Zubits News

Kasper Bay tests Zubits for triathlons

In his efforts to shave crucial seconds off his triathlon race times, the Danish athlete Kasper Bay has adopted Zubits closures as his lacing method of choice. He kindly shared his process and results with us for our blog:

After more than 50 tri- and duathlons I have built up a natural hobby around optimization. In my world, there are several types of optimization and in the past months I have been focusing on my tri- and duathlon competitions. Before I ordered Zubits I thought about what benefits they could provide. 

The first optimization is located in my philosophy about "a saved second is an earned second", which is a direct time-optimization. Most often is about optimization in transition zones, which can gain 5-20 seconds on opponents who spend this time tying shoelaces in these transitions zones. With Zubits the transition could not be easier! The shoe opening is wide and easy to get in, and in just 1 second, the shoe is closed and ready for take-off.

Many would argue that you can change just as quickly with elastic laces, which is true. I have used these for years, but I've often also felt the dark side of using them. This is where we come to the indirect time optimization. With elastic laces you cannot tie your shoes in an optimal way, and you will constantly slide back and forth in the shoe, due to elasticity. To get the shoe to fit properly during the race, the heel needs to be firmly in the back of the shoe and the elastic shoelaces cannot allow for that. 

It is here Zubits can do something outstanding. Zubits allows for the same kind of tightening that normal shoelaces achieve. When closed, the foot will fit perfectly in the shoe and keeps the heel within the shoe all the way to finish line. Zubits will also reduce the risk of blisters and foot problems during the race.

 With all the above in mind, I ordered my Zubits and got the package 3 days before Ironman Copehagen in August 2015. I would be lying if I said that I was not a little sceptical. Would it work? Would I save time? Maybe I would have to stop and close them at every step? I always advise other athletes to NEVER try new equipment for competitions, but now I was in a dilemma.

I went for a short run a few days before and Zubits exceeded all expectations, they did not open during the run, even though I had tightened them strongly and tried to jump, making quick accelerations and other extreme moves that I thought could cause problems for the magnets - but they were just perfect. So I decided to try them for the Ironman. It ended up with me making 16 fastest in the T2 / AG group (with short toilet visit :-) and an improvement of 20 minutes overall for the marathon - where Zubits made sure that the shoe was perfect all the way.

Zubits lived up to all my expectations in long distance triathlon. Normally I would use 30-60 seconds to tighten and tie my shoes, which only took 5 seconds with zubits. One month after I was at a short duathlon where Zubits helped to give me the fastest transitions ever. I finished with the fastest T1 and T2 of the day and my Zubits closures got a lot of attention from all the other athletes who couldn't believe their own eyes. I love my Zubits, and will definitely use them for all my competitions in the future!

Kasper Bay – Danish Triathlete  

 

 

Zubits closures featured in new book about makers

We're really stoked to be featured in The Grommet’s Co-founder & CEO Jules Pieri and Co-founder & Chief Discovery Officer Joanne Domeniconi's new book; Makers Who Made It: 100 Stories of Starting a Business. The book highlights the stories and processes of a wide range of creative entrepreneurs who have made some wonderful things. Check out the intro and download the free PDF at
https://www.thegrommet.com/press/makers-who-made-it-ebook

Zubits closures for the holidays

If you want to find a great gift this season, check out the Holiday Gift Guide put together by the curators of Maker products at The Grommet. When you Give Differently on thegrommet.com, you support independent Makers and the values that their goods represent—like being Made in the USA, sustainable, handcrafted, innovative, and more.

Kids are loving their Zubits Closures

Parents around the world are telling us how much they love the ease of getting their kids into and out of their shoes. We're getting great reviews from parenting blogs like the most recent one from Babyology. Even more than this, kids at the playground, the park and at school love how cool Zubits closures makes their shoes look as well as how easy it is for them to get in and out of their shoes without having to deal with all the bows, knots and lacing problems. 

ONLY HAVE THREE EYELET HOLES FOR LACES?

You can still lace Zubits onto shoes with just three rows of eyelet holes.

• Start lacing your shoelaces as per the usual Zubits lacing instructions.
• After coming up through the top Zubits hole you will find no more vacant holes to lace through. So just put the lace through the top eyelet hole a second time.
• Now you can continue to follow the Zubits lacing instructions by knotting or clipping the shoelace inside your shoe.

You can see more tips on our tips page here.

Zubits closures on hiking boots

Getting boots on and off can be a hassle while camping, hiking or wherever you need to get into and out of your boots quickly... Our new tips page shows a number of ways to get Zubits closures working on your boots. Check it out at http://zubits.com/pages/zubits-tips-and-work-arounds

Zubits Closures and Frayed laces

Got frayed laces? 

No problem, just grab a bit of tape (electrical works well) and tape up the frayed lace, twisting it tight in your fingers, rolling it as you go. Once you've laced your Zubits closures, you can keep it taped in the lace anchor or cut it off and knot it.
‪#‎cooltips‬ ‪#‎laces‬ ‪#‎gadgets‬

All the shoes Zubits closures are working on

When we created Zubits magnets, we hoped that our friends and family would appreciate not having to tie their shoes all the time and deal with floppy bows, double knots and all the rest. But we’ve been blown away with the diverse applications Zubits closures has been used for and in so many countries around the world. Golfers have found Zubits closures a snap on the course. Badminton players are appreciating how strong Zubits magnets are during their matches. Hikers and bikers are loving Zubits closures on their boots. And, dancers and cross-fit trainers, are happy to have a simple solution to get into and out of their shoes. Overall, we’re pretty glad the friends and family of Zubits has extended around the world of shoes like this.

Zubits helping people who've suffered strokes

There are people around the world sharing their story with us, and in particular, how Zubits closures are helping them with making their everyday lives a little better. Here's a good example from The Netherlands: "Two years ago I had a serious stroke, and as a result, I am still paralyzed (half sided) with other residual damage, physical and cognitively. During my rehabilitation,, I had to learn to tie my shoelaces all over again, which cost a lot of energy and time before I succeeded. Velcro was a solution at first, but the offering of adult shoes with velcro is not very fashionable and there is little choice. Another important aspect is the orthotic I have to wear in my left shoe, which is much easier now with Zubits. To make a long story short, Zubits magnetic shoe closures were  and are an important solution for me. During these last two years I have lived with people, young and old with all kinds of  handicaps as a result of brain damage, and they all want self-reliance. And I believe that there are more people out there, which are disabled, who would appreciate your product very much."

Prepping for Triathlons with Zubits Closures

Mark Ayres is a keen amateur triathlete who's completed over 20 triathlons varying from short sprint distance events to longer events including three full Ironmans. He's also a long distance trail runner who's completed several ultra-marathons including 8 Oxfam Trailwalkers which involves running/walking 100km over rugged terrain. We asked Mark what he thinks of his new Zubits closures as he trains for his next big run; "As you may know, elastic laces are very popular in triathlon as they have the advantage of faster bike to run transition times over traditional laces. I've never been a fan of elastic laces though as I've found that my feet tend to slip around in my shoes whenever I use them. Naturally I was interested in the concept of Zubits closures, wondering whether they were quick to use and still resulted in a stable heel grip. I have used them in training and so far I'm happy with the way they feel. I've completed runs up to half marathon distance in them so far. I'm hoping to use them for the Sydney Marathon in September. I normally run in Asics DS Trainers on road, and Brooks Cascadia for trails although I've just stared rotating between different types of running shoe to help prevent injuries and have introduced Brooks Ghost and Newtons Gravity for some road runs." 

We hope to follow Mark's process over time to see how Zubits closures hold up in these challenging situations where strength, convenience and being lightweight are all crucial factors, and, where Zubits closures really shine.