FIRST LOOK: Giro Empire VR90 Shoes

As a brand best known for its premium range of helmets, Giro Cycling knows a thing or two about ergonomics and properly-fitting bike gear. These days they also produce a wide range of cycling apparel and gloves, along with shoes for both road riding and mountain biking. The Empire shoe is their top-of-the-line road racing shoe, which has been made hard to miss by its distinctive and trend-setting lace-up design. The Empire VR90 is simply the mountain bike version of the same shoe, with some added reinforcements and a rubber outsole to help boost the Empire’s ability to cope with the rough and tumble nature of trail riding. The distinctive lace-up design remains, with the slightly older school approach claiming to offer a more adjustable fit than todays modern BOA dials and ratchet straps.

Are laces suited for off-road pedalin’? We’ve just received a brand new pair of Giro Empire VR90 test shoes to find out!

“The Empire™VR90 is one of the lightest options available on dirt and sets the standard in high-performance off-road shoes. Highlights include a lightweight laced one-piece upper for unrivaled comfort, an Easton® EC90™full carbon outsole and molded Vibram® rubber tread for relentless grip. The upper is made of our breathable Evofiber™synthetic upper by Teijin® for superb fit and support that won’t stretch out with wear or weather. Our adjustable SuperNatural Fit footbed lets you fine-tune the fit and arch support, for maximum pedaling efficiency.” – From Giro Cycling

The Giro VR90 Shoes feature:

• Lightweight, high-performance XC shoes
• One-piece upper constructed from premium Evofiber and breathable Teijin Microfiber
• Lace-up design
• Easton EC90 carbon fiber outsole
• Vibram® Mont molded rubber outsole
• Mid-foot scuff guard
• SuperNatural footbeds w/adjustable arch support
• X-Static anti-microbial fiber
• Claimed weight: 315 grams (size 42.5)
• RRP: $349.99

Despite being billed as a lightweight XC shoe that’s capable of flat-out XC racing, the Empire VR90 comes equipped with a trail-friendly rubber outsole. The tread blocks are bonded to the carbon midsole, and they offer a heap more grip than the typical plastic TPU lugs that you find on most other XC shoes.

Made by Vibram, the rubber outsole helps to give the Empire VR90 shoes more stability and grip when walking/hiking off the bike. Yes they’re a superlight carbon-soled race shoe, but the move to rubber tread aims to make them far more versatile than that.

Inside the Empire VR90 shoe is Giro’s X-Static footbeds that use their Supernatural Fit System. Rather than focus on forefoot or heel-based adjustability, the Supernatural Fit System aims to stabilise the foot based on arch support, and there are 3 different sized arch inserts that come with the shoes. Simply match up the arch insert with your feet, and then stick it onto the footbed via the Velcro pads.

Keep an eye out for the upcoming issue of AMB Magazine for our full review of the Empire VR90 shoes, where I’ll be evaluating the shoes longer-term durability and how the lace-up design stacks up against the competition.

Giro

Website: www.giro.com

Phone: 1300 883 305