This Bike Fitter's Favourite Cycling Shoe (just got better)

Acclaimed bike fitter Neill Stanbury was one of the first riders to test and review the LoreThree. If you're not much of a YouTuber, the following is a summarized transcript of his review alongside his Road Cycling Academy partner, Cam Nicholls.

Color, Introduction, & First Impressions

“Alright, Neil, you've got those shoes in front of you again. This is the third time. What's going on? Have they got a white version yet?”

“They do have a white version, yes. Let's get that cat out of the bag before we go anywhere. These are prototypes which have been sent to me for testing. So they printed them in black for me, but they do have white.”

“You like black, don't you?”

“Oh, not really. I'd much prefer white.”

“Oh, would you now?”

“Yeah, white is definitely faster.”

The LoreThree

“But look, the black ones do really well. This is the LoreThree. So this is the latest version of the Lore shoe range from Drake Labs in the United States. These guys are sort of a multinational conglomeration, I guess, of experts who have been producing these.

This is a completely 3D-printed custom-made shoe. So we take a three-dimensional scan of your feet using a depth-sensing camera, and then we send it off to the guys, and they print the shoe.”

Scanning & Custom Fit

“I believe they're actually working on a scanner that you can use with your camera phone. But ideally, what we would use is a proper depth-sensing camera, which I'm going to scan your feet later… ideally, we would use that to get you the most accurate scan possible so that they fit perfectly.

And why do they need to be custom-made? Because they are easily the stiffest shoe in the world ever made.”

Construction & Materials

“They are ridiculous. They are so stiff. These are made with carbon fiber struts, and the top is made out of TPU… They've gone with a more flexible TPU around the toe box, so plenty of movement around the toes.”

And you'll notice, compared to the LoreTwo, a strap system. So they've got… this is the Watts — they call this one the high-cut version — which has got a really interesting high design here with these two medial and dorsal pads across the front of the ankle joint.”

The top strap cinches these down onto the front of your ankle joint, and that's where most of the power transfer comes from that's so different with this shoe compared to a regular shoe.”

Heel Cup & Power Transfer

“So your foot is kind of cinched back into this extraordinarily rigid heel cup, which is perfectly molded to your foot, and it basically stabilizes your foot through the back half of the ankle joint.”

When you get out of the seat and yank on the pedal, there is absolutely no forward give of your foot inside the shoe, where there would be typically with a typical flexible-tongue shoe. And this is where a lot of the power transfer improvements come from with these.”

Strap System vs Boa

“My early thoughts when they went to the strap system, I really wasn't sure about this. The old version, the LoreTwo, had a pair of Boas. This is actually better.

It is a little bit harder initially when you put them on to fine-tune the exact pressure from the straps… but once you get them nailed down, and you usually do that in the first minute of your ride or so, it is a better system. It is much lighter and it's much more aerodynamic.”

Price

“Before you keep going, I have to ask you about the price… how much are they worth?”

“Yeah, they're not cheap. I think the guys are finalizing the pricing as we speak, but I think they're around… the top-shelf one, the carbon one, about $1,600. And the ones below that are a little bit cheaper again.”

Watts vs. Legend Pro

“So if you go with a low-cut, the Legend Pro, this is actually my favorite one. Generally speaking, it's a little bit more comfortable for me than this one. If you've got demand for absolute maximum power transfer under all circumstances, the Watts — this one — the high-cut version — this is the best.”

Power Gains

“We've done a lot of testing on these. I've tested mine extensively versus other pairs of shoes that I've got, including some Bont Vapors and some Lakes and that sort of stuff. Generally speaking, what I'm seeing is a 50 to 70-watt power increase in my maximal sprint.

I struggle to crack 1,000 watts, but there's no way I can crack 1,000 watts in my Bonts or my Lakes. But with this shoe, in particular the high-cut version, I can do it fairly repeatedly. For me, it's about a 6% or 7% peak power increase, and over a 30-second effort… I'm seeing increases in my 30-second power of about 40 or 50 watts, typically, which is quite a lot.”

Value Compared to Other Upgrades

“Yes, people spend $2,000 on a set of carbon wheels for performance gain, sometimes more. So that's how people should be looking at these… I think this is a better investment than a similarly priced pair of carbon wheels. I think you'll get more out of these than you will out of the carbon wheel for the same price. They are that good.”

Fit Algorithm

“An amazing piece of technology. And just a refinement of the LoreTwo. These guys have been working on the fit algorithm a lot over the last couple of years or so, and they have just nailed them.”

Stack Height & Aerodynamics

“The stack height of the shoe is so low that I can actually run my seat six millimeters lower than I typically do. When my seat goes down six mil, there's a little bit of an aerodynamic advantage associated with that. But yeah, the main thing is the power transfer. It is unbelievable. They are crazy stiff.”

Rider Symmetry

“There's two components… One of them is the fit. If you've got really unusual feet — a hammer toe or a clawed toe or a bunion — it doesn't matter. The shoe is printed around your foot. So if you've got a weird foot, that doesn't matter because we just print the shoe around your foot.”

“And the second one is the complex at the back of the shoe — those dorsal and medial pads and the ultra stiff heel cup. Probably one in every three clients comes through with a major asymmetrical movement pattern on the bike… This shoe… seems to remove all of that because the whole ankle joint is held rigidly through this rear cup system.”

“When I wear these, I feel significantly more symmetrical on the bike.”

Final Thoughts

“Yeah, fantastic product. It's been five years in the making, and I think this is going to be their final iteration. I believe the guys might be bringing out some cheaper variants of these in the next couple of months to a lower price point, but they are just fantastic. Really highly recommend this product. Not cheap, as you say, but in terms of the upgrades that I see people spending thousands of dollars on their bike with, this has got to be right at the top of the list for me.”

Watch the review in full on YouTube and start your build today.