Pearl Izumi P.R.O. Leader v4 Unisex

Pearl Izumi's P.R.O. Leader v4 shoes are comfortable and reasonably lightweight shoes with stiff soles and an excellent Boa dial closure system.

Pros: Pretty light, Boa closure, stiff soles
Cons: Some people might want more ventilation

I reviewed the previous version of these shoes a couple of years ago and got on really well with them. Pearl Izumi has kept the best bits of the previous incarnation and made a few well thought-out tweaks.

The upper is made from three-layer composite that's entirely seamless, so there's nothing to cause pressure or irritation as you pedal. The fabric is thin and follows the contours of your feet pretty well, including any irregularities you have going on down there. The upper is more supple than that of some Bont Vaypors I have here, but it's less supple than you get with Giro Empires, for example.

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A non-stretch polyurethane framework incorporated into the upper ensures your foot is kept firmly in place, and the underlying mesh areas provide a decent level of breathability, although not as much as you get with some other very meshy shoes out there. Coupled with a two vents towards the front of the sole, this meant I never got particularly sweaty feet during spring testing.

As previously, closure is handled by two Boa IP1 reels but these are now offset slightly towards the outside of your foot rather than being positioned centrally. Why the change? Pearl Izumi says, 'The new 1:1 Zero Distraction Upper Fit mitigates foot discomfort by avoiding the soft tissue running along the top of the foot.'

Read more: The best performance road cycling shoes — stiff shoes for fast feet from £50 to £900  

Pearl Izumi says the new design works better with a variety of different foot shapes. I can't say I had any discomfort from the previous version, but Pearl Izumi now wraps the upper from the inner side more over the top of the foot, which makes sense for heading off any potential for pressure points. I wore a P.R.O. Leader v4 shoe on my left foot and the previous version on my right foot and I must say that the fit feels a little better on the new one design with the pressure distributed more evenly. It's a subtle difference, though.

Boa dials are everywhere these day, and with good reason – they work really well. Turn the dial in one direction and it tightens the lace in 1mm increments, turn it the other way and it does the opposite. You can operate it easily on the fly. If you want to loosen the lace entirely to take your shoe off, you pop the dial upwards. I've been using the P.R.O. Leaders underneath overshoes a lot during spring riding and I've found the Boas easy enough to operate through neoprene too.

Although padding on the tongue has been scaled back a bit it's still well cushioned to prevent any discomfort there, and Pearl Izumi uses an external T-shaped bar that runs from the bottom of the heel to your Achilles area to hold your foot in place. Some people might prefer a narrower, grabbier heel but, along with those Boa dials and the non-stretch upper, it always gave me the feeling that my foot was being held securely and I never experienced any heel lift.

Head inside and you find an insole that you can tune according to your needs. Slots in the arch and the forefoot take differently sized plastic supports/wedges (included) so you can play around until you get the setup that's right for you and your own pedalling dynamics.

A feature of the previous version of the P.R.O. Leader that has been carried over is the unibody construction of the sole. Rather than the upper being attached to a lasting board which is in turn attached to the sole, Pearl Izumi cuts out the middle man and attaches the upper directly to the outside of the carbon sole. An additional piece is then fitted over the top of a lot of the carbon, covering the join.

In this case, that additional piece is electroplated, giving the bottom of these shoes a bit of a disco look. You know when you spill oil in water? It looks a bit like that. Sorry to disappoint you but that electroplating will get scratched over time, despite the presence of a toe bumper and replaceable heel protector. That's inevitable, but it's still a cool little feature.

The point of removing the lasting board is to reduce the stack height (the distance from your foot to the bottom of the shoe) to just 5mm. Your feet are positioned really close to the pedals here.

The soles are stiff, as you'd expect on high-end road shoes, with just the smallest amount of torsional flex occasionally detectable. On the whole, though, I found these pretty much solid.

Pearl Izumi has altered its sizing to be more in line with that of other major brands. I usually take a size 46 but for the P.R.O. Leader version three I sized up to a 47. With v4 I'm back to my usual 46 and the fit feels right.

Pearl Izumi has also altered the shape of the last slightly to provide a little more room at the ball of the foot which will be welcomed by those who need some extra space in that area. If you don't, the lower Boa dial gives you plenty of scope to pull the two sides of the shoe together to take up any slack.

At £275 these are far from cheap but, like it or not, that's how much high-end road shoes cost. We recently reviewed the Fizik Aria R3 shoes at £264.99, for example, and they aren't even the top the top shoes in the range, while Giro's Prolight Techlace shoes are £349.

Overall, there's lots to like here. Some people might want more ventilation or perhaps a snugger fit at the heel, but if you're after performance-minded shoes, these are stiff soled, the now offset closure system works a treat, and I found the uppers to be comfortable while holding my feet firmly in place.

Verdict

Performance-focused shoes that are comfortable, secure and well-made