Shoes

Mavic CXR

Mavic's new aero shoes might be the fastest-looking product on the market today

By far the most fashionable concept in cycling right now is aero. Bikes, helmets, clothing – everything has taken on a sleeker profile over the last few years and it was only a matter of time before someone made some aero shoes. Well, Mavic have gone there.

And what they’ve come up with is a set of shoes that look unbelievably fast. Seriously, if you could win a prize for the fastest-looking piece of kit while standing still, Mavic would have the competition well and truly won with the CXR Ultimates. And it wouldn’t even be close.

The concept is actually very simple. You basically take an already excellent shoe, like Mavic’s own Cosmic Ultimates, for example, and build in an aero cover to the shoe, creating a similar effect to wearing standard shoes with aero covers. Mavic call the inbuilt covers the CX Aeroflap which you fasten and undo using the central zip, allowing you to tighten the dials.

If you could win a prize for the fastest-looking shoes standing still, Mavic would have it sewn up with the CXRs

One of the big plusses of the Aeroflap, over aero covers that you retrofit to the shoes (if that’s not a slightly pretentious way of describing pulling on lycra shoe covers) is ventilation. Mavic have taken the ventilation idea very seriously and built two large vents along with four sections of perforated fabric which aim to make the shoes ready for long and hot rides, one area in which lycra shoe covers can fall down. On top of that, there’s not much of a weight penalty for the extra material as Mavic say the CXRs come in at 260g per shoe for a UK 8.5.

Underneath the hood, as it were, is another new addition for Mavic: a dial retention system. In the past, Mavic have favoured velcro straps and ratchets on their shoes but now shoes throughout the range feature what they’re calling the Ergo Dial. Simply twist one way to tighten and the opposite to loosen and hey presto, you have the most adjustable bike shoes Mavic have ever made.

Price: £260
Website: Mavic

The spine of the shoe is the Energy Full Carbon SLR Outsole. It’s just 5.5mm thick, helping to keep that weight down, and offers 6mm of front/aft cleat adjustability. It also has a massive vent under the body of the foot – a feature of Mavic’s top-end shoes – and another, smaller vent at the toes, which should provide some quality airflow combined with the vents on the upper.

Oh, and just in case you were wondering, they only come in this yellow and black colour scheme. Well, they are Mavic shoes, after all.