Footbalance insoles?

[kgreene10]

Has anyone used these? I'm considering a pair of fully custom ones. I'm curious which blanks you used and whether they worked out for you in terms of comfort, performance, longevity.

[rnhood]

Not Freelance. Never heard of them but they look decent. I have used "Sole", "e-sole" and "Specialized". I rate "Sole" and "Specialized" about equal, with maybe a slight advantage to "Sole" for my feet for support, and "e-sole" a big step down - in fact a dissapointment.

[quattro]

rnhood, I don't know which model esoles you had, but I have full custom esoles and they are fantastic! If the ones you had were stock over the counter I can understand why they would not have worked for you, but full custom where your feet are scanned, and additional foot information obtained by the esoles authorized custom dealer send to esoles to have the orthotic's fabricated are a whole different story.

I highly recommend esoles full custom insoles.

Never heard of Footbalance.

[metalheart]

I have a set of the foot Balance inserts I used in my cycling shoes. I don't remember which ones, I went to a local bike fitter shop to get them: stand on this machine that makes some pic of your foot and that is used to to mold the insert. Worked fine, I'm happy, at least as useful as the expensive orthotics that I used prior to the Footbalance inserts.

[Ken Robb]

Leslie bought some "running" shoes at Roadrunner Sports in San Diego where the staff used sophisticated equipment to analyze her feet and make custom insoles for her in 30 minutes. When she tired the custom insoles in place of the ones that came with her new shoes she preferred the stock ones. There was no charge for the analysis or the custom insoles since they didn't improve an already comfortable shoe.

If you have access to one of the RR stores you might want to see if they can help you with cycling shoes.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

I have a pair. They are good, but then I've liked most aftermarket insoles I've used, including a custom pair my orthopedist had made for me from cast. After a while riding them, if my feet don't hurt, I'm happy. Not sure they're $100 good, though. And the footbed material tends to wrinkle and fold a bit during the "molding" process. No big deal as it has no bearing on the fit of the insole, IME.

One thing I've noticed with these aftermarket insoles is that it is key to get the metatarsal button well located for your particular foot. My bike fitter did a great job of it, but when I've done it myself, I've tended to screw it up.

[MadRocketSci]

they seem to be sold mostly at Sports Authority stores, at least in CO. Is the process simple enough to not get screwed up by the lowest totem on the sales team pole?

[kgreene10]

Thanks for the helpful info on them.

There are a number of these "quick custom" systems out there and I'm typically pretty skeptical, but I became interested in Footbalance when I saw it being used at Bike Effects in Santa Monica. Steven, the co-owner and fitter at the shop, really likes them.

Here in Austin, a chain called St Bernard Sports does them, mostly for skiing. BTW, it feels pretty weird to go into a ski oriented shop when it's a hundred million degrees outside.

The manager there has been trained by Footbalance staff and apparently he is the one he does all the insoles there. So, I would imagine someone at Sports Authority has been trained too.

They cost $80 and have a 30-day money back guarantee. Sounds good enough to try.

[Uncle Jam's Army]

Thanks for the helpful info on them.

There are a number of these "quick custom" systems out there and I'm typically pretty skeptical, but I became interested in Footbalance when I saw it being used at Bike Effects in Santa Monica. Steven, the co-owner and fitter at the shop, really likes them.

That's where I got mine, but with Damon.

[Mark McM]

I had a poor experience with Foot Balance custom insoles for Nordic skate skiing boots. I have weak arches, and since skate skiing power is derived by pushing off the inside edges of the skis, I lose a lot of power and control if my my arches collapse as I load the ski. The local ski shop made custom Foot Balance insoles, so I had a pair made for a new set of ski boots.

The shop produced the insoles by heating the moldable insoles until they were pliant, and then positioning the insole under my foot and having my stand on the insole while the insole was supported by a foam pillow. Apparently, the idea was that the pressure of my foot would mold the insole into the shape of my foot while the insole was still warm and pliant. However, since my foot was weighted during this process, my insole was already collapsed. So, essentially, it was molded into the shape of my collapsed arch, and did not provide the support needed to keep my arch from collapsing to start with.

I had previously had a different set of custom insoles made by the same shop a few years earlier, when they were using the Superfeet insole system. The Superfeet system molds the insoles by vacuum forming the insoles to your feet while the feet are unloaded, so the insole assumes the natural shape of the unloaded feet (and arches). These had worked well, but did not fit my new boots. So, after ditching the Foot Balance insoles, I located a different shop that was using the Superfeet system, and had new insoles made for the new boots with the Superfeet system.

[kgreene10]

The shop produced the insoles by heating the moldable insoles until they were pliant, and then positioning the insole under my foot and having my stand on the insole while the insole was supported by a foam pillow. Apparently, the idea was that the pressure of my foot would mold the insole into the shape of my foot while the insole was still warm and pliant. However, since my foot was weighted during this process, my insole was already collapsed. So, essentially, it was molded into the shape of my collapsed arch, and did not provide the support needed to keep my arch from collapsing to start with.

I went in today to have them done and didn't even leave the shop with them, for exactly the reasons Mark mentions. The weighted approach to molding the footbeds means that you get a significantly smaller arch than you would when molding unweighted as podiatrists do. Footbalance have an approach that they say compensates -- curling the toes -- but it didn't work in my case. The resulting arch was far too small. The shop was very cool about it and just chalked it up as if I had taken advantage of Footbalance's money-back guarantee. On to serious full custom for me now.

[djg21]

I had a poor experience with Foot Balance custom insoles for Nordic skate skiing boots. I have weak arches, and since skate skiing power is derived by pushing off the inside edges of the skis, I lose a lot of power and control if my my arches collapse as I load the ski. The local ski shop made custom Foot Balance insoles, so I had a pair made for a new set of ski boots.



The shop produced the insoles by heating the moldable insoles until they were pliant, and then positioning the insole under my foot and having my stand on the insole while the insole was supported by a foam pillow. Apparently, the idea was that the pressure of my foot would mold the insole into the shape of my foot while the insole was still warm and pliant. However, since my foot was weighted during this process, my insole was already collapsed. So, essentially, it was molded into the shape of my collapsed arch, and did not provide the support needed to keep my arch from collapsing to start with.



I had previously had a different set of custom insoles made by the same shop a few years earlier, when they were using the Superfeet insole system. The Superfeet system molds the insoles by vacuum forming the insoles to your feet while the feet are unloaded, so the insole assumes the natural shape of the unloaded feet (and arches). These had worked well, but did not fit my new boots. So, after ditching the Foot Balance insoles, I located a different shop that was using the Superfeet system, and had new insoles made for the new boots with the Superfeet system.


As others have alluded, you are not on weighted feet while cycling, so there is logic to molding insoles for cycling shoes while seated.

The best insoles I've seen for cycling shoes are the ones made by Don Lamson at D2. He will make insoles for other types of shoes. http://www.d2shoe.com/ortho_otherbrand.php


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[macaroon]

The above issues are what I experienced when I got custom molded insoles as part of a bike fit.

Even though the fitter was experienced and new how to mold the insoles (unweighted), I still didn't get enough support in the arch.

This is why the esoles are so good; various arch heights, so you can experiment till you've found the right one for you.

[Alan]

I have also had good luck with the eSoles efit Supportive that come with different arches. I got onto these from Steve Hogg who likes these better than any other insoles. I like them better than the Specialized insoles.

Alan