We love laces; we also love straps - just not with velcro. So while fielding questions about dials and other closure mechanisms, we went on a research trip to find an alternative. A few months ago, while travelling in Japan, we found it.
Block Tape is like Lego for apparel - a soft press close and it secures anything. And it’s almost silent. Where velcro rips and raps, Block Tape purrs. On shoes, it’s a revelation. Except it had never been used on shoes until we innovated a solution in-house and trialled it on the Night Mono, our latest road cycling shoe, and first ever non-lace model.Once we had our velcro killer, everything came together rather quickly. Block Tape inspired the shoe's Bolt Straps™, which informed the Aerofoil™ upper - a highly technical tri-material sandwich that marries microfibre, support and drag-reducing dimples - which influenced the airy sides and padded, perforated tongue. Once we’d made a bespoke carbon fibre sole, tapered in areas of low stress to trim grams, and strengthened across the cleat and arch to lay down lossless power, we nearly had the shoe made.
While we were thinking and making Night Mono, our gravel bike shoe, the Gran Tourer, was starting to go through the roof. Of all the things the bikepacking community loved about the GT, the one word we kept hearing was comfort. Unbelievable comfort.
So we took the Gran Tourer’s shoe mould (a ’last’ in shoe parlance) and tuned it to the Mono’s new carbon sole and upper. The result is a shoe that feels quite amazingly comfortable out on the road, despite its race-grade performance. And because we based it on the GT’s last, owners of our gravel bike shoe can slip right into the same size in Mono.
But we also knew we could go further. Road riders put out a lot of power. Whether climbing at a consistent wattage, or peaking at the sprint, road cyclists need support across the foot to help transfer power to the pedals, and not into the shoe itself.
To ensure smooth power delivery and to elevate comfort, Mono ships with three, six and nine millimetre arch support inserts. Add in the fact that the shoe's straps can unwrap and change position to cater for low or high volume feet, and Mono is ready to offer custom comfort and maximum power for almost every foot shape.
Night Mono is the culmination of years of experience making cycling shoes. To make it light, fast and exceptionally comfortable, we had to find new materials and devise new production processes. In short, it’s the finest performance road cycling shoe we know how to make. And it’s available to order today.