Advice for new top end shoes for cx and gravel

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thefuzzycow
Posts: 95
Joined: Sun Aug 19, 2018 8:52 am

by thefuzzycow

I’ve rode S-Works XC shoes for a while now and just switched over to the Shimano SPhyre shoes. They don’t look the greatest, but I’m more focused on comfort, stability, stiffness and adjustability.

The only thing I preferred on the sworks over the Shimano was the stiffness. The sworks felt a tad more stiff but it wasn’t a deal breaker for me. The Shimano shoe was stiff on the sole, rubber around cleat to help with pedal traction and dual boa closure with a softer boot to help with adjustability and overall comfort in the shoe; I love them. Another cool little feature is the cats tongue heel cup. The material helps prevent heel slip to keep the heel down in the shoe.

If anything, they’re worth a shot. I’m definitely going to run the sphyre for a while until something changes my mind to switch back.
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IrrelevantD
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by IrrelevantD

Do you have road shoes that you like? I've found that Giro shoes fit me best and have Factor Techlace for my road shoes. Because of that, I went with the Empire VR90's for the higher end sole, and I love them. I was kinda surprised to find that the laces actually stay tight more consistently than the BOA and velcro/laces on my Factors, which has me kinda wishing I had gotten Empires for the road.

Long story short, my point is, if you have road shoes that fit you well, get the closest thing you can find for CX/Gravel.
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britter440
Posts: 4
Joined: Mon Nov 05, 2018 11:21 pm

by britter440

I recently picked up a pair of Pearl Izumi X-project P.R.O. shoes. There's also an "Elite" version that only has a single BOA instead of the double that is found on the "P.R.O." model. The only bad thing I can say about these shoes is that they are a bit heavy for a shoe with that kind of price tag. Everything else is top of the line. The shoes come with two different shims for the arch and the ball of the foot, giving you three different levels of support at each spot (you can leave the shim out if you're a flatfoot) so that you can "tune" the shoe for the perfect fit. It also comes with instructions on how determine the proper set of shims for you.

If you have knee pain or have ever had to shim your cleats to avoid knee pain. I definitely recommend these shoes for you. The shim under the ball of the foot improves the shoe fit while getting rid of the need for the cleat shim.

d36
Posts: 68
Joined: Wed Feb 22, 2017 3:56 am

by d36

Alot depends on the shape of your foot tbh.

Shimano is too wide for me so I prefer northwave or mavic (slightly wider than northwave)
extreme xcs are really stiff and fit me nicely

dcorn
Posts: 427
Joined: Thu Oct 05, 2017 4:21 pm
Location: NoVA

by dcorn

S-works 7 Recon (MTB/CX/Gravel) shoes were just released.

Fellrunner
Posts: 18
Joined: Thu Jun 21, 2018 11:28 am

by Fellrunner

I recently spent big and purchased a pair of matt grey Sidi Drako 2's, money well spent, I don't like getting them dirty though.

joeg26er
Posts: 122
Joined: Thu Aug 28, 2008 3:40 am

by joeg26er

Just got a pair of sub6 xc specialized size 9
With toe studs weighs 332g each
Feeling nice but haven’t ridden yet
My generation 1 Mavic fury weighs 352g without studs but with crank brothers race cleats
The soles on my two pair of fury’s have come loose
Anyone else have this issue occur and any hope of warranty?

glander
Posts: 59
Joined: Sat Feb 24, 2018 3:07 pm

by glander

S-Works Recon for me, I have used the S-works 6 for 2 seasons and the new Recon has a better reinforced toe box which personally was the down fall area of the 6. If you like the wider forefoot movement i.e. Altra running shoes you will love the recons.

spdntrxi
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by spdntrxi

shimano xc7 for me. not top on their line but close
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Frisco
Posts: 147
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by Frisco

spdntrxi wrote:shimano xc7 for me. not top on their line but close
I just returned a pair of the wide ones because they seemed to run a little small for me. I will pick up a pair of lucks to use with my new gravel build next week.

jemima
Posts: 270
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Location: Perth

by jemima

glander wrote:
Sat Dec 01, 2018 3:26 pm
S-Works Recon for me, I have used the S-works 6 for 2 seasons and the new Recon has a better reinforced toe box which personally was the down fall area of the 6. If you like the wider forefoot movement i.e. Altra running shoes you will love the recons.


I've looked at a couple of pics of the Recon and it seems the toe box is slightly narrower than the 6. Would this be correct?

Have the 6 (after a long search/using different shoes) and find the stiffness and fit (wider/round front with narrow heel) pretty much perfect.
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LeDuke
Posts: 2021
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Location: Front Range, CO

by LeDuke

jemima wrote:
glander wrote:
Sat Dec 01, 2018 3:26 pm
S-Works Recon for me, I have used the S-works 6 for 2 seasons and the new Recon has a better reinforced toe box which personally was the down fall area of the 6. If you like the wider forefoot movement i.e. Altra running shoes you will love the recons.


I've looked at a couple of pics of the Recon and it seems the toe box is slightly narrower than the 6. Would this be correct?

Have the 6 (after a long search/using different shoes) and find the stiffness and fit (wider/round front with narrow heel) pretty much perfect.
I thought it looked wider. Didn’t the road 7 get wider from the old 6?


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jfranci3
Posts: 1571
Joined: Tue Jul 26, 2016 5:21 pm

by jfranci3

I'm in the market too. Questions:
Boa - I noticed that Spec's Torch 3.o road shoes don't have a quick release pull function, only spin. How are these spin-only Boa's to live with? I tend to need to open up the top strap all the way to remove my foot from my current Shimano shoes.
One Boa or two - does it make a difference?

dang3rtown
Posts: 23
Joined: Tue Dec 11, 2018 7:13 am

by dang3rtown

LeDuke wrote:
Mon Dec 03, 2018 2:29 am
jemima wrote:
glander wrote:
Sat Dec 01, 2018 3:26 pm
S-Works Recon for me, I have used the S-works 6 for 2 seasons and the new Recon has a better reinforced toe box which personally was the down fall area of the 6. If you like the wider forefoot movement i.e. Altra running shoes you will love the recons.


I've looked at a couple of pics of the Recon and it seems the toe box is slightly narrower than the 6. Would this be correct?

Have the 6 (after a long search/using different shoes) and find the stiffness and fit (wider/round front with narrow heel) pretty much perfect.
I thought it looked wider. Didn’t the road 7 get wider from the old 6?


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
The recon is indeed slightly wider than the SW6 XC and the SW7 is slightly wider than the SW6. It should also be noted that the Recon is about 30g heavier per shoe than the SW6 XC.

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