Gift Guide: Bontrager Cambion Shoes

Are your current slippers looking a little tired? Reckon those soles are starting to feel a little weary? Then it’s probably time to retire them to the spares drawer and get yourself a new pair of trail-tappers. And what better time of year than Christmas to drop some hints to your significant other? Sure getting socks is cool, but getting new kicks is waaaay better!

We recently tested some brand new XXX shoes from Bontrager, which were dumped with praise for the stiff soles, rubberised tread and highly adjustable BOA system. The only complaints? The $400+ pricetag and the fact that they’re only available in red (and only Santa can really pull THAT off!). The good news though is that Bontrager have just dropped the brand new Cambion, which trickles down XXX tech into a more reasonably priced shoe that retains the stiff carbon soles and rubberised tread. Coming in a very distinctive honeycomb pattern, these stealthy black shoes are likely to be a little more popular amongst the trail-riding crowd…

The Bontrager Cambion Shoes feature:

• inForm Pro last – Ergonomically optimised high-performance fit
• Silver Series carbon sole – Carbon/fibreglass composite with full Tachyon rubber
• Boa IP1 dial for precise two-way adjustment
• Stiffness index: 12
• GnarGuard – Outer protection against trail brush and debris
• No-slip heel lining
• Sizes: EU 39 -48
• Colour: Obsidian
• RRP: $329

One of our favourite features of the XXX shoes is the rubber tread blocks that cover the carbon outer sole. Many high-end mountain bike shoes still resort to plastic TPU lugs that are supposedly designed to provide traction while walking around off your bike. But as most of you know, that’s bollocks – plastic tread does not grip onto rocks and slippery tree roots. Thankfully Bontrager have realised this, and the new Cambion shoe also uses rubber for its outer sole to help deliver more grip when you need to lug your bike over your shoulder to get to the good stuff. The Cambion shoes are still designed to be a high performance shoe though, with a stiff carbon fibre sole and a highly adjustable BOA dial allowing for micro-tuning on the trail. Wanna try a pair of these stealthy slippers on yourself? The Cambion shoes are currently available at Trek dealers all over Australia.

Trek Bikes

Website: trekbikes.com/au