Top 5 Road Cycling Shoes

Cycling shoes are designed for comfort and performance, but for the discerning rider fashion is just as important.

Here are 5 favorites:

1. Shimano R321: Shimano has been designing cycling footwear for decades. Their latest offering, the R321, draws all of their expertise into a single package. It has a super stiff carbon sole and is incredibly light at 489 grams for the pair. It has a new clean look buckle with the ratchet attaching to the strap instead of the shoe, which also improves aerodynamics. Needless to say, the R321 doesn’t come cheap, but the R171 is a similar and cheaper alternative.

2. Giro Prolight SLX II: the pro light sox has been around for awhile. In 2015, Giro has made improvements to both form and function, issuing fancy buckle all-wire attention systems in favor of 3 simple velcro closures. They way less than 200 grams per shoe. The easton EC90 carbon sole makes the stiffness of the shoe. There are replaceable heel pads, titanium hardware, and a natural fit footbed. It also comes in 3 colors.

3. Mavic Cosmic Ultimate: these are a modern take on a classic Mavic shoe. The most obvious change is the boa style closure system, which augments the velcro straps. These create a cleaner look and enable easier adjustments on the fly. 230 grams per shoe.

4. Cube Road Pro: cube are new to the shoe game, but impressive nonetheless. Cube has come up with the road pro as a more affordable shoe. They are still light at just over 300 grams per shoe. The sole is stiff nylon.

5. Lake CX 402: the upper portion of the shoe is made of kangaroo leather on top of a carbon sole. They are both tested in comfort and performance. They also come in a multitude of sizing options and are fully custom moldable.