Specialized S-Works Vent Evo Gravel Shoes

The Specialized S-Works Vent Evo gravel shoes offer exceptional breathability and performance, and borrow lots of the best bits from other S-Works shoes, such as the alloy S3 Boa dials and PadLock heel construction. While holding the foot securely, they're also very comfortable. As you can probably guess, they aren't very waterproof, so best for use in consistently hot and dry climates.

The Vent Evos are by no means Specialized's first pair of gravel shoes, but they are its most expensive. They're basically a cross between the Vent road shoes and the Recon mountain bike shoes, making them best suited to performance-orientated riders mixing off-road and tarmac sections in warm climates.

The shoes are stiff, light, comfortable and offer excellent ventilation like a road shoe, but with a two-bolt fitment for SPD cleats, and some more robust touches.

The lower half of the Vent Evos appears to have been taken directly from the S-Works Recons, and that's no bad thing. That means you get a carbon sole with a stiffness index of 13, which is the highest you'll find on a Specialized off-road shoe. It certainly feels plenty stiff enough in use, with no discernible flex even during hard sprint efforts.

Power transfer feels efficient too, and yet if you do find a section where walking is required they won't cripple you with pain. The same can be said on endurance rides – sometimes overly stiff soles can result in sore feet, but I was happily doing six-hour rides with no issues.

The rubber tread is also borrowed from the S-Works Recon. A large part of the carbon sole is covered in what Specialized calls SlipNot material. This provides good traction on the ground, and the reasonably aggressive treads flank the titanium cleat hardware.

The heel section of the sole extends quite a way forwards, providing protection for the carbon soles that can get scratched up when walking about on gravel. It also provides more grip than a bare carbon mid-section, which is useful when clambering over gates.

Up front there's a set of removable stud mounts, useful if you find yourself using the shoes repeatedly in muddy conditions.

On the very front of the shoe there's a rubber cap that protects from toe overlap and should help the shoes look fresh for longer.

I found the sizing to be accurate, and as with the rest of the latest generation of Specialized shoes, the toe box is wide and gives your toes plenty of wiggle room.

The similarities between these and the Recons don't stop there. You also get Boa S3-Snap dials, two per shoe, and although technically they're not the most recent iteration they really are a quality bit of kit. Not only is the CNC alloy cosmetically lovely but they're also a joy to use, with easy micro-adjustment in either direction possible on the fly. The only thing you don't get with these dials is a pop-to-release mechanism; instead, you have to unwind them. This really is the most minor of issues, as once you've turned them back half a rotation you can unhook the wire and pull your foot straight out.

Having used the metal dials for 20,000ish miles of abuse on a pair of S-Works 7 road shoes, I can also vouch for their durability both during normal use and in crashes. They're way more robust than their plastic counterparts, and if you do somehow manage to destroy one then replacements are available.

Under the CS2 lace, the tongue is padded and slightly offset towards the outer edge of the shoe to help spread the pressure from the laces over a larger area; rather than pulling down tight on the very highest bit of the foot, here you can tighten the shoes more without discomfort. The tongue is divided into three mesh panels, with Dyneema separating them, and the top of the tongue is the usual Specialized split tab design to prevent it from cutting into the ankle.

Then there's the main body of the shoe: the rear is very similar to the Recon with an external plastic heel cup, but differs in that the inside is lined with a much softer fabric. This helps with initial comfort as it doesn't need any time to bed in. Specialized calls it PadLock and it has supposedly been proven to improve acceleration. Although there was no perceptible speed boost, there also wasn't any sign of heel slippage, and my foot was held securely in the shoe without having to cinch them up super tight, as you'd want from a comfortable pair of performance-focused kicks.

The front of the shoe borrows design cues from the S-Works Vent Road shoes and is constructed primarily of robust and wipeable Dyneema material, but with three large mesh-filled cutouts. The largest and most noticeable can be found extending across the outer toes, the second sweeping rearwards from the big toe, and a third smaller panel on the inner mid-foot. 

These panels combine to create a shoe that really comes into its own in warmer weather. The highly ventilated design means breathability is absolutely excellent – I'd go as far as to say they're the most ventilated two-bolt shoes I know of; they're certainly the most ventilated I've used and that's quite a sizeable number. Whether all that ventilation is completely necessary is a different question; in the UK I would argue that it's probably not, but I do also ride abroad and for those climates, these would be the first thing to get packed.

With all those holes, it should come as little surprise that these are not in the slightest bit waterproof, and as a general rule if you see any moisture on your ride then your feet will get wet. Saying that, I was slightly surprised to see that Specialized hasn't included any vents in the sole of the shoe, which I can only presume is to offer a little protection.

So, for dry and hot gravel these would be my shoes of choice, but for year-round UK weather I'd be tempted to go for the very similar Recon or Recon Lace gravel shoes, which share many of the good bits with the Vent Evos but lack the mesh, so don't stain and are much easier to wipe clean, at the cost of some breathability.

Fit

Fit is a very personal thing, but Specialized's tried-and-tested Body Geometry tech lives on in these new S-Works gravel shoes and is one of the reasons why its shoes are so popular with all sorts of cyclists. Body Geometry involves specially shaped insoles that provide longitudinal arch support, a varus wedge and a metatarsal button, with various degrees of support depending on your personal requirements.

> How to choose the best cycling shoes for you

Specialized is one of only a few brands to ship with an integrated 1.5mm varus wedge, which lifts the ball of the foot by 1.5mm and rotates the foot into a slightly more natural position. The majority of riders will find this beneficial, optimising hip, knee, and foot alignment to reduce the risk of injury and improve efficiency.

Weight

The Evos have a claimed weight of 300g per size 42 shoe, which seems accurate considering we weighed our pair of 43s at 614g. This does make them roughly 60g heavier than a pair of Recons but still competitively light; they are, for example, just over 100g lighter than the Sidi Jarin Gravel shoes Anna tested (size 43.5), and 40g lighter than the Bontrager XXX mountain bike shoes.

Value

And then there's the price: £385. That puts them fifth on the all-time list of most expensive shoes we've tested here at road.cc. Despite only being on sale for a few weeks, they're already available for less, but as always, our comparisons and value score are based on RRP.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best high-performance road cycling shoes

The very similar S-Works Recons that I keep harking on about are now £370, and for most riders are probably the better buy for UK conditions. For about the same money you could also buy the Sidi Jarins (£360), but reading Anna's review, they don't offer the same level of grip from the rubber tread and aren't the best for wide feet.

> off-road.cc buyer’s guide: Best clipless gravel shoes you can buy

Alternative high-end gravel shoes include the Rapha Explore Powerweaves for £280, up £20 since Stu tested them last year, but those don't have quite the same performance focus, or the Shimano RX8 SPD shoes that suddenly look rather good value at £219.99 with their 9/10 review.

Conclusion

Overall, then, the Vent Evos are an excellent shoe but I'm not sure I could justify the added expense over a set of S-Works Recons, which after all do share the entire bottom half, the lovely metal Boa dials and the majority of the Dyneema upper.

If your gravel riding does take place in consistently hot and dry weather then these would be a very good choice: they're extremely breathable, stiff but not too stiff, comfortable even over long distances, and hold the foot securely. Top work from Spesh, minus the price. ☹

Verdict

Excellent ventilation, comfort and performance – but that price...