Like many other Rapha items, the Climber’s Shoes can certainly be viewed as a fashion statement, but appearances (and name) alone don’t tell the full story. These will climb, descend, sprint and generally spin with the best of them.
Before you even put on the shoes, there's a tangible sense of prestige as you unwrap each layer of recyclable packaging and encounter the owner’s manual, the individual shoe bags and the backstory of the famous polka dot King of the Mountains jersey printed on the inside of the box.
ADVERTISEMENT
A package so gorgeous that it may not just be the actual shoes you'll want to hang onto (if buying online, the shoes arrive double-boxed)
Branding, packaging and story aside, Rapha is continuing its shoe partnership with Giro and so these are essentially a special version of Giro’s Prolight SLXII (we've reviewed the first version) shoe and so we can’t help but draw technical comparisons.
Borrowed straight from Giro are the lightweight and ultimately stiff Easton EC90 SLXII carbon soles and customizable SuperNaturalFit footbeds. Where the differences lie is in Rapha’s choice of a soft, mesh-backed, perforated synthetic leather to Giro’s lighter, yet less supple microfibre upper. This accounts for an approximate 34g weight penalty, putting our EU43 sample of the Climber’s Shoes at a still competitive 459g.
You can read more at BikeRadar.com
via BikeRadar All the latest from BikeRadar.com http://ift.tt/1K2X8HG
No comments:
Post a Comment