Lake CX301 Road Carbon Shoe

Comfortable, light, airy and lairy – the impressive CX301s from Lake are great performers as long as the temperature is up and the sun is out.

I've never owned or worn a pair of Lake shoes before, and if I'm honest they are a rare sight in my cycling circles, so it was pleasing to get this pair in for test, something out of the ordinary and a little akin to my favourite (but sadly deceased) pair of Bont Riots. Would I like these as much?

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Straight out of the box I was impressed. They stunned first with the luminous yellow glow, and then by just how remarkably light each shoe was minus cleats, bolts and insoles. Tipping the scales – barely – at 402g for the pair, that's an impressive figure. But would it lead to a few downsides?

Manufactured from very few components – well, three really – they consist of a full-carbon sole, as Lake points out a double-bonded layer to control where the sole flexes slightly or not, plus a thin and supple Clarino upper – a Japanese man-made microfiber material, and a single Boa dial and lace. They look and feel quality, the sole is very cleanly moulded with two meshed vents, one fore, one aft, a rubber toe bumper and a small, replaceable heel bumper.

The standard model here offers a slightly narrower than standard fit, with a tighter heel cup and narrower toe box; a wider version is also available. The upper is supple and well perforated with no unnecessary detail or Velcro straps. The Boa dial needs no introduction (if I'm wrong, see here) and does its job well.

The shoes do come with a standard thin insole, but I use custom made insoles that up to now have fitted every pair of shoes I have had and luckily these worked here too. Slipping the shoes on for a test fit, I wore them in the house for a while and found them comfortable with a little adjustment, and got on with fitting a new set of Look cleats. There are positioning marks printed on the sole to assist if you need them, and they will accept any three-bolt cleat, but not two-bolt.

The first few rides out in them went well, and I found the supple uppers formed around my foot shape well, but I did find that with only one Boa dial I needed to spend a minute or two when first putting the shoes on to hold the tongue in place and do the dial up slowly, pulling the steel lace taut lower down to ensure an even fit. An extra dial on the lower section would have helped here, but I can see that the lower weight was a bigger factor on this shoe and the extra dial would have added a little extra. Once done up to my satisfaction, adjustments if needed could be done on the fly to tighten or loosen off the dial slightly without having to stop and start the process again.

As luck would have it, the shoes arrived during the recent hot spell we had, and I took them with me to the Pyrenees where the weather was also on top form. In these kind of 20°C+ temperatures they worked beautifully, keeping a good flow of air through the shoe and preventing overheating or excessive sweating.

As they are aimed at climbers, the cols were a perfect test. I've already remarked on the comfort, and here the sole design came into its own, with the foot in a dropped heel position the shoe held my foot firmly and the stiff (but not entirely inflexible) carbon sole made sure that the power went through to the road. It could have been psychological, but the lack of weight on the feet certainly seemed to make the long mountain climbs a little easier. On this trip and at home I also completed rides of eight hours or more and the shoes were comfy all day long, and the following days too on the occasions that I rode consecutively.

However, as light and airy as they are, it does mean that in cooler temperatures these probably wouldn't be your best bet, and will soak straight through in seconds in a downpour. The Clarino upper was surprisingly easy to clean with just a damp cloth and seems pretty tough, but I would question its durability over time and especially in a tumble.

The carbon sole is also very prone to scratching – as are most lacquered carbon soles to be fair – exacerbated by the tiny heel bumper which led to the outside rear corner on my pair getting in a bit of a mess because of my natural foot position leaning outwards slightly. None of my other shoes have ended up like this as the heel bumper on all those other pairs is either full width or a horseshoe shape, which prevents the damage experienced here. Still, it's a little thing and it doesn't affect the performance of the shoe at all.

Value-wise they sit very well indeed among the array of high-end shoes on the market, especially if you are looking to buy them on their super-low weight alone. At a close but slightly higher weight of 408g for a similar size, the Giro Empire SLX will set you back £275, while the lighter (384g/size 46) Prolight Techlaces, also from Giro, have an RRP of £349. At the extreme end of the market, the unbelievably featherweight 300g Rocket7s come in at a whopping £1,200, making the Lake CX-301s an absolute steal.

> Buyer's Guide: 16 of the best performance road shoes

As a lightweight warm weather shoe for days out in the hills or when pinning on a race number, they are a winner, and available in black or white if the yellow – which I have grown to love – is a little too much. For the average UK climate you might want a sturdier pair of shoes for more everyday use – and you wouldn't want to ruin these anyway, would you?

Verdict

Super-light and well ventilated, they make a fantastic option for a summer day's ride in the hills