These Birkenstocks Have Dual BOA Dials and SPD Cleat Mounts!

Photos by Kevin Fallon

I always love happening upon whimsical and creative (mis)applications of bike technology—Valcko Studios’s SPD Crocs being a recent favorite—and our latest finding is a pair of futuristic Birkenstocks sandals with dual BOA dials and SPD cleat mounts made by Kevin Fallon of Portland, Oregon. Kevin’s background as the former creative director of Puma, vice president of Under Armour, and footwear designer at Nike make him impressively qualified to dream up and build such outlandish creations, which he shares on Instagram as part of his ongoing “F*ckaround Friday” series.

The sandals shown here are actually his second iteration of BOA Birkenstocks, but the SPD cleat mount is a new touch. Kevin says that a surprising number of people commented and encouraged him to add a cleat mount when she shared the first design with BOA dials, so he set about making it happen. Doing so wasn’t without its challenges, though. As Kevin wrote on Instagram, “It turned out to be no small undertaking for a few reasons – the biggest of which is simply the fact that the plates for cleat receptacles are really stiff and fairly thick. Given the forefoot thickness of the cork midsole in a Birk (hint: not much), recessing the plate was tricky. Of course if I could design a plate for this, it would be a whole lot easier… I poached a plate from a pair of Specialized shoes and tried to keep enough of the plate to make the final product functional. I did the best I could and took my time over more than a week to fit things and then bond them (shitloads of clamps) well. Total PITA. So much so I already want to do it again.”

You can find more from Kevin and follow his weekly experiments on Instagram.

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