Time Osmos 12 shoes

The Time Osmos 12 road shoes, the middle of the new three-shoe range from the major French brand, offer comfort and performance in bundles, with an ergonomic design straight from Italy.

The Osmos 15 was heavily praised here at road.cc just a few months ago, and I was eager to test its more affordable cousin.

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As Simon noted in his review of the Osmos 15, the French brand was bought by Rossignol in 2016, which used its own R&D facility at Montebelluna in Italy, regarded as the global capital of sports footwear, to design the new three-model range of Time shoes. The Osmos 12 sits between the Osmos 10 and the 'ultimate' 15.

Over 3,000 3D foot scans were used to design a shoe that would perform for the majority of athletes, and I have to say I found these very comfortable. Bedding in took around two weeks: initially the shoes felt great – and then they became even more supple. My feet are on the wider side of average, and during my two months of testing I didn't get any discomfort or hot spots.

The insoles feature Time's Sensor 2 system designed to improve comfort around the metatarsals as well as offering some arch support.

The upper part of the shoe consists of the same seamless design as the Osmos 15, with a high level of padding while still being extremely breathable.

The tongue is also fairly well padded, which means there isn't the clamping feeling you can get from the wire of a Boa closure system. However, I did find that the tongue was a little too wide and the top quite long, and required a fair amount of adjustment when putting the shoes on to stop it digging into the top of the foot when pedalling.

Much like Simon found with the Osmos 15, the heel cup of the Osmos 12 extends quite high up around the ankle. With the extra silicone grip pattern this meant there was no heel lift out of the shoe, though there was some side to side movement while sprinting.

One Boa dial

Closure is performed by a single interwoven Boa dial and a Velcro strap. This design allows for unified pressure over the entire foot, to reduce the chances of developing fatigue, but I did find that to clamp down my foot in preparation for a sprint I had to apply considerable force through the dial to lock down my foot.

This seems an inherent problem when employing just one Boa dial, and I would prefer a two-dial system for that added security.

Sole

Along with the heavily vented exterior, Time has incorporated three vents within the sole. In the winter this has proved rather too effective outdoors, which bodes well for warmer times and climes, but while training indoors they did improve the overall experience on the turbo.

Sole stiffness is pretty good, too. The sole consists of 20% carbon fibre and 80% composite material, coupled with a 100% carbon insert underneath the cleat for added stiffness. It's more than adequate for the majority of the time, but I did notice a little more flex when putting out higher end power – though this does contribute to their overall comfort.

The cleat markings are very useful during initial setup, and the shoes also feature a replaceable rubber heel support.

Like Simon, I found the white design of the shoes to be easy to clean, except for the vents which have begun to discolour a little.

Value

With an rrp of £225, the Osmos 12 shoes certainly aren't cheap, though they are more affordable than their £329 Osmos 15 siblings while housing many of the key features.

This puts them in a similar price bracket to Giro's Empire E70 Knit Road Shoes and the Northwave Extreme GT 2 Road Shoes – both around £220 at rrp.

> Buyer’s Guide: 18 of the best performance road cycling shoes

However, while the Osmos 12s are stiff and comfortable, Shimano's RC7s are both lighter and feature two Boa dials for £169.99, Northwave's Revolution 2s are £174.99, also with two Boa dials, and Giro's Trans Boas, with their single Boa and Velcro strap, are £179.99.

There are good deals to be found online, though.

Conclusion

Overall, I think the quality and design of these shoes is very high, contributing to their exceptional comfort over the testing period. There's some flex in the sole when you're really pushing it, but for longer rides and general training on the road, they're great.

Verdict

Good performance, with plenty of comfort and support, though they're not the cheapest