Dreher Adjustable Carbon Foot Stretchers are designed to custom fit almost any sculling or sweep boat from a single to an eight. We offer several families of foot stretchers with multiple plate options. The different foot stretcher frames provide every possible solution for weight, stiffness, and shoe compatibility with a full range of adjustments. Adjustable carbon foot stretchers are used as original equipment for several first-tier manufacturers in North America, Europe, Great Britain, and Australia. These unique lightweight foot stretcher designs are durable and strong while providing excellent energy transfer. Most of the foot stretchers are adjustable in three ways: fore and aft, up and down, and angle inclination. Most models have shoe splay adjustability. Some models have different widths of shoe placement.
New 2021 Dreher Hex Tubular Foot Stretcher
The 2021 Hex Tubular, Carbon Foot Stretchers is designed to custom fit almost any sculling or sweep boat from a single to an eight. The foot stretcher uses hex-shaped down tubes that resist twisting and fatigue failure. The foot stretcher comes with 3 footplate widths: 13 cm, 15 cm, and 17 cm, and two heel plate sizes. More sizes can be added in the future. The weight of the foot stretcher complete, minus the boat attachment pieces and shoes, is 1.5 pounds. With size 12 men’s shoes installed, the weight is 2.5 pounds. We can provide a custom crossbar in carbon to fit any boat width. Any foot stretchers can be adapted to toe steering.
The stretcher is 5-way adjustable: (1.) up and down, (2.) angle adjustment is +/- 5 degrees or 10 degrees in total, (3.) the entire foot stretcher can be adjusted fore and aft (4.) the splay is adjustable with a screwdriver, and the (5.) heel plates height can be adjusted to allow for different sizes shoes and hull shape (one-time adjustment).
Dreher F4 X-Stiff Foot Stretcher
The F4 X-Stiff is the foot stretcher with maximum stiffness at the keel to limit torsional movement common to sweep boats due to uneven pressure applied with the heels. This is the stiffest foot frame available for this application. It has the same adjustment features of angle, footplate height, and horizontal placement as the other models. The foot stretcher’s increased overall stiffness relies on a double T-bolt and metal track at the boat’s keel connection. This results in improved torsional stiffness. When used with the angled plate, the shoe plate is stiffer by the angled design. The steeper toe-angle promotes a better connection at the finish.
The F4-Stiff foot stretcher has incremental shoe height adjustment. Nylon circle wedge attachments at the keel replaced the double T-bolt and metal track. This change made retrofitting easier for boats with the older tubular foot stretchers. A flat plate was also added to the options for this foot stretcher.
This foot stretcher has three frame sizes small (4-hole), medium (5-hole), and large (7-hole). Three shoe plates are available: two angled shoe plate sizes accommodate 15 cm width shoes (shoe center to center) or 16 cm width and one flat shoe plate.
With the conventional (circle wedge) keel attachment, the foot stretcher is “Stiff,” and with the more expensive metal keel piece with the double T-bolt attachment, it is “X-Stiff.”
Dreher F5 Foot Stretcher is light, stiff, can be used with or without a footplate, which attaches from the front. Shoes can be mounted directly to the frame or fitted on the football Foot Plate (below) for greater ease and adjustment speed.
The F5 Football Plate: As OEM equipment on high-end racing shells, the F5 with a separate footplate affords the convenience of quick and easy access for shoe height adjustability. Without the separate shoe plate, this an economical option on a more modestly price boat. The foot stretcher frame cannot accept an angled footplate at this time.
The Dreher F7 and F9 Foot Stretchers (only one shown): These come in two sizes are designed for an OEM customer.
The Dreher Snap-In Shoe Plate: This design allows each athlete to have their own shoes and use them for cross-training. Shoes no longer need to be firmly attached to the boat. The new system allows for several commercially available shoes to attach to the special shoe plate designed and manufactured by Dreher. Athletes can be easily moved from seat to seat while keeping their shoes on. Each athlete has the desired shoe fit, and the shoe plate is designed for better power transmission.
Lightweight rowing shoes with quick heel releases are mounted on the height-adjustable carbon footplate. The foot stretchers (with shoes) is 2 to 2.5 pounds (weight dependent on shoe size), and without shoes, it is approximately one pound. Individual single and double scullers mostly purchase these foot stretchers. It can also be used in our Rec-Racer, high-performance all carbon recreational shell. Anyone rowing a boat would have their own shoes that can be worn to and from practice or around as their primary shoe. Instead of having one pair of shoes per seat in each boat used by multiple shifts of people per day, our new system would allow for a properly sized shoe for each athlete, enhancing athlete performance and promoting better foot hygiene.
- Snap-In Shoe Plate Usage: The plate is angled to give optimum connection during both the catch and the drive but could be offered in a flat plate as well. The user simply places the outside of the shoe into the spring clip and pushes down with the foot. Our system provides a low cost, snap-in side entry, including a heel tie-down that we have offered with our foot stretchers for many years. Upon completing the rowing workout, the mechanism provides for easy release of the shoes by squeezing the two spring clip tabs together. Note: The weight of the Shoe Plate with hardware is only: 254 grams.
- Some of the Shoes Offered: There are several summer models of On-Cloud shoes that we now offer with our snap-in shoe mechanism: The “Cloud” (lightest weight), and the other models are available at different price points. The On-Cloud shoes are between 5.9 to 9.5 oz. (size 7 women’s) or 7 to 11.1 oz. (size 8.5 men’s). The On-Cloud shoes vary in stiffness, traction, and cushion and are lighter in weight.
- Ordering Procedure: First, we must make sure that our new shoe plate is compatible with your foot stretcher. We will need information on your boat model and the hole spacing of your present foot stretcher frame. In some cases, we may require you to send your existing foot stretcher to see if we can make the shoe plate work. Once we determine that the Snap-In shoe plate is compatible with your boat, then you would purchase a pair of shoes online at the manufacturer’s website or a discount shoe dealer. The following are the manufacturer’s websites for the options we think most people will like: On-Cloud Shoes.
Wet Launch Foot Stretchers: A lightweight foot stretcher for people who do not have access to a dock and a wet launch. See the Angled and Flat version below:
Shimano / Dreher Shoe Plate System
In cooperation with Shimano, we have designed shoe plates to be used in conjunction with Shimano Flex-Foot Shoes and Binding Systems for popular OEMs brands of coxed eights and fours. So far, we are in production with shoe plates compatible with Vespoli 4+ and 8+.