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Minimalist, massive, avant-garde cycling shoes by Lintaman, Lake & Exustar

Lintaman Minimalist 2 ultralight flat sole carbon mesh cycling shoe with mid-sole cleat position option
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Minimalist footwear took running by storm a few years ago, but cycling seemed non-plussed by the trend. Now, the Lintamam Minimalist 2.1 brings flat soled, ultralight designs to roadies with a very unconventional design. Built on a 4.5mm thick, totally flat carbon fiber sole, the Minimalist 2.1 adds a mesh upper with some reinforcements to keep its shape. It pairs that with a multi-adjustable heel cup that lets you reposition the heel support inside or outside the shell to change how much pressure using to retain your foot.

Lintaman Minimalist 2 ultralight flat sole carbon mesh cycling shoe with mid-sole cleat position option

The outsole allows for cleat placement from the normal front positions all the way to a true mid-sole position. They say the benefit is that you’re using more quad and less calf muscle, which could save triathletes on the run (and they do acknowledge the potential cornering issues it presents…but hey, options). The shape is wider than most bike shoes, too, allowing for more natural toe splay. Because of the adjustable heel cup and retention, they limit production to just seven sizes, but they say that’ll cover everything from a 37 to 49.5. Retail is $149.95.

Lintamin Adjust Plus road cycling shoes with multiple BOA dial positions to customize the fit

The more traditional cycling shoes from Lintaman are their Adjust Plus, which gives you a ton of ways to tweak the fit. Multiple loops and routing for the retention cables make it possible to keep some areas open and loose, and others tight and secure.

Lintamin Adjust Plus road cycling shoes with multiple BOA dial positions to customize the fit

The other benefit is they can adjust to thinner or thicker socks more easily, or different size feet from left to right. They’re available with a full carbon, SPD-compatible sole for $350. An optional Speedplay specific sole is also available. Or opt for a nylon sole for road or mountain bike for $199. Check them out at Lintaman.com.

Lake Cycling Shoes

Lake Cycling Shoes urban camouflage in multiple colors

Lake’s been offering a couple of camo prints, and the colors keep coming. Choose from red/gray, blue, white/gray/black and traditional green/brown. Some colors are available only on certain models, though: Look for the Forest Camo on the MX 237 Endurance mountain bike shoe, red for the MX 241 Endurance, blue for their MX 332 mountain bike shoe, and white/gray in the CX237 road shoe.

Some models also come in special edition prints and ultra-shiny or iridescent colors, too. And they’re still offering their custom program, too, so you can get just about any print on your road, cyclocross or mountain bike shoes. See all the options at LakeCycling.com.

Exustar Gravel Cycling Shoes

Exustar knit mesh upper gravel cycling shoes

These new knit kicks from Exustar look like they could be great gravel road bike shoes, combining breathability with protection. Offering a synthetic outer web structure to retain its shape better than a full knit upper, we’d like to see a bit more tread on the bottom for real dirty riding, so could be that they’re aimed more at racers. The soft knit cuff should do a great job of keeping grit and small rocks out, not to mention streamlining the aerodynamics. Retail and availability TBD.

size 59 road bike shoe from Exustar custom cycling shoe program

These two shoes were on display to show their custom capabilities, which isn’t really a feature they promote heavily, but it’s there if you’re willing to pay for it. The smaller shoe is a size 35, and the bigger one is a whopping 59! And, yes, they actually make these boats for one single customer. That’s a “plus” sized iPhone for comparison. Exustar also makes helmets, shades, pedals and more, all on display at Exustar.com.

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17 Comments
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Michael Robinson
Michael Robinson
5 years ago

Can you verify Lintaman’s contacts? Their site will not allow checkout or account registration. The email to contact them provided on the their site fails. Looking pretty dodgy at this point.

lintaman
5 years ago

Hi Michael,
Sorry you experienced a problem with the checkout, this problem seems to happen to random customers. Could you try again but jump straight to the PayPal checkout button instead of our own user interface? Thanks again,
Chris Lintaman.

Sally Sawyer
Sally Sawyer
5 years ago
Reply to  lintaman

I am also unsuccessfully trying to buy your shoes using the Paypal option. I sent an email to the info address and hope to hear from somebody soon. Buying something doesn’t have to be this difficult…

Peh CK
Peh CK
5 years ago

info@lintaman.com

I contacted them last week and they reply me promptly..

Rob
Rob
5 years ago

Some clever ideas there, nice to see some designers thinking out of the box. I’m still looking for the ultimate flat pedal MTB shoe (and I’ve tried a lot)

lintaman
5 years ago
Reply to  Rob

Hi Rob,
Thanks for commenting, would you be able to describe what you are looking for in a flat pedal MTB shoe? I am really interested in hearing your ideas. If you have time, could you email me directly at Chris@Lintaman.com, thanks.

Chris
Chris
5 years ago
Reply to  lintaman

Hello Chris, I have written you an email regarding your shoes. I also have some ideas for the perfect shoe. I will email them to you.

G hunter
G hunter
5 years ago

I have a pair of the Lintamen minimal shoes and they are awesome. I love the light weight and the ability to play with midfoot clear positioning.

michael snare
michael snare
5 years ago
Reply to  G hunter

how much do they weigh please?

Luis Raventos - Biomecanica 3D Retul

Nice solution from Lintaman! Do you plan to do something similar for mtb? Please, send me more info

David Tollefson
5 years ago

I’d say Lintaman almost got it right with the Minimal — that toe box needs more space at the big toe. Not every one has bunions!

Daniel
Daniel
5 years ago

Make the sole even more like a human foot shape. The widest part of a normal human foot is the big toe!Altra and Topo make running shoes like that. Toe off is awesome. I guess it would have benefits on the bike too.

Hexsense
Hexsense
5 years ago

Printed Lintaman shoe layout from their website.
Lintaman shoe is too long and narrow for my feet shape. Like really poor fit, more than 1cm too long and already about 0.5cm too narrow.

Peter Alden
Peter Alden
5 years ago

The heel moves inwarts so a little to long shouldnt be a problem with the minimals. I wrote them and they say the minimal will get a wider fit by the end of the year. I really need new cycling shoes and wait for more than half a year now. I really hope they will implement more toe splay!

PoorInRichfield
5 years ago

FWIW, I’ve ordered two pairs of shoes from Lintaman: a road and mountain version of the Adjust V1 shoes. Both shoes arrived within one week of ordering to Wisconsin, USA. Lintaman was responsive to my emails, although sometimes it took a day or two to get a response. The shoes I purchased were of high quality… just as nice as the Giro shoes they were to replace. The only down-side of ordering from Lintaman is that if you need to return the shoes, the cost of the return shipping is on you and it’ll be expensive because the shoes are shipped from Taiwan (I think). Performance Bike did have a few Lintaman shoes available on their web site, but Performance Bike is now having their own issues, so one would likely have to order directly from Lintaman, especially for the Minimal shoe.

bruce malone
bruce malone
4 years ago

Ordered a pair of Lintaman ADJUST ( V2.1 )with Speedplay carbon sole for $279. Told 4 weeks wait. No problem. Five weeks send an email about order. NO reply. Third email in 10 days receive reply, a simple shoes will be ready in ten days. Two weeks later email about order. No reply. Three emails in a week, no reply. Open Paypal dispute. No answer from Lintaman. Prior to payment, emails answered promptly. One email was answered in an hour. Exchanged four emails prior to purchase with response time ranging from 1 hour to 3 days.

Update: from Paypal – “Because we were unable to obtain additional information from Lintathletic Limited regarding your claim, this case has been resolved in your favor and you have received a refund of $279.00 USD. If you paid with a credit card, the money is refunded to your credit card. Please note that it can take up to 30 days for the refund to appear on your card statement.”

Lintaman quit answering emails once they received my money and did not even bother responding to the PayPal dispute.

So Lintaman tied up $279 of mine for over 3 months now, still do not have money returned. Passed on a couple auctions because of this order. So I am back where I started with four months wasted because of Lintaman

kyle
kyle
4 years ago
Reply to  bruce malone

I did the same in Sept 2019…Did you ever receive any shoes

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