TESTED: Specialized 2FO shoes

The Specialized 2FO shoe hit the downhill and enduro scene last year, I have seen the shoes on a lot of riders and really liked the look of the shoe. The sleek lines and light weight materials looked great for both the racers and long enduro riders alike. A simple system with laces and a rubberised outer make the shoes durable, simple and should work well in the wet.

Dancing shoes

First thing is first with new shoes, chuck your cleats on. On all my MTB shoes I run the cleats as far back as possible in the slots to allow a good position for my feet. I set them up the same but on my first test ride found that foot position to be very far back. The cleat position of these shoes are very long and allow for a huge amount of position, this is a refreshing change from Specialized, allowing cleats to sit further back is great especially for the gravity riders these shoes are designed for. The cleat position is also position slightly more inwards then your conventional shoe, which is great to give you a wider stance on the bike.

On the trail the shoes have a great cut out for cleats, allowing the cleats to easily clip in to all pedals I tried the shoes on (Crank brothers and Shimano). The sole of the shoe has a great grip design on it and when the shoes are used with a “trail” or platform style clip offered a great amount of extra grip whilst unclipped resting on the pedal. One small note though if clearance for pedal pins isn’t huge, so if you run a Mallet style pedal you may need to screw your pins in more.

I personally run a custom inner sole and it fitted in perfectly to the shoe. I also tried the sole provided and it seemed like a great generic inner sole, offering a small amount of arch support it wasn’t too far off what I usually run on an inner sole. Specialized have obviously looked at shoe fit which is great. If you are looking for more support these shoes are compatible with the Specialized Body Geometry fit system. I would highly recommend talking to your Specialized dealer about this to dial in your shoe fit as I can’t speak anymore highly for using the correct inner sole. The lower sole of the shoe provides a great balance of stiffness vs flex, these are a lot stiffer then other gravity shoes I have tried and you can really feel the power being laid down.

Want more performance? Then look at the Specialized 2FO Cliplite

I ran the shoes over multiple days of riding, the fit on the whole was fine and the fit of the shoe was no worry at all when riding or walking around, but as I do have a touch wider then normal foot I would find at the end of the day the sides of my feet were a little on the tender side. If you do have a wider foot then this might not be the shoe for you, but again pop into your local dealer and try them on first for yourself.

The material to make the shoes is what had me really excited, it is almost a rubberszed material, which is great for use in the wet as it doesn’t hold any moisture and keeps the foot quite dry. Wet feet whilst riding is one of my big pet hates and even from riding in some drizzly days the shoes seemed to stay relatively dry, a feature I was impressed with. The rest of the outside has been designed with the hard rider in mind, with a tear free nose and strong side soles to combat crashes.

Our Take

This is a very durable and capable shoe, clearly based on a lot of R&D and rider feedback. If you’re a heavy duty trail rider or gravity rider, they are worth checking out. If you’re after something light or with XC performance, you’d be better looking at something else in the Specialized range. I’d like to se a lace cover for muddy DH races – but otherwise it’s great. Good value for money compared to other similar shoes on the market, especially when you take the Body Geometry fit into account.

Hits: Weather proofing, inner sole options,

Misses: could be a little wider fit.

RRP: $199.95

From: Specialized Australia