Quoc Escape Road Lace road cycling shoes review

Quoc’s Escape Road Lace road cycling shoes are a new entry-level model, marrying the classic style of laces with a carbon composite sole and an affordable price.

With excellent out-of-the-box comfort and a high price-to-performance ratio, the Escape Road Lace shoes impress.

Racers and more powerful riders may wish for stiffer soles, but for those less concerned about every last watt, the Escape Road Lace is a benchmark road cycling shoe at this price.

Quoc Escape Road Lace specification and details

As the name implies, the Escape Road Lace is a lace-up version of Quoc’s Escape Road cycling shoe – previously the cheapest road cycling shoe in its range.

As on the Escape Road, the Escape Road Lace pairs soft, polyurethane (PU) leather uppers with a carbon composite sole.

Available in all black or all white, the PU uppers are constructed from only two pieces of fabric, with a reinforced toe area to improve durability. The design and construction quality feel top-notch too – these don’t look like cheap cycling shoes.

There are seven pairs of lace eyelets on each shoe, with the upper three reinforced.

Perforations dot the forefoot area of the uppers and the toe area of the sole to aid ventilation.

The soles are made from a ‘carbon composite’ (as opposed to full carbon fibre), with Quoc saying they’re designed to balance stiffness and comfort.

As such, Quoc pitches the Escape Road Lace as more of a shoe for endurance cycling, rather than racing. In contrast, its higher-end road cycling shoes, the Mono II (£270) and M3 Air (£320) get full-carbon soles and are more directly targeted at fast road riding.

That said, the sleek – and potentially aerodynamic – profile of the Escape Road Lace shoes will doubtless appeal to those interested in a turn of speed too.

This will be especially true for those shopping with a tight budget too, because, at £130 / $180 / €160, they’re £20 cheaper than the rotary dial-equipped Escape Road shoes.

It’s fantastic to see Quoc has included adjustable cleat bolt holes, too, because these are occasionally overlooked on budget and mid-range cycling shoes. Specialized’s Torch 3.0 shoes, for example, only gets fixed cleat bolt holes, despite costing £210 / $250 / €250.

Should it wear out, the heel pads are also replaceable, with a spare set available for £19.

On the scales, my size EU45 shoes weighed a competitive 298g, totalling 596g for the set.

That’s nearly exactly the same as Udog’s Tensione lace-up shoes (597g, size EU45), 80g less than Specialized’s Torch 3.0 (674g, size EU45) and 32g less than Van Rysel’s RCR (626g, size EU45).

There are lighter shoes available for similar money, though.

Shimano’s RC502 shoes (£139.99 / $154.99), for example, tip the scales at a remarkably light 496g, for a pair of slightly smaller, size EU43 shoes.

It’s fair to say such small differences in weight generally aren’t apparent while riding, however, unless they manifest in terms of sole stiffness or in the thickness of the uppers.

A heavier sole may be stiffer, as on Bont’s Motion shoes (675g, size EU45), for example, while thicker uppers can reduce ventilation.

Beyond that, however, I wouldn’t expect a difference of 50 to 100g to make me a tangibly faster climber (or vice versa).

Quoc Escape Road Lace performance

On the bike, Quoc’s Escape Road Lace shoes exceed expectations with their impressive performance.

While the soles aren’t the stiffest, being outclassed by pricier options such as the Specialized Torch 3.0 or Van Rysel RCR (£169.99 / $162.94 / €169.99), they’re nevertheless stiffer than many comparably priced options I’ve tried.

The lighter Shimano RC502 shoes, for example, have soles that are noticeably more flexible, even during seated pedalling.

Even Trek’s latest Velocis shoes, which, at £229.99 / $249.99 / €249.99, are around 75 per cent more expensive, feel as if they have a little more give in the soles than the Quocs.

The only times I noticed the Quoc soles flex is when standing on the pedals during sprints, or when climbing out of the saddle.

In this regard, then, they’re no match for my favourite set of lace-up cycling shoes, Specialized’s S-Works 7 Lace (£300 / $325 / €325 as tested).

Given the significant price difference, and the fact that there's limited evidence power output correlates with cycling shoe stiffness anyway, it’s a compromise I can accept.

Out-of-the-box comfort was also very good, with the soft PU leather uppers conforming nicely to my feet from the get-go.

Ventilation is good, too, with the perforated uppers allowing a noticeable amount of airflow through to your feet. They’re not quite as airy as Trek’s Velocis shoes, which feature a greater use of mesh in the uppers, but they compare well with Specialized’s Torch 3.0 in this regard.

I always appreciate the ability with laces to fine-tune the fit across the foot very precisely, too, rather than rely on one or two rotary dials with discrete clicks. The latter can occasionally leave you searching for the ‘perfect’ tightness.

The wide, flat laces also distribute their pressure much more gently than thin wire laces used with rotary dials, while a well-placed lace garage stops the loose ends flapping in the wind.

Of course, the downsides of laces are they’re slower to do up and undo, and they can’t be adjusted while riding.

For me, that’s never been an issue, although I can appreciate others may feel differently.

The stock insoles feel better than expected, given the price. They include perforations to improve breathability and even a metatarsal pad, with the aim of helping to prevent foot numbness.

Being used to high-end shoes with foot-hugging fits and stiff soles, I found myself wishing either the insoles or shoes themselves offered a little more arch support, though.

It’s a shame the trio of arch support inserts (3, 6 and 9mm) included with Quoc’s high-end shoes aren’t included here, because buying a set of aftermarket insoles with improved arch support would likely add a significant amount to the overall price.

Trek’s BioDynamic insoles and Specialized’s Body Geometry SL Footbeds are, for example, among the cheapest aftermarket cycling shoe insoles available, at £26.99 and £30 respectively.

A more relaxed fit, such as that found here, isn’t uncommon at this price, though, and it’s perhaps unfair to expect a premium feature such as adjustable arch support would trickle down to shoes at this price. Savings have to be made somewhere, after all.

Quoc Escape Road Lace bottom line

The cheap cycling shoes I’ve used previously have always featured significant compromises in terms of performance, looks, or – more often than not – both.

Quoc’s Escape Road Lace shoes have confounded my expectations of what is possible with cycling shoes at this price.

They offer excellent comfort out of the box, alongside decent sole stiffness for the money, an elegant design and premium features such as a replaceable heel bumper and adjustable cleat bolt holes.

Racers or more powerful riders might wish for stiffer soles, and a little more arch support would have been welcome, but for £130 / $180 / €160, such criticisms are minor.