A pair of Shimano R310 shoes, ready to be custom fitted

One shoe at a time is placed into the oven for several minutes

A large plastic bag is placed over the shoe, with a hose attached to a vacuum pump held under the middle strap

Hey presto, a custom moulded shoe ready to go

Up until very recently only professional bike racers, and even then only the finest, could enjoy the kudos of custom fit bikes and accessories, but times are changing and there’s an increasing supply of custom fit parts available to us mere mortals.

Shimano ushered in its own custom fit shoe technology just a couple of years ago, and is now trickling down through the price points to the level where it is now reasonably affordable. I recently took stock of a new pair of the very latest flagship R310 shoes from Shimano and, eager to get them into action, popped down to the bike shop nearest the RCUK office, Mosquito Bikes, to get them custom fitted to my feet.

The process, which is a free service to anyone who purchases one of the several Shimano custom fit shoes now available, begins first with the removal of the insole. The shoe is then placed in an oven and heated for several minutes, until the thermoplastic material in the heel, insole and upper becomes soft and pliable.

Now for the clever bit. With the still-cold insole placed back inside, your foot is placed inside the now cosily warm shoe, a plastic bumper fitted to the toe box so your toes aren’t squashed, a hose from a small vacuum pump affixed underneath one of the Velcro straps and then a large plastic bag placed over the lot and sealed with a Velcro strap.

At the flick of the vacuum pump’s power switch, all the air is rapidly sucked out and atmospheric pressure pushes against the plastic bag, squishing the soft mouldable sections of the shoe into the unique contours of your foot. A couple of minutes of this, with some prodding and squeezing from the shoe fitter, results the upper of the shoe conforming to your foot. As the shoe cools, the thermoplastic material hardens to retain its new shape.

The process is then repeated for the other foot. Next, the insoles, themselves made of thermoplastic material, are placed inside the oven, heated, and then placed inside the now-cold shoes again, whereupon you stand in the shoes and in turn place weight on the ball of each foot to mould the insoles.

And you’re done. The entire process takes about half an hour, by the end of which you’ve one pair of very custom shoes. The fit compared to before is incomparable – following the custom fit process the shoes feel more like a pair of comfortable slippers than a race-ready stiff-as-hell cycling shoe. It’s interesting looking the shoes over after moulding to see just how much they shape themselves to your foot. Despite feeling comfy enough beforehand, the heel section in particular showed clear evidence of the thermoplastic material changing shape.

All that remains is to fit some cleats, and discover how they feel on the bike. And if you don’t feel you’ve got the fit right the first time, Shimano say you can heat them up six times in total, so plenty of scope for adjusting the fit to perfection.

The new £249.99 R310 shoes (replacing last year’s R300 model) uses a new improved carbon fibre outsole with foam-filled hollow channels along the back for a stiffer sole, with a raised heel cup. Two Velcro straps are off-set to reduce pressure on the top of the foot and a micro-adjustable aluminium ratchet snicks the shoe securely into place. To prevent heel lift-out, the inside of the heel is lined with a one-way fabric which allows the foot to easily slide in, but prevents it lifting back out during pedalling.

More info at madison.co.uk. Thanks to www.mosquito-bikes.co.uk for taking the time to fit the shoes.