Your dad will surely approve if you turn up wearing the Bontrager SSRs. They’re the sensible school shoes of the burgeoning trail shoe market.
They have none of the bright flash and whiz-bang technology of some others (the admittedly very good Specialized Rimes come to mind), though still pack all the features you need in a day pedalling up and down the hills.
The SSRs use a full carbon/ rubber outsole with a deeply lugged sole profile, which means off-bike slipping is rarely an issue.
A conventional lace-up closure with a Velcro tidy keeps them on your feet just fine – who knew? – and you can use them with flat pedals by leaving the cleat pocket cover on.
We expect most will remove this and use them clipless, however, so the stiff plastic-reinforced mid-sole can do its job of transferring your energy to the cranks. Racers will want more, but the SSRs aren’t going to appeal to them anyway.
The uppers are a mix of durable closed mesh with manmade rubberised reinforcements for extra durability and toe protection. Wet weather isn’t something these shoes particularly like, though, which is a bit of disappointment.
Still, these are otherwise very good, all-round mountain bike shoes.
This article was originally published in What Mountain Bike magazine, available on Apple Newsstand and Zinio.