Giro Factor Techlace 2017 Review

The Factor Techlace upper is constructed with Evofiber SL which is durable yet highly breathable. Apparently. It has a breathable mesh liner bonded to the inside almost identical to the SLX. The difference comes in the aesthetic when other materials are added for structure to support the midfoot.

Inside the shoe Giro provide their renowned SuperNatural Fit footbed. A real favourite at Cyclestore HQ. This features adjustable arch supports to personalize fit comfort and pedalling efficiency. We haven’t really seen another shoe company spend time and effort designing the support needed, other than the Specialized Foot beds. Velcro in the bottom of the shoe stops the foot beds slipping and allows an easily interchangeable system. With support for the medial and longitudinal foot arches, this reduces the risk of injuries in the knees & hips. Allowing a more fluid motion, opening up the whole of the glutes. It’s very clear that Giro have put time and development into the ergonomics of the shoe.

Giro boxes always look the part. Designed right the way through the product, including a sleek transportation bag, they’ve really thought this one through. Straight from the box these shoes feel fantastically comfortable. Laces generally offer a level of comfort that you can’t usually get from dial shoes. Although these velcro laces seem to offer a slightly better fit you would get from a dual velcro shoe with a single dial.

Once set up these shoes are remarkably fast to get on and off. We’d go as far as suggesting that if you were a three-athlete, or whatever they’re called, you could slip in and out of these shoes comfortably and speedily in T1 and T2. Who said you couldn’t ride lace up? The velcro straps quickly come across and you can adapt the comfort on the go through the dial.

Available in a multitude of colours which is often the case with current Giro shoes, there’s one to match any outfit. We tested the basic colour in this case, and they still looked pretty sharp. We weren’t as much of a fan of the aesthetic as with the SLX, the seamless one piece upper is unobstructed there. Whereas the mid section of the Techlace is slightly less satisfying with the velcro straps. That being said, you can buy the laces in 12 different lengths and 6 different colours. So there’s plenty of room to manoeuvre.

Onto the Bike:

We know a lot of you will be um-ing and ah-ing about velcro strap laces. So are we. But once the tension in the laces was set, we didn’t have to change them once. Even if we’d have needed to, the mixture of velcro and a dial couldn’t be easier to adjust on the go. The laces offer a level of comfort beyond what a basic velcro strap would offer, although nothing is quite the same as a full lace up shoe.

The power transfer in these shoes was great. The sole performs exactly as it does in the SLX. Funny that. With the exact same sole we’d expected nothing different. The carbon outside is incredibly rigid despite how flat it is. The thin profile holds strong as you lay down the watts. The power transfer through the base of the shoe is remarkable, it’s smooth, effective and very responsive from start to finish through the pedal stroke.

The white shoes begin to wear and fade quite easily so this will need to be considered if they’re your colour of choice. Some other materials are more resilient to this although the Giro shoes make up for this with the extra level of comfort. It has to be said the leather stretches a lot less than in the lace up shoes.

The shoes were very comfortable throughout the ride. They didn’t overheat, or come with any excess moisture inside the shoe. They seemed to ventilate themselves well. The mixture of all three adjustment systems definitely helped the fit of the shoe. Although this took away from the aesthetic. Function over form, right?

Verdict:

Giro have used a mixture of all three closure systems on the Techlace offering a new level of comfort. They’ve kept performance at the forefront of design although the mixture of these two have led to a very eventful aesthetic. This is obviously down to personal preference although we found that we much preferred the aesthetic in the Californian company’s Empire range. An expensive shoe, right at the top end of the bracket, we thought it was slightly over designed and working against what it was trying to achieve. The shoe functions very well, but in terms of practicality for nearly £300, we’d just stick to real laces, or go full BOA.

Specification:

Included Accessories: Spare Laces, Shoe Bag

Upper: One-piece upper design, Premium Evofiber™ SL breathable Teijin® microfiber, Techlace™ + Boa IP 1 dial (1mm +/- with macro release)

Outsole: Easton ® EC90 SLX2 high-modulus carbon, Steel hardware, Replaceable heel pads

Footbed: Super Natural Fit Kit with adjustable arch support, X- Static ® anti-microbial fiber, Travel bag included

Weight: 210 grams (size 42.5)