Bontrager Velocis Road Cycling Shoe

The Bontrager Velocis Cycling Shoes pack a lot into their clean looks, with a construction that pitches them right into the path of sportive and keen club riders looking for race-esque performance from a (relatively speaking) mid-range shoe.

• Pros: Great looks, light, stiff, comfortable
• Cons: Quite expensive for non-full-carbon sole

When I first took the Velocis out of their box, I thought to myself 'now this is a pair of shoes I want to wear'. And then I picked them up. They were light – at 243g each in an EU46 (size 11 to you and me), they're approaching the sharp end of what passes for a WorldTour-ridden shoe.

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Except they aren't actually designed for such a rider – although I'm pretty sure they could hold their own, after testing. Instead, the Velocis shoes are pitched more towards the keen roadie and sportive rider market.

The biggest indicator is in the carbon-fibreglass blend sole, which measures 10/14 on Bontrager's stiffness index. Now, stiffness indexes tend to be unique to each brand, so to measure shoes across brands is largely a cloudy endeavour at best. Instead, what we can surmise is where the shoe sits in the range of the given brand – in this case, a couple of rungs down Bontrager's ladder in terms of rigidity, but stiff enough for the type of rider they're aimed at.

 The fact that the sole isn't a full-carbon model also shows that sheer stiffness-to-weight isn't Bontrager's top priority. You may be disappointed that you're not getting a carbon-only sole in exchange for your £180 investment, but the reality is that carbon isn't the be-all-and-end-all if you're not racing. 

Take, for example, the comfort the sole offers. The fact that it's not super-rigid means less harshness is transferred up through your foot, resulting in less fatigue especially over long rides. The sole is shaped really nicely too thanks to its 'InForm Pro' profile, and while you don't get any inserts for additional arch support, there's a small amount already built in.

Comfort is added to through a well-considered fit that achieves a semi-narrow shape via plentiful padding around the heel and side of the foot. I found my foot cocooned by the Velocis shoes, which in my experience is ideal when you also want a 'connected' feeling through to the pedals.

That's where the 10/14 stiffness rating comes into play – it's more than enough to get a direct-feeling transfer of power through to the pedals and will satisfy all but the most racy of riders. Handily, because the entire construction of the shoe is light and relatively low-profile underfoot, you never feel held back or sluggish when laying the power down.

Dial to fit

The top of the shoe is fastened by a single Velcro strap over the toe box, with a Boa IP1 dial taking care of the upper section. It's a difficult solution to get wrong these days, and works really well at distributing tension equally across the top of the shoe, while the pull-to-release mechanism is super-easy. It's worth saying that the Velcro strap isn't for show either, it does have a tangible effect on the width of the toe box, which is handy if you're like me and need to get this right to avoid toe crush.

Comfort is also helped by the relatively thick and well-padded tongue, which spreads right round the top of the foot and naturally sits asymmetrically to better cushion the uneven top of a foot. If I'm honest, it felt a little wide and thick for my personal liking when I first rode the shoes, but you get used to it and not long after I was (internally) singing its praises for the padding it offers.

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At the heel, there's a moulded cup to hold your Achilles in place, which is narrow enough to retain your heel but not so narrow that you'll struggle with rubbing. It's non-adjustable, but given the amount of padding over the top section especially, most riders probably won't need it.

The synthetic upper features laser-cut dots for ventilation, and the sole has a small cutout for airflow under the pressure point of the forefoot. It's not the most airy system by any means – I think it could use an extra vent or two in the sole to help pull air through when it's particularly toasty – say, 25°C or more, which arguably limits the Velocis' appeal in hotter climates – but it's been more than enough in typical British springtime weather.

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Underneath, the Velocis shoe is also designed to last. The toe grip is small and low profile but that means it's hidden away from too many unnecessary impacts, while the rear is understandably more pronounced to provide clearance for the sole, but is replaceable using a Phillips screwdriver. I've also needed to walk around on gravelly surfaces a fair amount, having a driveway covered with the stuff, and the shoe has proven largely resilient to this, with very few marks to show.

At the end of the day, Bontrager delivers on its claim of producing a road shoe 'that ticks all the boxes for the committed road cyclist'. The £179.99 price tag means it's not cheap, and it sits not too far away from full-carbon-soled rivals like the Shimano RP9s and Specialized's Torch 3.0 kicks. However, for the keen UK road rider a full-carbon sole isn't always the be-all-and-end-all of a quality all-round road shoe, and I highly recommend these.

Verdict

High-quality all-round road shoes, well worth the cash despite not having a full-carbon sole