Originally designed for hockey skates, the Superfeet Yellow is an insole replacement that works across a range of tighter fitting footwear, delivering excellent arch support and ideally suited to road cycling shoes. Available in seven sizes, these are part of the Superfeet ‘trim to fit’ range, a simple enough process that involves a quick trace around your shoe’s existing insole and two minute’s work with a pair of scissors.
As you would expect from a market-leader like Superfeet things don’t stop there. The main bed is formed from ‘XLPE’, a ‘cross-linked’ polyethylene foam, with both excellent support and shock-absorbing qualities and enough flex to feel responsive; coated in a natural antimicrobial treatment to extend their shelf-life and help reduce odor. But the real trick up the sleeve (sock?) for the Yellows is the integral, stiffened, rear cup, which is noticeably deeper and more cradling for both comfort and fit – the result of which is intended to be stabilisation through the pedals for increased power transfer.
Does that work? Hard to quantify improved performance outside of the lab of course, but after letting these bed in (so-to-speak) for a couple of weeks – they did, as the manufacturers suggested, take some time to get used to – rides felt more powerful on the hills and there was an overall sense of ‘pushing’ strength more directly through the pedals. There’s always a danger of emperor’s new clothes with such innovations, but the more we road tested these the more we liked them.
The foam bed wicked moisture well – aided by the ‘diamond venting system’, a cluster of nine holes designed to line up with perforated outsoles without compromising the bed’s structural integrity – and the fit felt almost custom-made. As noted: any improvement in actual power increase is wildly subjective but across numerous rides we felt a distinct benefit and any ‘edge’, either perceived or real, is one we will gladly take.
Superfeet Yellow have an RRP of £35 and are widely available online – for more information see superfeet.co.uk
