PoorInRichfield

If you go to Shimano's web site to look at shoes, you'll see the image below. What the heck is this "BLS" strap and why on earth would Shimano cover-up their product on their own web site to advertise such a thing? Are their pedals and shoes not strong enough to hold a rider's foot on a bike and so they need an extra toe strap!??!?!

https://bike.shimano.com/en-US/appar...oad-shoes.html

alcjphil

Looking at the crank, that looks like a setup for velodrome riding

JanMM

Yes, I'd imagine that strap could be helpful for a powerful upstroke with a fixed gear.

PoorInRichfield

That's probably it. Doesn't that seem like a very odd product shot to put on your web site? I.e., intentionally cover-up the product you're trying to highlight with someone else's product? Seems weird...

livedarklions

I think they want us to look up this:

https://www.bls.gov/oes/current/oes493091.htm

Darth Lefty 

Now if someone could explain to me why a Swiss Army knife has that little notch behind the bottle opener / screwdriver, I'll be all out of mysteries for today

Miele Man

Interesting that the same image with text is at the top of the page and the text says FOOTWEAR ROAD. With ROAD superimposed on the shoe.



Perhaps they're worried about the cleat pulling off of the shoe? Or are they worried about the sole coming off the shoe? I had the sole of a Louis Garneau show come off except where two little screws held it on the back, when I tried disengaging my feet from clipless road pedals. Whatever the reason Shimano has that strap in the image, it's not all that confidence inspiring for Shimano Shoes.

Cheers

nomadmax 

It's today's version of two A. Binda straps per pedal. It eliminates slop between the foot and the shoe as well prevents unclipping.

Ross520

In this day and age, it is very surprising that many folks still don’t know how to use Google. I first searched “bls+shoe+cycling”. The company name was revealed without leaving the results page of google. Then, I searched “ black line sprinting”, and their toe strap was linked under the site entrance on the results page...


Here’s the page





Shimano might have a partnership, BLS might have paid to be featured, or maybe Shimano just wanted the picture to look realistic.

Pratt

Wire stripper; puzzled me for years too

PoorInRichfield

By your standards, we should shut this forum down.

Snarky comments aside, I worked in retail for over 10 years for a large US retailer and there's no way they would've had a product shot on the main product page that hides the product being sold.

Ross520

Eh, get off my lawn. 😁

leob1

Maybe they are trying to show that that shoe works with a pedal style the is popular with track riders?

livedarklions

I think the interesting thing about it is that the photo actually is shot from an angle where the Shimano logo is far more obscure than the BLS logo. I've never seen an advertiser do that before, so "why" is actually an interesting question. You have some possible alternative answers there, but I'm still curious if anyone has some insight here as to what's going on.

AndreyT

There are lots and lots of bizarre practices and techniques used by US retailers that raise eyebrows and considered stupid and pointless in Civilized World. Shimano is probably completely unaware of the fact that someone somewhere might perceive any oddities in the aforementioned product picture. In this case It is not really about the picture, it is about the observer.

livedarklions

Oh, come on. Shimano is a very sophisticated company that has been marketing in the US for several decades, they aren't going to be "completely unaware" of any US practices. I'm sure they employ entire divisions of people whose only job is marketing in the US, and they are fully aware of the conventions.

Not sure about the bit of postmodern nonsense in your last sentence.

AndreyT

Exactly. Sophisticated is the right word.

At some point in their evolution all large/serious international businesses realize that their role is to educate, guide and shepherd Americans towards the basic principles of Civilized World, as opposed to playing by the local rules and appeasing the local populace. As a marketing strategy this might seem as counter-productive at first sight. But only from a very shortsighted standpoint. In the long run you win by shaping your customer base, as opposed to conforming to it. And Shimano is definitely sufficiently old, large and sophisticated to realize that. That's is the "big picture" issue.

A "smaller picture" issue, specific to the current period in time, is that any form of conformance to anything US-ish, even if it is tightly localized and isolated inside the USA, is perceived as a stigma in the Free World. A stigma strong enough to immediately close many (if not all) doors in front of Shimano's nose. I'm sure, this is something no international company would be willing to risk.

The end effect of all that is that US market has been given clear orders: whatever marketing practices you used to have here, are hereby cancelled. (You hear these practices rattling down the garbage chute as we speak.) Effective now US market will make every effort to conform to normal practices used in Civilized World.

theDirtyLemon

Whose shoe do you think people will imagine that to be, on Shimano's website, in the Shoes by Shimano department? Are we to believe that the audience has somehow gotten lost in the internet? "Where am I?! If only there was a very specifically branded product photo to tell me!"

The picture is demonstrating their product in a high-performance scenario. You know what the product is because you told your browser to show you, specifically, Shimano brand shoes.

It's also possible that the banner picture is meant ro suggest their entire product line, rather than one specific shoe. So they show you a general--but desirable--shoe situation, and you scroll down to see the specific models of shoes. I mean, it's a whole road of footwear, why reduce it to a single shoe up top?

Also, we're debating whether the marketing department of a major retailer have done their job correctly, which in fact suggests that something may be out of balance.

livedarklions

So wait, you think Shimano is going to train us heathen Americans to like Japanese-style marketing? What the what?

livedarklions

I actually went to the website, and this picture is barely on there (it's really small and doesn't show up when you're actually looking at any given shoe). It's a small oddity at most.

theDirtyLemon

It is the most significant image in all of cyclery the future of shimano and american capitalism depends on this shoe picture

livedarklions

I for one welcome our new Japanese Overlords and their superior marketing techniques.

veganbikes

Y'all just can't handle the track sprinting power.

fietsbob

Keirin racing is Big Money, In Japan .