I was inspired to make these shoes on my ride home one evening when I witnessed a beautiful woman riding in high-heels along Market Street in San Francisco. True to form, I will acknowledge that I noticed the sexy handmade bike before the woman, and what was (perhaps, unfortunately) most noteworthy to me was how awkward the connection was between the pedals and the shoes.
Having recently built up a bike for my beloved, I was immediately taken with idea of making high-heels with a clipless cleat. I had been keen to build a pair shoes for a while and the curves of a high-heel shoe seemed like an inviting challenge.
Indeed, it was a challenge. The project spanned about 18 months, and sadly, outlived my relationship. However, don’t let this dissuade you – if I had worked straight though on the project, it would have only taken a few months, and if you can make these shoes, you are probably capable of not loosing the relationship with a wonderful girl.
Having recently built up a bike for my beloved, I was immediately taken with idea of making high-heels with a clipless cleat. I had been keen to build a pair shoes for a while and the curves of a high-heel shoe seemed like an inviting challenge.
Indeed, it was a challenge. The project spanned about 18 months, and sadly, outlived my relationship. However, don’t let this dissuade you – if I had worked straight though on the project, it would have only taken a few months, and if you can make these shoes, you are probably capable of not loosing the relationship with a wonderful girl.
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I surreptitiously looked through her collection of heels until I found a pair that looked most suitable for riding – if any are – and well worn. I then photographed these shoes and used photoshop to extract the base curves. I then pulled these curves into Solidworks and began lofting the sole
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This is the same part of the foot that has evolved in humans for providing the thrust for walking, sprinting and running. It is no coincidence that the cleats for cycling shoes are located beneath the ball of the foot.
Note that a properly sized bicycle will not fit properly if the incorrect part of the foot is used.
Nice to see a sensible comment.
you may also like:
http://www.instructables.com/id/Powder-Coat-a-Bike-Frame-with-Logos/
I also made a pair of my pumps into cleated pumps several years ago, but mine were much simpler. Sacrificing a pair of existing pumps I had, my husband helped me drill through the bottom of the shoe, then we re-enforced the soles at the ball of the foot with Specialized footbed shims, and screwed the cleats into the inside of a Shimano shoe plate.
I tried Time, Shimano SPD, and Crank Brothers cleats and pedals, and I find the Crank Brothers pontoon cleats work best for both walking stability and ease of clip-in/clip-out.
I've put over 60 miles on these pumps, all in the name of silliness.
-Laura :)
being a guy, i couldn't help but awe at the shiny wooden sole u made.. curvy, smooth, detailed, and beautiful!!
Keep up the good work man!!
I tell my kids "be nice to him/her. others are watching". So still giving her what you made for her is very admirable in my book. Obviously, others concur.
Maybe attach a high speed spindle to your mill to turn a router bit for wood. Standard routers turn at 25000 rpm so if your mill's spindle doesn't crank up that fast, adding a temporary spindle of some sort may help.
Exotics are hard to work so it may make little difference. Being an Instructable contributor leads me to believe you'll keep experimenting. Please post results.
Cheers,
Fin
LOVE them.
Ladies - for the designer shoes with no platform to convert to spd's, remember to keep it under the ball of your foot! A bit awkward sometimes but with practice, possible.
...otherwise, I would have to find the same name with the same shoe size - which might have been an interesting challenge - Cinderella?
I'd ask where you found the free time, but... 18 months. Still a beautiful piece of work.