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

The present invention is a modular cycling shoe with a removable and reattachable sole. The shoe can be selected based on the type of traction means such as spikes or cleats, which can be temporarily or permanently affixed to the bottom of the sole. The sole has different sections made from suitable materials to provide selectable levels of traction. It can be easily attached to a cycling shoe and quickly dismounted to allow for a desired amount of traction on different ground surfaces, including low-traction surfaces. The traction means of the sole have gripping mechanisms such as cleats to select the desired traction and stability of the cyclist. The invention allows for easy mounting and dismounting of the cyclist onto and off of the bicycle while maintaining the ability to quickly reengage with the bicycle by locking in the shoe 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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