If a shoe is a 4mm drop shoe or a 10mm drop shoe, then is that drop value the same for a size 10 and a size 14?
If you approximate the numbers (or measure some feet) then you will find that if the drop value is the same for a size 10 shoe and a size 14 shoe, then the slope from toe to heel is about 30% less for the size 14 than the size 10. This seems significant enough that the drop should be scaled by size.
Anyone know how this works in practice?
Good question, but the difference between a 10 and 14 is not 30%. It's 27cm vs 30.2cm, so about 10%.
I assumed that shoe size equals inches of shoe length (size 10 = 10 inches long). Close enough for the government on a Wednesday.
I also assumed that the distance from the ball of the foot to the heel (where drop would be measured) is ~66% of the total foot length based on one paper that I looked up. This doesn't change the scale unless that 66% changes with size.
That's how I got 30%. I see that your shoe length estimate is more accurate. I found a table the puts size 10 at 25.9 cm and size 14 at 31.0 cm. That's about a 16% difference.
My original question still stands.
I assume it's scaled like any other spec. Do you really think a "250 gram" shoe is 250 grams for all sizes? It's just the measurement for the sample size (US size 9 typically for men's).
My GF and I bought the same model shoes at an adidas outlet. On mine (men's 11.5), the midsole has "25/31" molded into it. On hers (men's 8), the midsole has "24/30" molded into it, so they actually bothered to change that detail with the different midsole molds. Both shoes have a ribbon saying "300" (grams) on the tongue though, so they didn't bother trying to get that correct. I imagine that would be a tough task, predicting the exact weight after going through the production process.
It generally scales. Measurements are based on size 9 for men and I'm not sure what size for women.
Yes. They do.
Actually is a whole additional wrinkle to the "super shoe/spike" debate. Bigger your feet/bigger the human the extra stack height you'll get to increase efficiency.