Practicing what I preach: Repair not replace

By Adam Newman

There’s no denying mountain biking chews through products pretty quickly, much more quickly than most other forms of cycling. Tires wear out, bikes break, clothing shreds. But not everything needs to be trashed as soon as its damanged. By repairing as many things as possible before replacing them, you can save money and help the planet. A win/win. 

I reviewed the Vittoria Torque shoes back in Issue #164 and despite having a big pile of shoes by my door, they are still my go-to pair for mountain biking. Naturally I was pretty bummed when I scraped my foot on a rock while riding and ripped a big gash in the leather upper.

But instead of tossing them, I thought they were worth fixing, so I got in touch with Vittoria USA and asked if they could help. Sure enough, they were happy to do so, and off my shoes went to Ohio where Vittoria handed them off to its favorite local cobbler.

A short time later my shoes returned with a beautiful, hand-stitched repair. If I had some neon paint you wouldn’t ever notice the damage at all.

I’m happy the shoes are back on my feet and looking great. As I wrote in my review, the Torque shoes aren’t packed with gimmicky features but they fit great and are really high quality. Top if off with the awesome customer service and my stokage meter is on high.

What’s an item you’ve reparied rather than replaced? Let us know in the comments below.