Giro Empire SLX road shoes

The first thing you notice about Giro's Empire SLX shoes when you spin the pedals is just how light they are: at just just 408g for a size 45 pair, they're among the very lightest shoes available. This low weight is backed up by incredible comfort from the lace-up uppers and a super stiff carbon fibre sole that doesn't waste any of your power when sprinting for the line.

Giro made quite an impact and raised a good few eyebrows when they launched the first generation Empire shoes several years ago, successfully reintroducing lace-up shoes to a sport that had largely confined laces to the history books, replaced by buckles, ratchets and dials.

These latest Empire SLX shoes are constructed with a one-piece Teijin Evofibre SL microfibre upper with a breathable mesh liner bonded to the inside. This, along with loads of perforations, ensures they keep your feet as cool as possible when riding in the heat.

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The Microfiber Sport laces are designed to remain tied, hold a knot, be light and durable. The best thing about the laces is that you can get the closure pressure across the entire top of the foot just right, with no pressure points that you might get with a shoe that uses two or three focused closure points. Once tied, the laces are contained underneath a 'lace garage' on top of the shoe.

It does take a little longer than a Boa dial system or Velcro, but we're only talking a matter of minutes and there's something quite nice about sitting down to tie up the laces, carefully pulling them taut and getting just the right amount of pressure evenly distributed across the foot, then making a neat and tidy knot and stashing them under the lace garage. A single knot is sufficient, but there's nothing to stop you from double knotting.

On the face of it, the obvious downside to laces is that you can't make adjustments while riding. If you set off on a ride and feel the laces are a bit snug, you have no choice but to pull over and re-tie them. I never actually found it a problem, though, as once I'd logged a couple of rides I soon got comfortable with the shoes and had them dialled in correctly each time.

The fit is extremely good, as close to a pair of slippers as it's possible to get (without being slippers). That means you don't need to do the laces up very tight at all, although even when pulled quite tight there's no pressure at all across the top of the foot. The laces never came loose during a ride, and the lace garage stops them tangling in the chain.

You also get Giro's SuperNatural Fit Kit – a choice of insoles supplied with the shoes and swappable arch support so you can tune the fit to suit your feet.

Don't go mistaking the Empires for an indulgent retro-style shoe, harking back to the old days of cycling when lace-ups were commonplace. These are all about performance. Underneath the shoe is an Easton EC90 SLX2 high-modulus carbon fibre sole and it's incredibly stuff, easily as stiff as any other high-end race shoe I've tested. There's no discernible heel lift during sprints or out of the saddle climbing.

The sole has a three-bolt cleat drilling and markings for cleat alignment. It provides a very low stack height of 6.5mm – that gets you closer to the pedal axle and might mean you have to drop the saddle a smidgen.

Titanium hardware on the sole saves weight, and the heel bumper is replaceable should it wear out.

With an impressively low weight and super-stiff sole, the Empires are as good, if not better, than any other high-end shoes. There's no heat mouldable upper, increasingly common on high-end race shoes, but they're comfortable enough that you don't really need it.

Verdict

Impressive comfort, low weight and stunning looks, as close to a pair of slippers as you can get in cycling shoes