About Vittoria Shoes ~

The shoes of choice for great pros:

Vittoria shoes are completely handmade in very small production in Northern Italy, in the town of Vigliano Biellese, near the border of Lombardy and Piedmont. This is the region of Italy that creates the finest cycling products in the world. Vittoria is owned and managed by the Vercelli family. Celestino Vercelli, who rode as a pro in the 60's alongside Adorni, De Vlaeminck, Motta, and Bittosi and his son, Edoardo, supervise the creation of beautiful, hand-crafted shoes. Signor Vercelli has the constant input and advice of the greatest riders and coaches in the world. Put that together with his own creative ability and you have a  truly superb line of cycling shoes.

Vittoria takes a totally performance-oriented view of shoe design and avoids the very common compromises that other manufacturers make to increase a shoe's salability. This is most clearly seen in their sole. Vittoria shoes will actually make you a more efficient cyclist. First, they are extraordinary light weight.

1. Ergonomics. The closer the ball of the foot is to the center of the axle of the pedal, the smaller the dead spot at the top of the stroke. Built-up soles increase the distance of the foot to the pedal, making a bigger dead spot, causing lost efficiency.
2. Weight. Built-up sole systems are heavier. Vittoria shoes are the lightest shoes around and they intend to stay that way.
3. Efficiency. With extra plates at the bottom of the sole, there is a slight amount of lost energy in the transfer of power from the foot to the pedal as those plates flex and move against each other. This energy loss is not large, but I'm not going willingly give up any of my precious watts.

This page was last edited on 11/04/2004