Giro Stylus Road Cycling Shoes

The Giro Stylus is described as a shoe that’s ‘no frills, just the fundamentals done right’, and that’s a pretty fair description. You’re not getting any bells and whistles but it’s a decent shoe that’s not expensive and performs well for most riding. Having said that, you can have some of those more premium features elsewhere at this price.

Check out our guide to the best cycling shoes for more options.

What you’re getting is a shoe with a fibreglass-reinforced sole and a single-piece synthetic upper, with three Velcro straps to stabilise your foot. The sole has a heel bumper but not much tread up front, and it’s drilled for both two-bolt and three-bolt cleats. The heel tab is reflective, and there’s a removable insole. And that’s about your lot.

At first glance the Synchwire single-layer upper doesn’t look to be ventilated, but it does have micro-perforations on the front and at the sides to allow a bit of airflow. It’s not the most breathable shoe for sure, but in UK conditions where it’s more likely your toes will freeze than overheat, it’s pretty good. The three straps allow you to get a decent fit across your whole foot, and they’re easy to adjust on the fly.

Putting the power down reveals the sole to be, well, stiff enough. I’m sure you’re desperate to learn what number on an arbitrary scale the sole is in terms of stiffness, but I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you – here you get an equally unhelpful 60N/mm measurement instead. Sixty Newtons of force where? A millimetre of deflection measured where? Anyway, I have my own arbitrary scale of sole stiffness, and this one’s about a six or seven. Stiff enough, at least until you’re in the third cats. It’s not a monolithic race shoe – there’s enough flex to add a bit of comfort.

They’re not that great off the bike, but no worse than most; with smaller SPD cleats fitted, the lack of grip on the sole is more obvious.

The arch support in the shoe is apparently ‘medium’, which leads me to wonder what’s below that. There’s very little shape in the footbed – it’s essentially flat – so if you have high arches then you’ll probably want to swap out the pretty basic insole.

For all that, I didn’t find them uncomfortable, even on longer rides. The lack of shape would be a problem if you’re racing – getting enough support for sprinting means doing them up tighter than I’d like, and they’re not especially stable – but for just riding along they hug your foot well enough.

Sizing is more or less mid table; I’m either a 47 or a 48, and I picked a 48 here, and it’s generous without being over-large.

At 664g for a big pair of shoes they’re not light, but at under a hundred quid you can’t really expect that, and they’re not a heavy outlier either.

They’ve worn well, and the black at least is easy to wipe down and care for; I can’t speak for the white or red options.

Value

Value-wise, well, they’re okay. If you use a three-bolt cleat then there are better shoes out there for the same money, particularly the Boardman Carbon which has a carbon sole and dual dial closures for £15 less than this.

If you’re going to fit SPD cleats then Decathlon’s Rockrider 900 shoes are probably the pick of the bunch, and even cheaper at £80.

If you’re going to be racing then it’s worth looking at Bont’s Motion shoes, too, also £80, for the stiff sole and low stack.

Conclusion

The Stylus doesn’t really offer enough to stand out at this price point. It’s a good shoe, and I don’t really have anything particularly negative to say about it, but for £100 you can pick up more features than you’re getting here.

Verdict

Decent road shoes with good cleat compatibility and easy-to-care-for good looks

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