Modular Cycling Shoe and Sole Designed For The Same

Abstract

The invention is that of a removable shoe sole and a cycling shoe comprising said removable shoe sole, wherein the removable shoe sole may be affixed to the bottom of the cycling shoe to enable the wearer to gain traction on surfaces such as muddy ground surfaces. The removable shoe sole may be unitary or modular in design and comprises traction means such as anterior, medial and posterior traction means for enabling a cyclist to quickly affix the removable shoe sold to the bottom of his or her cycling shoes and walk or run across ground surfaces having low traction. The traction means may comprise ridges and valleys or similar means for engaging low-traction ground surfaces. The removable shoe sole may be made of durable material and affixed to a cycling shoe using off-the-shelf fasteners such as will be familiar to one of ordinary skill in the art.

Description

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS[0001]This application claims the benefit of the priority date of U.S. Provisional Patent App. Ser. No. 63 / 007,694, the contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference herein in their entirety.STATEMENT REGARDING FEDERALLY SPONSORED RESEARCH OR DEVELOPMENT[0002]The invention described herein was conceived and reduced to practice without the benefit of federal funding.BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION[0003]The invention relates to the field of footwear, and in particular footwear for cyclists having a need for shoes with good traction on slippery surfaces, such as cyclist participants in cyclo-cross racing. Cyclo-cross racing is a form of bicycle racing that requires racers to dismount at various stages of a race and carry their bicycles for some distance before remounting and continuing on the bicycles. During the muddy season, there is a need in the art for better footwear traction, as traditional cycling shoes do not provide for this due to ...

AI Technical Summary

Benefits of technology

[0005]The present invention comprises a modular cycling shoe, and more particularly a unitary or modular sole that is quickly and easily removable and capable of reattachment to a cycling shoe in order to provide the user with a desired amount of traction. A shoe sole as described herein may be selected based on the types of traction means such as spikes or cleats, in each case temporarily or permanently affixed to the bottom of the sole, with varying degrees of traction being provided by varying spike or cleat designs. It is a further object of the present invention to allow a user, a cyclist for example, to dismount from a bicycle and quickly attach a sole according to the present invention to the bottom of a cycling shoe in order to allow for a desired amount of traction for the cyclist for walking or running over a various ground surfaces, including low-traction surfaces such as muddy surfaces.

[0006]A modular shoe sole as described herein may comprise anterior, medial and posterior sections made from suitable materials to achieve the intended purpose of providing selectable levels of traction to cyclists for use after dismounting, all while allowing for reengagement of the shoe to which the sole is affixed with a bicycle pedal via a temporary locking mechanism of the shoe and pedal, as will be familiar to one of ordinary skill in the art. A traction means of a sole as described herein comprises at least one and preferably multiple gripping mechanisms such as cleats and the like, suitable for selecting a desired traction and stability of a cyclist when off-cycle, for example, on slippery terrain such as muddy ground. It is an object of the present invention to facilitate the mounting and dismounting of a cyclist onto and off of a bicycle, respectively, while allowing the cyclist to easily run or walk across slippery terrain while maintaining the ability to quickly reengage with the bicycle by locking in a shoe as described herein to a bicycle pedal.

Problems solved by technology

During the muddy season, there is a need in the art for better footwear traction, as traditional cycling shoes do not provide for this due to their major purpose being to provide locking mechanisms for bicycle pedals to allow cyclists to maximize the transmission of power to the wheels.

This lack of means for providing traction when a cyclo-cross race is on foot on muddy terrain results in slippage and risk of injury.

Current solutions to this problem come in the form of different shoe options with means for supplying varying degrees of traction to the soles, but no current solution on the market allows for soles or components or sections thereof to be swapped out for better traction as conditions warrant.

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