Italia Bici 2004: Northwave - Innovation by nature
By Cyclingnews staff
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Northwave owner Gianni Piva is still passionate about building great shoes and boots. "Have you seen out new winter shoe?" Piva asked during our recent visit to the Italian cycling and snowboard footwear manufacturer's brand new purpose built facility in Pederobba, Italy. Mr. Piva was proud and excited to show Cyclingnews his new facility and talk about his bike shoe line on our Italia Bici tour.
"We call this new winter shoe the 'Celsius GTX' and it's the first winter cycling shoe made with Gore-Tex," Piva enthused. "We used the technology and know-how from our snowboard boots to improve winter cycling footwear." Since Northwave burst onto the cycling footwear scene just over ten years ago with its cross-colour Compact shoes, the Italian firm has shod cycling champions like Mario Cipollini and Paola Pezzo and used them in attention-getting ad campaigns, but first and foremost, Piva always sought to build the best shoes for his brand. Northwave's Compact, Team and Evolution shoes had innovative approaches to technical cycling footwear, echoed in Northwave's latest creation, the Aerator.
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Stefano Meneghetti, Northwave's top shoe designer told Cyclingnews, "we looked at what we were doing with the Genetix road shoe and took the input from our key riders and testers and set out to create a show with maximum ventilation and cooling via the front vent, a comfortable upper and a rigid carbon fibre sole." Northwave uses a special Power Link material for the Aerator upper that creates Web Power Cage structure with large, variable density air-mesh inserts to promote maximum air flow and cooling. Northwave's Ultra Y heel cup provides stability with lighter weight.
Aerator's upper is then mated to Northwave's unique TLS titanium-carbon fibre sole. "We inject the carbon fibre around a patented titanium arch core for extra torsion resistance and light weight," said Meneghetti. "The input from our pro riders has been very positive; everyone loves this shoe." Top riders like Peter Van Petegem, who raced an Aerator prototype to back to back wins in last year's Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, then used the definitive Aerators to sprint to a bronze medal in the World Championships in Canada. Already this season, emerging stars like Spaniard Alexander Valverde and Belgian Tom Boonen have been winning races on their Northwave Aerators.
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Meneghetti is quite proud of the fact that of the almost 300 athletes Northwave sponsors fewer than 10 percent require custom-made footwear. "Usually when we have to make custom shoes, it's to accommodate an orthotic, or for a rider who had very strange feet." Meneghetti showed us a custom last for a top German rider which had been modified so much that it barely resembled a last at all. "We have a very good staff for wear testing. For example, we tested the Aerator prototype most of last year and refined and finalized it during the summer last year, which was one of the hottest in many years. When the Aerator performed perfectly in that terrible heat," Meneghetti grinned, "we knew we had the best design."
From the cool Aerator to the warm new Celsius GTX, Northwave has stayed true to its tradition of product innovation. The Italian footwear firm has taken its existing top-end Haze mountain bike sole and mated it to a polyurethane and solid mesh upper that contains a warm, breathable Gore-Tex membrane. A highly water-repellent neoprene sock is closed by laces and covered in Velcro, creating a warm, comfortable and secure shoe for extreme winter cycling conditions. Northwave's Gianni Piva showed his passion for innovation when he showed us the new Celsius GTX. "We introduced this shoe last February at the ISPO show in Germany," explained Piva. "It's not really a show for cycling products, but many people in winter sports came to our Northwave stand to see our snowboard boots but also praised our innovative use of snowboard technology with Gore-Tex in a cycling shoe. I was very proud of that." With great shoes like the Aerator, Celsius GTX and others, Piva and his cycling footwear team should continue to have a lot to be proud of at Northwave for a long time to come.
Photos
Images by Tim Maloney/Cyclingnews
- The Northwave Aerator;waiting for your feet to slip into them
- Custom lasts for athletes piled up next to the Northwave production line in Italy.
- Northwave modellista Stefano Meneghetti (L) and owner Gianni Piva check the final version of the Celsius GTX before production approval. "We produce the winter shoes in summer so we can have them in the stores by September."
- Each Northwave Aerator upper is handmade in their Italian factory. "The construction of this shoe is simply complicated for us to try to have it done anywhere else," said Mr. Piva. His wife Daniela still supervises the upper production in the family operation.
- Part of Northwave's crew for over 10 years, Carlo shows us their new vacuum sole mounting machine.
- Phase One of Northwave's rigorous quality control processis to check every shoe off the line as it’s completed. Phase Two is done prior to shipping, when each pair is checked again to look for anything Northwave's Phase One control might have missed.
Images by Northwave
Visit the Northwave website
Previous Italia Bici features
2008
Italia Bici 2008
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Selle
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Vittoria
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2007
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De
Marchi - Breaking the rules for cycling clothing
DeRosa
- Il Maestro Ugo: Still Motivated To Build Great Bikes
Cytech
- Maximum comfort, maximum performance
2006
Italia Bici 2006
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De Marchi - Innovation & quality
in clothing
DeRosa - Tailor made by Ugo
Cytech - the science of shorts
liners
Fi'zi:k - Behind the scenes with
Damiano Cunego
Fulcrum - Technology + style
in wheels
Battaglin - Over two decades
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2005
Italia Bici 2005
Ernesto Colnago - Inside
the Inner sanctum
Wilier Triestina rides again
De Rosa - Straight from the heart
Deda Elementi - Passion + Experience
= Innovation
2004
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DMT:Made
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Ernesto
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Northwave
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2003
De
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100 Anni Di Corsa: One hundred
years and counting
ITM - Italmanubri:
High Technology Bike Accessories in the Italian Artisan Tradition
2002
Colnago 2002 - Inside Ernesto
Colnago's personal bike museum
2001
DMT
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Limar
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- An interview with Ernesto Colnago
