Shoes to fit my weird feet, Pre-review of the Lake cx237

So I finally pulled the trigger on the best fitting shoes I’ve ever tried on. Ive been in the hunt for a properly fitting pair of shoes since i started seriously cycling. A couple years ago i tried on a pair of lake cx237’s and fell in love with how well they fit, what i didn’t fall in love with was the $300 price tag. Before that i had tried a few pair of shoes. My fist pair were a pair of entry level pearl izumi that took both MTB and road cleats with 3 velcro straps, pretty basic but they did the job i was running the shimano A530 platform/spd pedals. Then i went to a pair of northwave’s which were to big and didn’t fit properly but it still wore anyway, then i went with the pair of bontrager rxl they fit the best and I’ve been wearing for a a couple years now, but i still couldn’t get the Lake’s out of my head.

After years of looking on eBay and scouring the internet for a sale i finally found them on sale on a website i go to often and is based in the town where i live, they post daily sales and always send out discounts emails to members, so last week the planets aligned and they had them for half off ($149.99) and i had a %20 off promo code which brought down the final price to $121.43, I was stoked behind belief that i finally had my “perfect fitting” shoes. Due to my weirdly odd shaped foot i can’t wear most narrow shoes like sidi’s and fizik’s, the lakes hit it on the head with there wider toe box and fits my flat no arch foot great. Im really stoked to put some miles on these shoes. Im runnng speedplay zero pedals they don’t have the traditional 3 hole boy pattern they have a 4 bolt pattern but they provide a adapter plate to mount to 3 hole shoes

If you have zero arch like me i highly recommend lake shoes by far the best fitting shoe I’ve found. They have a full grain leather upper and a carbon sole and are pretty light to top to off. I hope after all these years i haven’t built up these to be more than they are, but I’m super excited to put some miles on these very sleek and stylish shoes. Check out lakes site for their full line of road, tri, MTB and cold weather shoes.

Gear review Connex 11sp SO chain

This gear review has been about 8 months in the making. At the last years seaotter i talked with a rep from the Connex booth and i was really interested in trying out their chain. They were cool enough to send me out one to ry out. To me a chain is a chain but what really stood out to me with the connex chain was their connector link. Their link was different than any one I’ve seen, sram shimano and kmc all have a pretty similar system where the link together

And they snap together and usually require tools to separate them

 

The connex link is in my opinion quite superior to all the others I’ve used. 

It doesn’t require and tools to install and it makes it super easy to take on and off for cleaning. it slides in to place and stays in place with tension and the unique design. I’ve put about 1000 miles on this chain since i installed this chain and i couldn’t be happier. the chain shifts super smooth and because its easy to take off and deep clean i can get it cleaner than a standard chain. I can really get in all the places you can’t when its on the bike. I will usually clean and lube my chain every other ride sometimes if I’m lazy ill go 3 rides in between cleaning and lubes, but with the connex i could take the whole thing off clean it and reinstall it in about the same time i would spend with my old chain.

 

Its super easy to put together, the performance of the chain was great, it shifted smooth in every gear and was quiet as well. The link is shaped slightly different but doesn’t effect shifting or performance. If you’re in the market for a new chain that’s easy to maintain give the Connex chain a try. Make sure and check out the Connex website to see their full line of products or purchase directly from the cantitoeroad