo with them side by side with the CX201s.
Functional Foot
Okay so the shoes would be terrible for walking in, however the fact my toe box is wide and never gets compressed from the side is fantastic. The top plate has a dovetail joint which engages with the outer shell meaning that when the BOA cable system tightens the shoe the top plate slides vertically down but the sides don’t compress your metatarsals together. The CX201 is similar in terms of toe box space due to the wide base and no toe box strap and no structural fabric on the side but they don’t give you the locked-in sensation that the Lores do. I still love my CX201s for just out-and-out comfort.
I can also keep my big toe straight ( like I can with my Vivos , Altras and CX201s) which is a huge element of your foot finding its own stability.
The Heel Cup
The heel portion of the shoe is so hard to describe and even harder to photograph. The detail just doesn’t show up on camera. The Lake shoe to the right is the easiest way to pitch the idea. Pronation is an all-or-nothing movement. If you can stop the arch from lengthening or rolling inward, or stop the knee from moving inward, or stop the ankle from moving inward the foot isn’t going to be able to pronate. Now you can’t mechanically stop the knee from moving inward on the bike without some radical fairing starting at the top tube perhaps?! However the glute medius does a lot to stabilise the knee by keeping the femur inline.
You can limit arch collapse through insoles propping up the navicular joint (the most common method used), OR you can stop the ankle joint from moving inwards by propping up the Medial malleolus.
This is what the Lore shoe does to a next-level extent. Now we can debate as to whether this is a proprioceptive prompt or mechanical support - either way, it interacts with a part of the lower leg which no other cycling shoe does. This is why they don’t incorporate arch support inside the shoes and I have to say I hate riding in all my current cycling shoes without my arch support and heel wedging but with the Lores I can manage. Perhaps not optimally but a lot better than any other shoe I have ridden in without. As I mentioned above, I have combined both now by fitting the insoles into the Lore shoes. Best of both worlds or defeating the objective of these 2 grand shoes?
Where am at now? (Jan 7th 2024)
The replica BOA system is snagging and the lacing system is really hard to micro-adjust. This needs to be fixed.
I am using my custom insoles with heel wedging which I think defeats the objective of the shoes.
I broke the shoe cover zip. The shoe covers supplied have always been a bit too small. An issue that needs to be addressed I think. I can’t be wearing these shoes in British winter without shoe covers.
Going back to my old shoes ( Lake 238s and 201s) I have noticed how unstable my ankle is in comparison. There has to be something from a mechanical and proprioceptive perspective that connecting the shoe with the ankle does which my Lake shoes are not. Keen to try to make some Lake 242s, Bonts or Lake 403s work for me. The CX201s I still love as an ultra comfortable, low-intensity shoe.
I would love to find a shoe option that doesn’t cost almost £2000 ($1969 plus Tax) that can offer a similar level of performance. I think the design elements of the Lore can inspire us to ask for more function over fashion of other cycling shoe manufacturers. Looking at you Fizik and Giro! The power transfer and potential effects on joint alignment could be a revolution.
In the back of my head, I also do wonder what the downsides could be? For this, I might have to delve into ski boot science. Is spending extended periods with the feet completely rigid a good thing for foot health in the long term?
