Product Review: Mavic Tri Helium Bike Shoes

Created On: 29 August 2010

Mavic are highly renowned for their excellent wheel sets catering to all budgets and training/racing requirements. They have also been making other bicycle components and trip computer accessories for quite some time too. In recent years they have ventured into the markets for cycle clothing and shoes and as triathletes we should feel very privileged that they decided to address our specific needs as part of their performance shoe development plans.

If you follow the ITU World Championship Series and the World Cup events you have probably noticed a number of the pro triathletes wearing bright yellow bike shoes - unmistakably Mavic Tri Helium shoes - and I have to say that I suspect they are not just wearing them as part of a sponsorship arrangement, because now that I have test ridden them for a few weeks I am hooked - the Mavic Tri Helium has set a very high bar and every bike shoe I wear from now on will have to meet or exceed those standards for comfort, support, rigidity of the sole for power transfer, weight and ease of fitting (during the high speed transition phases of short course triathlon events).

When I evaluate a bike shoe for triathlon I have five criteria, as I have already hinted, these are comfort, support, rigidity, weight and ease of fitting. The priority you place on these criteria will depend on the distances that you race over - but rigidity, weight and support will all have an impact on your cycling performance regardless of the distance. Arguably over short courses you might place more importance on ease of fitting for swift transitions over comfort and vice versa for long course racing.

So why I am so impressed with these shoes? Frankly its because they score high on all counts - I haven't added aesthetics because I think that might be very subjective - it's a case of "you'll love 'em or hate 'em".

Comfort

More often than not a triathlon bike shoe will be worn without socks, so the lining of the shoe needs to feel good against the skin and that needs to be true whether they are wet or dry. No internal stitching or seams that might rub and cause blisters as your foot changes ever so slightly from plantar to dorsi flexion during your pedalling action.

The Tri Helium shoes feel snug and yet well ventilated and the unique design of the forefoot strap provides perfect fining tuning of the fit across the forefoot, where perhaps a more conventional Velcro or ratchet type strap might be more difficult to get in exactly the right position.

If I had one anxiety about the comfort and fit of these shoes, it was because I know from experience that with a high instep I often find that the main strap doesn't always feel right and quite often with other brands that I have tried the strap is right at the extreme end of its range of adjustment. On these shoes the pad across the top of the tongue did feel as though it might be a bit uncomfortable against my high instep - but in fact it soon conformed to the shape of my feet and felt absolutely fine.

9/10

Support

Some how Mavic have managed to achieve a fit that is comfortable and functional in the context of triathlon racing requirements that can still provide the foot support that would rival a market leading road race shoe which does not have to cater to the needs of quick transitions as one of its design constraints.

With many triathlon specific bike shoes I have noticed that the use of large Velcro straps and the desire to enable fast fitting and removal of the shoes can often lead to a compromise on the support that the shoe offers whilst pedalling. There are two specific areas of potential problems; one is if the lateral fit across the width of the foot is poor, the foot can shift from side to side and even tend to roll over the outside edge of the pedal, the other is if the heel cup is to soft and does not hold the heal firmly in place as you pedal, thus causing the foot to lift out of the shoe slightly under strenuous pedalling.

The Mavic Tri Helium is fantastic in both of these respects - however it will be interesting to see how long the supportive properties last over time - I have had great bike shoes that have gradually lost the supportive properties after a year or so of regular use - causing aches and pains that you would associate with a lack of support.

9/10

Rigidity

I like to review my pedalling efficiency periodically as part of my training regime and part and parcel of that assessment includes evaluating my power transfer and left and right balance.

I would like to think that over the last year I have managed to really improve my awareness of good pedalling efficiency and raised my power output, but I was so pleased to see that I could take it to the next level with the Mavic Tri Helium shoes on - its not just the rigidity of the carbon sole that makes a marked difference to my own pedalling efficiency, undoubtedly the support and fit are important in this respect too.

10/10

Weight

These shoes will challenge some brands of racing flat running shoes - enough said - as in the element they are named after, they are remarkably light!

10/10

Ease of Fitting and Removal
If you race short course or middle distance triathlon then you will appreciate the difference that a high speed mount and dismount can make on your transition times.

If you are not familiar with this concept the basic idea is that you clip your bike shoes to the pedals when you set your bike up in transition so that when you grab you bike they are already in place - you run with your bike to the mount line and then leap on without stopping.

Then you pedal with your feet on top of the shoes to gather some pace and then at the earliest convenient or tactically appropriate moment you slide your feet into the shoes and do up the straps. Approaching the dismount line into transition two, you reverse the process, undoing the straps, slipping your feet out of the shoes, pedalling with your bare feet on top of the shoes until you leap off the bike - leaving the shoes clipped onto the pedals.

With other triathlon specific bike shoes I have had varying degrees of satisfaction or more often frustration when it comes to executing a swift mount and dismount routine. For me the problems usually arise with the opening of the shoe either not being wide enough, or after riding with my feet on top of the shoes the heel cups collapse or at the very least I have to hold the heel tab in order to pull my foot into the shoes.

The Mavic Tri Helium is so well designed (IMHO) that I can find my way into the opening of the shoe with my toes without getting tangled up with the strap and slide my foot right into the shoe and securely into the heel cup. The fit is so secure at this stage that arguably I feel as though I could carry on riding indefinitely without even doing the main strap up - but doing so provides an even more supportive fit.

Again as a consequence of my high insteps I usually find that I have to assist my foot out of other triathlon specific bike shoes - but the Mavic Tri Helium seems to release my foot just as readily as it will secure it in place. For me this is an absolute revelation.

10/10

Value For Money
There is of course one last evaluation to be made; are these shoes value for money?

Although the price tag is high (between £220-£250), I think I would have to say that for me they are worth every penny - the only question that remains for me is how long they will last and hold the characteristics that differentiate them from every other triathlon specific bike shoe that I have tried.

For the cost conscious there is another shoe in the range the Tri Race, the design cues and features share a lot in common with the Tri Helium and the black and white colour scheme is a little less conspicuous. Indeed I have see some of the pro triathletes favouring this shoe too.

7/10

Overall 9/10

About the Author: Steve Casson

Steve Casson is a British Triathlon Federation Level 3 Coach and a GB Age Group Triathlete. At the beginning of 2009 Steve set up a triathlon performance coaching studio in Northampton to fulfil a vision of providing a range of 1-2-1 technical coaching sessions and performance testing services to complement his interactive coaching support package.

During 2009 Cassonz Performance Coaching helped a wide range of triathletes from Novices to Age Group World Championship medallists achieve their goals.

Find out more at www.cassonz.com/

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