Spiuk Aldama Carbon Road Shoes

The Spiuk Aldama Carbon Road Shoes strike a good balance between sole stiffness and comfort, making them ideally suited for fast road riding and day-long rides. You'll need to check the sizing, though, as they come up a little small.

The Aldamas offer a comfortable fit pretty much everywhere. The synthetic upper is supple which means when you twist the Boa dial to tighten the cable, the shoe wraps itself around your foot for a close fit without any pressure points.

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The open section that sits above the tongue is offset from the centre, which also reduces any pressure on the top of the foot when pulling on the pedals.

For use in hot weather there are plenty of holes in the upper, which allows some ventilation, and even in the mid-20s Celsius I've been riding in for the last few weeks my feet never felt overly warm.

I got on well with the shape of the carbon fibre sole too. There is just enough of a curve to support your arch, and no matter how hard I was riding I never suffered from any hotspots or numbness.

Like many brands, Spiuk uses a stiffness index (SI) for ordering its soles in order of rigidity – it's not like an industry standard or anything, though, so the numbers are largely irrelevant when comparing brands. The Aldamas have Spiuk's RLX3 sole with an SI of 10.2. When powering up climbs or sprinting hard I could detect a bit of flex around the cleat area, but not so much that I felt like it was really wasting power.

They aren't anywhere near as stiff as something like the Suplest Edge shoes or the Shimano S-Phyre RC9s. I'd say the Spiuks are about equal to the sole found on the Bontrager Ballistas.

The sole offers venting via mesh gaps, allowing air to flow through from front to back. I couldn't really feel any cooling effect from them, though, to be honest.

As you'd expect, the sole is drilled for any road cleat that uses a three-bolt layout and you'll also find markings for cleat alignment.

When it comes to sizing, the Aldamas are a little off. The ones here are a size 45 or UK11 (US 10 1/2) but I'd definitely say they are more like a UK10. That's what size I am, and I wouldn't want to go any smaller. The fit I had here was close both front and back, which is what you want, so that there is no movement when pedalling.

With a price of around £160 (their rrp is €179.90), the Spiuks are on the money for what you're getting, with a carbon sole and a Boa retention system. The quality is also very good with a neat finish between the sole and the upper, and all of the stitching is clean and precise throughout. The upper material resists scuffs and marks well, too.

The similarly specced FLR F-XX Strawweight shoes have slightly stiffer soles and are priced at £179.99, while the Bontrager Ballistas I mentioned earlier are also pretty much the same, although the Boa dial is placed on the heel of the shoes. Performance throughout is similar, but they'll set you back £200.

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However, the Van Rysel RR 900 Carbon shoes are one of the cheapest pairs with this sort of build, at just £119.99.

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Overall, the Aldamas are a very nice pair of shoes. Get the size right and the fit is good, and while the sole isn't the stiffest on the market it'll meet the racing aspirations of all but the most powerful riders.

Verdict

Comfortable and reasonably stiff race shoes that are very well made – just check the sizing