Bontrager RL Road Shoes

My thought was tthat for a really great pair of road shoes you had to spend over $200. NOT TRUE!! The Bontrager RL's are light weight, good looking, and most of all comfortable :-). And the 48 Wides fit my size 14 feet perfectly. I also like the fact that you can repalce the outside heel pads. Yes we all walk more than we should in these shoes ! The stiff soles give a nice power transfer. I did want them in high visibility but not available in 48W.

The split tongue on this shoe is much more comfortable than the fat tongue on the Specialized road shoes at the same price point. The buckle system on these works great with no hassle - again, much better than the BOA system on the Specialized shoes. I have a medium width foot and these shoes are perfect. The toes felt cramped when I first tried them on, but immediately felt fine once I went for a ride. The are snug but not tight, with no movement internally. No pressure points or blisters after riding with them 4 days in a row, at 20 to 36 miles per day. They are light weight with a stiff sole - they feel very fast.

at first wasnt too excited to buy them primaraly because of the price tag but i did it and its a great shoe my first tour i did was a two day 175 tour its was airy breathable comfortable and light the second day it poured and the shoe did not feel any heavier and sluggish worked great and dried well and maintained their shape and structure plus i got compliments on their looks ;)

I like the shoe. Good fit. Good ventilation. Good stiffness. Have worn it for several century rides with no problems. But I had a spill about a month ago and the top buckle got torn off. So I ordered new buckles. They came as the new low-profile buckles, different than the originals. Simply put, they don't hold. I can't ratchet them up to any significant tightness. Most disappointing was the local bike store's response. I took them in and showed how they slip and the technician there went through a bunch of machinations to try to prove that they didn't slip. They still slip. I had the old buckles and they were fine. The new buckles are not. The shoe, however, was good. But it's kind of hard to recommend a shoe whose closure does not hold

I have been wearing a competitor's highest end shoe for two years (315 dollars new). Even thought the shoe itself was comfortable and the lightest in its day (2010), the company insisted that every shoe needed an angled sole to promote proper knee alignment. I could never get the angle to match my pedal stroke and therefor was always missing some power to my left pedal. After one ride in my new RL Road shoes, I can't believe a shoe that costs 100+ dollars less could be so much better. Bontrager did an excellent job of redesigning the heel cup and the ankle strap to hold perfectly without having tighten to the point of discomfort. The new buckle system is micro adjustable and there were no pressure points under any circumstances. The carbon sole is top notch. Light weight, stiff, comfortable. This shoe is an excellent addition to any cyclists equipment and light/stiff enough for race day if you only have the one pair.

I loved them from the first time I tried them on and enjoyed riding with them. Like any road shoes with stiff soles, you need to be careful when walking on smooth surfaces. However, for the price Bontrager should've made them adaptable for SPD cleats. There are 'similar' lower-end models with both options to use Look/SPD-SL or SPD cleats that cost less. Overall, great shoes that I'm sure will last me a long time.

This shoe is very well built for the money. Excellent carbon sole, stylish leather upper, insert and bed is one of the best I have seen.