I recently noticed that Lake shoes had produced a cycling shoe that they had promoted as adventure ready. It looked a very interesting design and having had Lake shoes in the past, most notably their winter boot which has lasted for 8 years so far I really wanted to try them out. I shot the team at lake a DM and they agreed to send a pair out for me to review.
I’ll start first with sizing and this is because Lake are one of the few companies that manufacture cycling shoes that offer different widths, narrow, regular and wide. The fitting guide on the lake website is excellent, theres even a tutorial on how to measure your own feet. This involves a piece of paper, a tape measure, a pen and of course your feet! I measured mine and took advice from the guys at Lake. I usually take a EU44 and mostly find that size comfortable in most shoe brands. Lake suggested going a half size bigger with a narrow fit. I left the colour up to them, secretly hoping for the white pair as they’d stand out for the photos.
My wishes came true and a white pair of MX30Gs turned up and well, this is going to sound silly but they looked even brighter in real life than on the website. Maybe it was a bit of rare sunshine glinting on them that day, but they were a bit dazzling!
I was sent the clarino microfibre upper version, there is also a mesh version. I think the version sent is best for UK conditions. The material looks robust and equally importantly it looks like it would wipe clean easily. Which given the nature of UK riding (mud, more mud, water and if we’re lucky one day of sunshine) is a very important feature, especially when your shoes are that white! The toe box has extra material around it for reinforcement to take any knocks and the rubber sole extends slightly upward at the toe for more protection and to aid traction if walking. The heel is padded but not bulky and the tongue is soft and comfortable. The shoe is secured to your foot via two BOA dials, these have lots of adjustment by twisting one way or the other and release quickly when removing them. its easy to reach down and adjust the fit while riding too, an advantage the BOA system has over laces.
The sole is 100% carbon with rubber lugs to aid traction and the addition of two stud placements allows for an enhanced level of grip if needed. The cleat pocket is generously wide allowing lots of mud room.
The sole is plain carbon but there’s a little rubber coverage between the heel and cleat section. The cleat fitment section of the sole is fairly long and I was able to pull the cleat far enough back for me to feel comfortable. I’m definately a ball of the foot over the pedal axle kind of rider rather than on the toes so this was good news, so many other shoe brands don’t have this adjustbility
The Ride, i’ll be honest and say that when I took these shoes out of the box I was a little bit intimidated. The colour was the first thing. I always think if you’re going to stand out this much then your riding had better live up to the aura of greatness your shoes are emitting! The other was the level of stiffness. Grabbing the shoe by the toe and the heel and trying to bend the sole was an exercise in futility. These babies do not flex!
On my feet I found the sizing spot on, the micro adjustability of the BOA system was fantastic and they feel really comfortable. On the bike, the large cleat pocket meant clipping in and out of the pedals was easy and even in the mud they performed flawlessly, not clogging once. The rubber strip across the arch of the shoe is excellent to see, too many carbon or stiff soled shoes miss this out to get a lighter weight but this little strip of rubber can save your bacon. Unclipping for a tight turn and getting back on the pedal sometimes ends in missing the pedal with the cleat and you end up with the wrong part of your shoe on the pedal. A plain carbon arch means you can slip off the pedal in a panic moment (see also rocks, roots etc too). The MX30G offers up that extra grip here that could get you out of a sticky situation before you re-establish accurate contact with the pedal.
Power transfer, as you’d expect with a sole this stiff is direct. You feel like all your effort is going towards propelling the bike forward. Despite this stiffness I didn’t experience any heel slip which I’m guessing is all down to how well they fit and the shape of the heel. This though does have its downside. Walking is a bit of a chore, entering a cafe you will get the walking like a penguin effect and this also tells you how the shoe would feel if your route contains a good slice of hike-a-bike. The material the shoes are made of has proved to be hard wearing, shaking off all the knocks of off road riding and yes, they clean up well despite a liberal coating of mud and various farm yard effluents! I’ve bashed the BOA dials of roots and a gate post and they’ve remained as good as the first ride
Lake describe the MX30G as “pure and simple off-road adventure shoe” which I think is a little innaccurate, maybe pure and simple gravel race shoe would be better. This is all down to the stiffness. The all day comfort is there definately but that’s if you stay in the saddle. Prolonged walking would be a bit of a chore purely for the lack of flex in the sole. Lake’s other gravel shoe the MX238 is probably a better bet for bike packing (and cafes) with its “built in walkability“.
So it all comes down to what you want your shoe to do because material, comfort, durability and looks wise I can’t fault the MX30G shoe, it’s really, really good. My only criticism is of that one sentence on the lake website which might be a little misleading or maybe it’s just my idea of an adventure is different to theirs.
Oh and it also comes in a more subtle blue colour!
more details from Lake here MX30G
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