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In my Empire we have several high castles, which is good because they are tall and majestic, in none of which do I dwell. No sadly I prefer to live a bit closer to the earth, and in some ways, I believe these choices to not live in a sky-scraper, may have been influenced by bike access, or worse the "Bike Room". In Chicago, a head-wind is the best shot at a hill that you will see for 45 miles in any direction., and the tall castles and high-rises, help to build those gusts beside a vast air conditioner we call Lake Michigan. When shoes are noticeable whatsoever, it generally means that you are doing something with your feet, so let's not complain for the tiny displeasing reminders that we are alive. Bear in mind that the best compliment to any garment, or bit of technical wear would be to not know it's on you. If however, your feet throb within your soles, then you may need to reconsider your footwear. Recently I've realized that with age come surprises, some of which key you into physiology which you'd never considered before. Sometimes discoveries about your being bring you to the doctor to ask questions about things which you could not quite find in a web-search. So when your body tells you something and the cause seems very obvious, or at least self evident, then you may go shopping for a solution on your own. You may also seek another opinion. My choice has always been to search for a solution before consulting others. So it begins that when one aches in their arches, or finds throbbing in their plantar parts, then it has to be the shoes and not the soul, correct?
Giro Empire Shoes; Size 45 VR90 Limited Edition Orange Camo.
Shoes with laces always seems to me to make general sense, but I never thought that they scored highly in all thinks cyclical. I suppose that bicycling is now antithetically loaded against a nod backward, unless for the purpose of retro-gestalt. When someone re-introduces the Hand Polished Campagnolo Delta Brake, I will be on the waiting list, but this is purely a nod to the aesthetic gods in Italy, and not because I would hope them to stop well. Looking at cycling shoes with laces is now beset through the lens of all things techy. If a bike can shift without cables, then why bother to provide cable stops, or downtime routing?, and if a shoe can be lashed around your foot using a force-field, then why tie laces? So it begins that we consider Velcro, Boa Mechs, Ratchets and the Tech-lace, as the new normal. Shoe Laces, in the shadow of these evolutions, seem inferior even for the retro nod. What would be the sense of tying your shoes? Well (long pause) sort-of... there is none. It's not sensible to tie your shoes if the shoe has evolved beyond the usefulness of laces right? So I own a lot of shoes for an XX, with cycling shoes and Leather Chukka's in equal parts. I have loafers, and flip-flops, Vans and Hush Puppies, Fleuvogs, and Mezlans in equal occupancy with my Sidis, Bontragers, Bonts, and Giros, so it's no secret that one looks at the list and they feel excessive, spoiled, and ostentatious. I suppose the search is for a pair of shoes, which do everything, and the collection is the product of that endeavor.
When I look at the list, and the Lace to ratchet ratio, I think what is revealed is that most are in fact laces. Laces may be a nod to the past, but much like the zipper, and the button hole, there is no shame in deployment of methods which are time-tested, and reliable. I learned to tie my own shoes shortly before I learned to ride a real bike, and it took me until I was in my mid thirties to discover that I was tying my shoes wrong for three decades. If you think you may be one of those people, and your laces come un-done unless you double tie them, then I recommend looking-up "how to tie your shoes" on a running web-site. The process is the same but the resulting knot is far superior. I no longer double tie my shoes to prevent them from un-tying.
Now I have bike shoes which lace up, and they are new. They don't have removable spikes, plates, heel cups, and the like, but they are damn thin, rather stiff, and provide solid propulsion, when I wish to work. I like them, but they are not perfect, and although they have resolved much of my first cause to buy them, I'm not sure laces are "all that". Here is the impetus for purchase.
1. Chicago has a lot of careless drivers and traffic.
2. In the Autumn it gets dark out earlier, and remains darker later in the morning (especially with DST).
3. Anything bright and reflective is a good idea when cycling at dusk, dawn, or daylight.
4. My feet ached in the fore-foot after the first 35 miles, and sometimes felt quite debilitating.
5. New Footwear is nice.
In Giro's Empire, your feet are wrapped in a comfortable last, and lashed as tightly or as loosely as you choose. The issue with laces is that they pull relatively uniformly, regardless of how you wish to parse the pressure about your foot. As one pulls the laces tighter in spots, the pressure increases in those spots, but as one uses the foot within the shoe, the laces will tend to equalize the pressure along the closure. So as laces go, these are really nice lace-up shoes. They have a very low profile Easton carbon out-sole, and a reasonably well engineered in-sole to adjust for arch height. A user can insert one of three In-soles which feature an anti-microbial treatment to prevent funk. They have a perforated outer which breathes about as well as a synthetic vinyl compound can, and they cradle the foot with firm support. I think the shoe can be placed beside the best Sidi, Lake, or Bont, from a foot comfort perspective, they do not allow the foot to collapse down and outward to sprawl out the fore-foot, as I'd hoped. My self-diagnosed issue was that the shoe could hold my forefoot in a more contained manner, corseting the spread of the tarsals to prevent a repeated use injury caused by an old foot doing a lot of pushing into an unsupported space. For the purposes of providing more support than my Prior Bontrager shoe was, the Giro Empire did an admirable job. My arch is neither high nor low, and my fore-foot is average to wide while my heel is narrow.
So if the shoe fits, then how does it help or hinder? A shoe like this increased my mileage from 30 to right around 58 miles where the pain will still begin to plague my fore-foot. I enjoy the ride up until that point, and then grimace and struggle forward to complete most journeys trying to pedal up rather than down, (taking weighted pressure off the foot).
Fashion considerations are always a personal matter, and I think these shoes are beauties. People either remark that, "they wished that they bought those... But they were limited, and are out of stock now", or they keep their opinion to themselves about the flashy aesthetic. Personally I think they have propelled me well forward, with less notice of my shoes or foot pain, and they have provided injury protection in the form of exceptional visibility in the dusk or dawn ride windows. They clean-up well, and remain dry in light drizzle, but do drench from puddle spray.
A few thousand miles into these and they appear newish. They are comfortable, reasonably priced, and they may keep me from being struck by an uber driver gaping at his APP. Much as a flashing fishing lure works on a sunny day, I think the Giro Empires may deserve the attention they get.
SWorks Diverge
A comfortable, competent, carry-all, do-all go everywhere, uber bike?, or another Brand "S" marketing fizzle?
Both.
I've ridden this for nearly a year, and throughout I have had mixed feelings about the statement that Specialized invented an entirely new geometry, and even category with this wunderkind. Does it ride really well, and smooth-out the fatigue of an unbeaten path?, Yes. Better than mid 90's Girven, absolutely.
Does it fit lots of stuff for travel and bike-packing, including fenders, bottles, bots packs, panniers, bags, and tools? Why yes it does. There are all sorts of bosses.
Does the SWorks Diverge fit a meaty tire, and sport a lean physique, while crossing competently upon gravel, single-track, tarmac, and trail? Well... Kind-of, yes. It's not a Shiv, but it does go, where you push it.
The Sworks Diverge is a great entrant into a "Gravel" category now so flooded with marketing and models, that, well -- it's the new Mountain Bike Craze. Bike Makers from Garages to Gigantic, are plying their craft at swooning you to a drop-bar mix-machina because they know you already have a bike or two, and that you don't ride either. We are now firmly in the midst of a miasma of Mountainesque road bikes which were created for the sole purpose of a few cool dudes who wanted to soldier further on pavement and travel more wildly afar, but not choose to do each on separate weekends. Clever fellas, who may someday get the credit for creating the Gravel Bike, will sit venerated and hand the keys to their lauded bike companies over Trek or Specialized, Giant or Scott, to be ground-up and squeezed through a die, to create more mojo, for the titans who do it cheaper and in mass. Someday we may celebrate Gerard Vroomen, and the dropped chain-stay, as a singular patentable invention, as we have praised Gary Fisher for having "invented" the modern Mountain bike. Should we? Are the incremental improvements to the diamond bike frame, like a bridge truss stretching between two wheels, with a chain and handlebar, be praised as a revolution each time we add or subtract a gear in the front or rear? I'm not sure. What I can say for sure is that gradual evolution from a swamp, and back to the slow decay to a soft couch and a netflix series does not impress as revolutionary. Is it nonetheless awesome that I can now swap a set of wheels on my road bike and hit a narrow rutted trail at near max speed, then swap back and ride a century deftly? Fuck yes it is!, but that still doesn't make the marketing hyperbole match the accomplishment. One thing to note; When everyone already has a bike, and you would like them to dig and scrape for the coin to buy another, then you need Surround Sound. You need to do what Dolby did, convince the populace that they are inadequate with stereo, and that they need 5, 7, 9 speakers and a sub to watch TV. Look where that got them. They grew immensely a category which was dragging it's heels. They built a surround sound empire, just in time to see Sonos, steer this flaming fuel truck into a pond. The Snake oil of the Gravel Bike is debatable, like the "invention" of the mountain bike, but a slow shift towards utility, and the fantasy of the SUV inserted into the bike world is good for business. So good in fact that many manufacturers will no doubt shift like Ford from cars to only trucks. This SWorks SUV is perhaps the "M" badge SUV you thought you needed to get groceries. There!, I said it!, it's justified... Everyone needs an SUV, and it might as well be one with a plush ride.
What is singularly true and useful is that the Diverge, and it's helpful participation in the evolving category of a more versatile bike is real. The SWorks Diverge is a bad-ass machine if you only test ride it, and hit a tough trail, you will find the urge to ride it more. More interest is the secret sauce. I never thought that yet another bike (N+1), would make me more adventurous, but I think it may have. Certainly I do find myself emulating a Brand "S" video and hitting a trail down to a stream just because I can, and if I am not mistaken this it the true wisdom of the bike. The real mojo of a successful bike is plainly this: If it makes you want to ride and explore places with the same reckless abandon you had when you were 6, then... it is a fucking winner. If you get one, you will be cutting across every lawn, and lot that you can, because you can.
So yes the SWorks Diverge has taken me from Farm to Table, and from Joshua Tree to the California Coastline, from Upper Michigan, to the deep south, and I've boxed it up and shipped it a dozen times to push it's buttons, and mine. That makes it a winner.
Naturally I had no idea that I'd like it, and thought that I'd immediately swap the seat and post, (Who needs a dropper?), but I didn't. Truth be told I couldn't see anything to change on the bike, and found myself despairing the lack of tweaking I could do to improve it. I didn't like the shifters, simply because they were the older Shimano style Hoods which aesthetically I didn't prefer. (I do love the newer hood-top Di2 shift buttons). But if I'm honest with myself, I get a good bit of standover the taller stack notwithstanding, and yet I was racing last year and found the dropper button very very convenient, and used it many times in tricky paths, and when jumping.
What's not to like?
Both.
I've ridden this for nearly a year, and throughout I have had mixed feelings about the statement that Specialized invented an entirely new geometry, and even category with this wunderkind. Does it ride really well, and smooth-out the fatigue of an unbeaten path?, Yes. Better than mid 90's Girven, absolutely.
Does it fit lots of stuff for travel and bike-packing, including fenders, bottles, bots packs, panniers, bags, and tools? Why yes it does. There are all sorts of bosses.
Does the SWorks Diverge fit a meaty tire, and sport a lean physique, while crossing competently upon gravel, single-track, tarmac, and trail? Well... Kind-of, yes. It's not a Shiv, but it does go, where you push it.
The Sworks Diverge is a great entrant into a "Gravel" category now so flooded with marketing and models, that, well -- it's the new Mountain Bike Craze. Bike Makers from Garages to Gigantic, are plying their craft at swooning you to a drop-bar mix-machina because they know you already have a bike or two, and that you don't ride either. We are now firmly in the midst of a miasma of Mountainesque road bikes which were created for the sole purpose of a few cool dudes who wanted to soldier further on pavement and travel more wildly afar, but not choose to do each on separate weekends. Clever fellas, who may someday get the credit for creating the Gravel Bike, will sit venerated and hand the keys to their lauded bike companies over Trek or Specialized, Giant or Scott, to be ground-up and squeezed through a die, to create more mojo, for the titans who do it cheaper and in mass. Someday we may celebrate Gerard Vroomen, and the dropped chain-stay, as a singular patentable invention, as we have praised Gary Fisher for having "invented" the modern Mountain bike. Should we? Are the incremental improvements to the diamond bike frame, like a bridge truss stretching between two wheels, with a chain and handlebar, be praised as a revolution each time we add or subtract a gear in the front or rear? I'm not sure. What I can say for sure is that gradual evolution from a swamp, and back to the slow decay to a soft couch and a netflix series does not impress as revolutionary. Is it nonetheless awesome that I can now swap a set of wheels on my road bike and hit a narrow rutted trail at near max speed, then swap back and ride a century deftly? Fuck yes it is!, but that still doesn't make the marketing hyperbole match the accomplishment. One thing to note; When everyone already has a bike, and you would like them to dig and scrape for the coin to buy another, then you need Surround Sound. You need to do what Dolby did, convince the populace that they are inadequate with stereo, and that they need 5, 7, 9 speakers and a sub to watch TV. Look where that got them. They grew immensely a category which was dragging it's heels. They built a surround sound empire, just in time to see Sonos, steer this flaming fuel truck into a pond. The Snake oil of the Gravel Bike is debatable, like the "invention" of the mountain bike, but a slow shift towards utility, and the fantasy of the SUV inserted into the bike world is good for business. So good in fact that many manufacturers will no doubt shift like Ford from cars to only trucks. This SWorks SUV is perhaps the "M" badge SUV you thought you needed to get groceries. There!, I said it!, it's justified... Everyone needs an SUV, and it might as well be one with a plush ride.
What is singularly true and useful is that the Diverge, and it's helpful participation in the evolving category of a more versatile bike is real. The SWorks Diverge is a bad-ass machine if you only test ride it, and hit a tough trail, you will find the urge to ride it more. More interest is the secret sauce. I never thought that yet another bike (N+1), would make me more adventurous, but I think it may have. Certainly I do find myself emulating a Brand "S" video and hitting a trail down to a stream just because I can, and if I am not mistaken this it the true wisdom of the bike. The real mojo of a successful bike is plainly this: If it makes you want to ride and explore places with the same reckless abandon you had when you were 6, then... it is a fucking winner. If you get one, you will be cutting across every lawn, and lot that you can, because you can.
So yes the SWorks Diverge has taken me from Farm to Table, and from Joshua Tree to the California Coastline, from Upper Michigan, to the deep south, and I've boxed it up and shipped it a dozen times to push it's buttons, and mine. That makes it a winner.
Naturally I had no idea that I'd like it, and thought that I'd immediately swap the seat and post, (Who needs a dropper?), but I didn't. Truth be told I couldn't see anything to change on the bike, and found myself despairing the lack of tweaking I could do to improve it. I didn't like the shifters, simply because they were the older Shimano style Hoods which aesthetically I didn't prefer. (I do love the newer hood-top Di2 shift buttons). But if I'm honest with myself, I get a good bit of standover the taller stack notwithstanding, and yet I was racing last year and found the dropper button very very convenient, and used it many times in tricky paths, and when jumping.
What's not to like?
Going places is simply easier on the body with the plush front end, their wheels are a bit flex, but light fast and amazingly easy to wind up. The saddle is light, comfortable and gave me no reason to change it out, and the covering has held up well to a few drops, and digs, as well as the obligatory flip-over to service or remove something like a wheel, chain, or lube session. Come to think of it..., the Hover-bar ( a very nice carbon drop-bar with a bit of upward rise at the stem connection) was the singular part not initially to my liking. This I replaced right away for an Easton EC70 sway bar for more clearance for bags, and for a bit lower position.
In fact I like the wheels so much that I regularly swap them to my other Gravel machine, and the tires rival the G1's for speed, comfort, and puncture resistance. The tire wheel combo are flat out great for me, although I find the spoking pattern gives the front discs bit of a rub when diving over the handlebars, into turns, or in heavy sprints.
Here are the flaws:
1. Tire clearance: Namely that in the rear, needs some work. While sporting the stock tires, which I've come to like, the mud build-up is shitty, and in fact my wheels look like rim-brake wheels because too much wet debris and mud can hang-up in the chain-stays. If you are like me and hate to stop to clear a twig, or worse, believe that two decades wrenching means that you can fix anything while well in flight (without stopping), then you would be remiss to halt your fancy new rig to let a few stow-aways out of your bulky stays. This one collects so much trash, that my rims look like I have V-brakes.
2. Seat-tube height: I think with the stay design, and the dropped seat-stays, they could have improved the initial top-tube joint to be lower affording more clearance and hence more drop for the post, as well as a bit more stiffness in the drive-train. After-all, if we are going fast and soaking the bumps up-front and the rear is a tight triangle with little plush moments, you may as well stiffen and shrink it a bit in the larger sizes and gain some clearance.
3. The Dreaded Recall. As mentioned in another notorious lament, The glacial pace to get a new collar and two bolts for my front springy thing, was entirely too long. Even considering suppliers, and such, it became clear to me that owners were bumped for Production bikes, and the wait to get a Recall handled for a tiny part, took nearly three months. 'Bright-sides', were that winter may have messed up the shock unit with road salt, snow and debris, so perhaps staying off the bike for a few months through the worst of it, means that I'll get more life from the bike.
4. Beautiful matte paint. Matte paint is great, and a split-tone with some gloss silver is a stand-out at a bike show. The thing is, that I'd prefer the bike look nice like any other sap, but I think the paint (for me) felt a bit dated -- Like a nod to 1998 Rockhopper comp. For me the two tone needed a bit of 'toning down', so with some nice matte car vinyl wrap, I carefully doused the silver bits for black, and never looked back. Nit-picking?, yes, but the bike is otherwise rather awesome and we have to tick a few boxes in the 'con' column.
5. This is not a road bike. If you are used to a Venge, Tarmac, Emonda, or other fast race bike.., then this is not that McLaren. It will roll reasonably well and got where you point it, but you will struggle with the peloton, as compared to a proper wheel-base, and posture. It is more of a Jeep, than an Evora, but it is a mix of both, that "S" has nearly nailed.
This is one of the good ones, so if you are on the fence about what "Gravel" do-all to take home, you should consider any of the Diverge varietals which fit your budget. In-fact if you can't splurge, and you have money burning a hole in your pocket, then the Diverge Comp is awesome-sauce..., I know because I got one for someone who doesn't ride -- And now they do.
In fact I like the wheels so much that I regularly swap them to my other Gravel machine, and the tires rival the G1's for speed, comfort, and puncture resistance. The tire wheel combo are flat out great for me, although I find the spoking pattern gives the front discs bit of a rub when diving over the handlebars, into turns, or in heavy sprints.
Here are the flaws:
1. Tire clearance: Namely that in the rear, needs some work. While sporting the stock tires, which I've come to like, the mud build-up is shitty, and in fact my wheels look like rim-brake wheels because too much wet debris and mud can hang-up in the chain-stays. If you are like me and hate to stop to clear a twig, or worse, believe that two decades wrenching means that you can fix anything while well in flight (without stopping), then you would be remiss to halt your fancy new rig to let a few stow-aways out of your bulky stays. This one collects so much trash, that my rims look like I have V-brakes.
2. Seat-tube height: I think with the stay design, and the dropped seat-stays, they could have improved the initial top-tube joint to be lower affording more clearance and hence more drop for the post, as well as a bit more stiffness in the drive-train. After-all, if we are going fast and soaking the bumps up-front and the rear is a tight triangle with little plush moments, you may as well stiffen and shrink it a bit in the larger sizes and gain some clearance.
3. The Dreaded Recall. As mentioned in another notorious lament, The glacial pace to get a new collar and two bolts for my front springy thing, was entirely too long. Even considering suppliers, and such, it became clear to me that owners were bumped for Production bikes, and the wait to get a Recall handled for a tiny part, took nearly three months. 'Bright-sides', were that winter may have messed up the shock unit with road salt, snow and debris, so perhaps staying off the bike for a few months through the worst of it, means that I'll get more life from the bike.
4. Beautiful matte paint. Matte paint is great, and a split-tone with some gloss silver is a stand-out at a bike show. The thing is, that I'd prefer the bike look nice like any other sap, but I think the paint (for me) felt a bit dated -- Like a nod to 1998 Rockhopper comp. For me the two tone needed a bit of 'toning down', so with some nice matte car vinyl wrap, I carefully doused the silver bits for black, and never looked back. Nit-picking?, yes, but the bike is otherwise rather awesome and we have to tick a few boxes in the 'con' column.
5. This is not a road bike. If you are used to a Venge, Tarmac, Emonda, or other fast race bike.., then this is not that McLaren. It will roll reasonably well and got where you point it, but you will struggle with the peloton, as compared to a proper wheel-base, and posture. It is more of a Jeep, than an Evora, but it is a mix of both, that "S" has nearly nailed.
This is one of the good ones, so if you are on the fence about what "Gravel" do-all to take home, you should consider any of the Diverge varietals which fit your budget. In-fact if you can't splurge, and you have money burning a hole in your pocket, then the Diverge Comp is awesome-sauce..., I know because I got one for someone who doesn't ride -- And now they do.