Review – Spiuk Carbon ‘Soul’ ZS1RC Shoes

Spuik, a Spanish company started by an accountant, marketing man, and a sports person in 1996/97, is a supplier of cycling apparel and accessories. Their methodology is based on the analysis of the real needs of cyclists. When those needs are identified, the next step consists in finding the appropriate design to meet such needs. This stage includes the drawing up of a prototype which is tested by professional sports people. After this testing is complete necessary corrections and adjusting are made before mass production gets underway and products are marketed in specialty bicycle shops.

With the upcoming birth of our new tandem Nicole and I are looking for some new accessories to go along with it. One of those accessories is new shoes. In particular we are looking for white (or mostly white) shoes. Now I always told Nicole that you had to be fast to wear white shoes, and she told me "Dad, we don’t have to be fast, we just have to look fast!" So now off to figure out what shoes to get.

One of the hardest decisions to make is all about contact points on your bike, handlebars and tape, saddle, and shoes/pedals. These are the key elements to comfort on the bike and wise choices need to be made in order to extract every ounce of enjoyment out of them. With that philosophy and the desire to have something just a bit out of the ordinary, as if wearing white shoes wasn’t enough, I have made a search.

Already owning four pairs of road shoes (Sidi, Shimano x 2, Cat-1) I was looking for inexpensive yet with the features I have come to appreciate. This is when I found Spiuk and the ZS1RC.

The ZS1RC is Spiuk’s top of the line carbon soled racing shoe. First off the reason they call it Soul is that they believe that their use of multi-directional carbon in the sole of the shoe makes for a better feeling of connection with the bike drive train. Hence the sole being the soul of the shoe. Is it marketing drivel, maybe, but the shoe is extremely stiff. I like stiff soled cycling shoes. One thing to note, in my experience the stiffer the sole the more critical the cleat placement is to avoid hot spots. so please note that.

The uppers of the shoe have an abundance of mesh, resulting in a lot of ventilation. It is difficult to really heat up your feet riding in even the highest of temperatures. The rest of the upper is a synthetic material finished in a high gloss white.

The heel cup and other areas along the sole are made of an injection molded thermoplastic material and while flexible, retains its shape and will not stretch. Two Velcro straps and a ratchet strap complete the shoe retention system. The ratchet itself looks identical to the one Sidi uses as well as the plastic ratchet strap. The ZS1RC are available in full sizes from Euro 40 – 47.

These are designed as a road shoe only and do not have provisions for two screw cleats, only Look compatible cleats or adapters will work on these shoes. Without the extra hardware and the lightweight carbon soles as well as the synthetic uppers makes this one of the lightest shoes that I have in my collection.

When it comes to fit, American feet just seem a little bit different than the rest of the world. It is hard to find shoe companies that make shoes that fit our feet. Even then different shoes from the same company fit differently. In Sidi I must wear their Mega shoes because I need the extra width. In Shimano, their upper end shoes fit fine, their lower end shoes fit tight. In the Cat-1 their shoes seem to run about ½ size too big. The ZS1RC seems to run true to size with a fit that is between the Sidi Mega and Normal widths. So on the sides they are snug, yet the toe box is big enough to allow breathing room and wiggling. When I get them on the road for a spell we will revisit the fit and I will report what I find.