N+ Open Bike Shoe Platform

Because I'm a designer I have worked through a lot of ideas for aesthetics and some of the messier central sketches, began to develop ideas about how a system might work. 

Modular shoes, right? Let the facebook shares begin... ugh.

But I think for a cycling shoe it has merit. I have 5 bikes, 5! Like many bikers I follow the N+1 bike formula, where N= the number of bikes you have , N+1= the number you need. The idea of dropping a couple hund' on a pair of shoes for each discipline and season makes me shutter, and the used bike shoe market is best left unexplored. I'm going to design a rigid core to which the user can attach various treads, textile uppers, and midsole/insoles around to make a tuneable shoe - because as a cyclist there's nothing greater than dialing in the right bike for the right trail, everything just *sings*.

The initial idea came as many do, from not being able to find something that met my needs. For lots of biking disciplines it's desirable to have a shoe that can walk and pedal well, but that's a paradox. A comfortable walking shoe is too soft for efficient prolonged pedaling, and a good bike shoe is clumsy to walk in.