Print

[Biggie Smalls]

A while back @edge and I discussed swapping out standard spikes with athletic spikes to save weight.  He experimented with (i think ) 13mm  metal cylindrical spikes that he had on hand . I vowed to get some smaller sized ones to play around with .
Straight up i should mention that this is purely experimental , I'm doing this with shoes i no longer care about ( one pair will be my wet weather training shoes , the other my wet weather match shoes) , and if the spikes turn out to not be able to take the torque/pressure and snap etc I'm not fussed . But , hopefully they stand up to the pressure , if so , i will continue to use them and will upgrade from metal to ceramic and experiment with them too .

Pics of metal spikes on plastic soled asics gell advance :

http://share.photobucket.com/shareprofile/indexshare.php?id=ODY2Mzg=

Pics of metal spikes on rubber soled asics not out :

http://share.photobucket.com/shareprofile/indexshare.php?id=ODY2Mzc=

So far I've used both pairs for a couple of fielding sessions and one turf wicket training session each . They both went well . The wickets were a bit soft . Both pairs had exceptional grip and felt a bit better under foot .
To improve the feel and for further weight reduction ive since swapped out the insoles on both pairs for memory foam ones . Haven't used these yet but they feel great on foot (i know how nice the memory foam feels as i swapped out the insoles on my main match spikes /adidas sl22 boosts).

The weight of the athletic metal spikes ( i got 7mm cylindrical spikes for all but the very front spike and the 2/4 heel spikes , which were 8mm xmas tree spikes) is about a third of the weight of standard metal spikes. The memory foam insoles are about a fifth of the weight of the standard ones ...

... weights of the athletic metal spikes vs standard cricket ones, and the weight of memory foam insole vs standard ones :

http://share.photobucket.com/shareprofile/indexshare.php?id=ODY2Mzk=

All up the weight savings of the athletic spikes  is about 3gm per spike ... so on 7 spike shoe is 21gm , 9 spike shoe is 27gm , 11 spike shoe is 33gm , etc . The weight saving , for me , on the insoles (12us) was about 18gm per shoe . So my total weight saving , per shoe was about 45gm for the gel advance and 51gm for the not outs . In context of total shoe weights these savings are substantial and very noticeable on foot .

The athletic spikes seem to be a bit better suited to the plastic soles that have a raised spike mount platform vs the rubber soles without the raised mount . On the rubber soles the spike thread of the shoe is a bit visible( which may have durability implications,  not sure ) , but my shoes are old and crusty (the threads are a bit rusty and beat up etc ) so perhaps this isn't the case on new shoes . On the plastic soles the fit of the athletic spikes looks real plush , almost like it was meant to be .

Once i get into proper preseason turf wicket practice August /September I'll be able to give these a real good workout and if all goes well then i will buy some ceramic athletic spikes as they are one third the weight of the metal ones , which would give me a further weight reduction , per shoe , of about 18-22gms .

Anyway,  i really like these spikes so far , I'm not reluctant to use my 'heavy' spikes anymore ( weight was a major factor in me switching my main match shoes to sll22 boosts) . If anyone is going to try it id say the 7mm ones i got are about as small as you would want to go , up to about 10mm would be ok . The difference between the different spike shapes seem negligible ie xmas tree vs cylindrical.  Oh , make sure to get a spike key too !
I paid $20aus for 120 spikes and a spike key on fleabay . Ceramic ones are about $10aus for a pack of 16 , cheaper in larger quantities,  so once ive bought everything else i need , cricket wise , I'll probably get some of those too .

Edited : forgot my convo was with edge and not skip1973 ( im sure neither will mind me confusing the two , right ?

[edge]

Good writeup! The ones I used initially were 9mm cross country spikes, which worked perfectly for the couple of fielding sessions I've used them in. Felt surprisingly light on the feet, only issues were that they're possibly a bit too grippy, and you worry a lot about what you're going to tread on! Definitely overestimated what length I needed. I do however have some ceramic Christmas tree ones on their way, will provide more info when they get used.

[Biggie Smalls]

Cool , i look forward to hearing about the ceramics.
I think the length is tricky.... my 7mm are about the same spike length as the actual standard spikes but without the baseplate end up being a couple mm shorter.
I think the grip on mine is sweet so perhaps you'll not find them too grippy with a shorter length.
I think once i walk on concrete for a little bit and round off the edges that will help too ... at least i won't  be able to be booked by an umpy for carrying lethal weapons onto the field then .
I do think re longevity of the shoe that a shorter 7mm stumpy pyramid/cylinder or xmas tree would avoid ripping the shoe thread out better than a thin /long spike ... due to the fuller shape /less leverage /less pressure etc.

[tim2000s]

So to put the weight saving into context, on an average sized male that plays cricket, who weighs 83.6kg, you are saving the equivalent of around 0.1%. To put that in context, as a bowler, if you didn't eat the cake at the cricket tea before going out to bowl, you'd save the same amount of weight....

[Biggie Smalls]

So to put the weight saving into context, on an average sized male that plays cricket, who weighs 83.6kg, you are saving the equivalent of around 0.1%. To put that in context, as a bowler, if you didn't eat the cake at the cricket tea before going out to bowl, you'd save the same amount of weight....

Or to put in proper context - if your shoe weighs 350gms and you save 50gms that is dropping the weight by 14 % .
The cake you eat in your example is in your gut . The 14% extra weight of the shoe is on your foot.... and as they say in ultralight hiking circles ' a kilo on your feet is ten kilos on your back'.
Or to put it another way , losing the 100gm for both shoes is the equivalent of shedding 33 spikes .
Or to put it another way it's like your bat dropping 3.57oz ..... but we weigh 80 kgs , so we'd never notice right ?
Maybe try a pair of shoes that are 50gms lighter per shoe on , and run around for six hours , then see if you notice any difference.

[edge]

The change in feel is a lot more than you'd expect actually, taking weight off the soles of your feet makes a big difference! No gamechanger, but it feels good on the feet.

[Biggie Smalls]

To expand a little , edge thought the weight saving was noticeable and , so far , has only swapped out his spikes to 9mm not 7mm (slightly less weight savings) . Also , i have double the weight saving due to swapping out my insoles . So if it was noticeable at half the weight savings , then my savings are , just like I  described , substantial ( and will almost double again if/when the upgrade to the ceramic spikes happens ).
A lot of people may be sceptical of what sound like tiny weight differences , but on your feet you really notice it .
In the larger scheme of things , I have adopted my 'gram weenie' approach from ultralight backpacking to my cricket kit upgrade aquisitions . Between my shoes ,socks ,  helmet , pads , thigh/inner thigh guards ( i won't count chest and arm guards since most folk don't use them ) i have shaved 2lb6oz of weight in my batting gear . That's the equivalent of me dropping a light mens bat that i no longer have to cart around when playing shots , running between the wickets etc ..... so one might not see the relevance in dropping 100gms from a pair of shoes , but when contributing to an overall approach to lightweight gear it can make tons ( metaphorically ) of difference .

[edge]

To be fair also, just weighed my asics 210no with normal spikes and my gel advances with running spikes and presently the running spikes pair are 143g lighter per shoe. Not a completely fair test as I don't know the weight difference in the shoes themselves but that is a lot.

[Biggie Smalls]

Atm my shoes are about 50gm each /100gm per pair lighter ( with athletic spikes and memory foam insoles swapped out ) , with ceramic spikes the shoes will be about 68gm each / 136gm per pair lighter . So , imagine going to a pair of shoes much lighter and then making these changes too .... could be looking at approx 200gm weight saving per shoe - that's almost a pound off your feet !