The F'izi:k R5B Road Shoe delivers the same high performing features as higher end shoes at a great price and in stunning style, great for riders who want to take their road cycling to the next level.
| Shoe Weight: | 260g (Size 43, without insole) |
|---|---|
| Sole Material: | Carbon-reinforced Nylon |
| High Visibility: | No |
| Road: | Yes |
The R5B Road Shoe features the Boa IP1 closure system that makes adjustment on-the-go quick and easy and it's designed to be lightweight and aerodynamic. A sailcloth strap allows you to customize the fit around the toes for maximum comfort and minimum movement. The R5B’s carbon-reinforced nylon outsole is stiff for power transfer and sculpted to aid aerodynamics and together with the supportive and comfortable Fi’zi:k Cycling Insole these shoes ensure that every precious watt goes straight into your pedals.
The F'izi:k range of road cycling shoes has been developed in collaboration with leading professional cyclists and used to great effect by WorldTour and World Championship riders. If you want a great looking shoe featuring the best technologies, materials, R&D, testing and manufacture techniques at an affordable price, the R5B Road Shoe delivers.
Glove-like fit: it provides custom comfort with smooth, even closure and no pressure points.
Powerful closure: once locked into place, BOA reels and laces stay that way.
Micro-adjustability: BOA reels offer seemingly infinite degrees of fine tuning.
Quick on, quick off: BOA saves time when seconds count.
On-the-fly adjustment: get easy, one-handed adjustment with a quick turn of the BOA dial.
Durable: made from aircraft grade stainless steel, BOA laces are stronger per gram than tank armor.
Lightweight: BOA closures shed water, mud and ice, shaving precious weight.
Road racing cycling shoes are designed without compromise to provide optimum power transfer between your foot and the pedal, a good quality road cycling shoe is a wise investment for performance and weight saving and is often overlooked. High-tech materials and precision manufacture keep weight down and stiffness up, this means your rotational mass is lower and power transfer is higher, resulting in more forward momentum for your effort.
Fi’zi:k is the premium, racing brand of Selle Royal S.p.a. Its name is synonymous with the shape and form of the human body; hence the intuitive association with products that are contact points between riders and their bikes. More than this, fi’zi:k represents beauty, speed, passion, freedom for those who race against each other, race against the clock and for enthusiast cyclists around the world who identify with the feeling of the fire of competition. The humble origin in 1996 stemmed from a vision to improve rider performance by creating superior saddle comfort. Today’s Spine Concept™ provides a guideline to help riders find their most comfortable saddle. Integral to this comfort is the design collaboration with professional athletes and the fact that each saddle is 100% “fatto a mano” (hand-made) in Italy. Some credit Fi’zi:k with redefining the racing saddle category thanks to its destructively-innovative elegant products that are not only comfortable, but also a source of style and beauty in their own right. The Arione, launched in 2003 is one such example. In 2006 fi’zi:k launched a product for riders’ hands: a strong, washable Microtex bar tape. Shoes were then launched in 2010 offering a unique blend of innovative materials with an inimitable style. 2014 saw fi’zi:k launch road cockpit components employing The Spine Concept™ to help riders choose their perfect handlebar shape. In 2016 fi’zi:k saddles are ridden by 8 UCI World Tour Teams. Fi’zi:k’s relentless innovation is facilitated by many such committed professional athletes, from all cycling disciplines. Relentless testing and refinement has helped fi’zi:k to push the boundaries of possibility. It will come as little surprise then that Fi’zi:k products have been ridden to many Cycling World titles, Ironman World Championship titles and beyond.
| 40 | 40.5 | 41 | 41.5 | 42 | 42.5 | 43 | 43.5 | 44 | 44.5 | 45 | 45.5 | 46 | 46.5 | 47 | 48 | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UK Shoe Size | UK Shoe | 6.5 | 7 | 7.25 | 7.75 | 8 | 8.5 | 8.75 | 9.25 | 9.75 | 10 | 10.5 | 10.75 | 11.25 | 11.5 | 12 | 12.75 |
| US Shoe Size | US Male Shoe | 7.5 | 8 | 8.25 | 8.75 | 9 | 9.5 | 9.75 | 10.25 | 10.75 | 11 | 11.5 | 11.75 | 12.25 | 12.5 | 13 | 13.75 |
| Foot Length | mm | 257mm | 260mm | 264mm | 267mm | 270mm | 274mm | 277mm | 280mm | 284mm | 287mm | 290mm | 294mm | 297mm | 300mm | 304mm | 310mm |
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Verdict: Stunning fit and comfort and a decent weight and stiffness provides winning performance
Slipper-like comfort, easy-to-use Boa dial, and a good weight-to-stiffness ratio make the new Fizik R5B shoes a really good buy at £130. They offer much of the performance of a high-end race shoe without depleting your funds quite as badly. They look really good too, and with shoes, that's important to many people.
Fizik's new R5B shoes go with a Boa dial (that's what the B in the name stands for) over the Velcro strap arrangement of the original R5, and the result is a much-improved fit that is easier to dial in on the move. You can still buy the original R5 if you prefer, but I'm betting most will find the Boa dial easier and nicer to use.
The Italian company previously majored in saddles but has built quite a following for its footwear since branching out into shoes in 2012. The R5B shoes are their most affordable road shoes and share much of the technology and features, and definitely the style, of the more expensive shoes in the range, but a few material differences makes them a lot less pricey, with very few drawbacks.
The main visual difference with the new R5B, and the more expensive R3B, is that two of the three Velcro straps have been replaced by a Boa IP1 dial. There's still one Velcro strap over the toe box, providing a fit-and-forget adjustment. The Boa mechanism uses a steel lace that is looped over the top of the shoe and tensioned by an easy to use dial.
The adjustment is fine enough to get just the right amount of pressure with the lace pulling the shoe tight over the top of the foot. My early concerns about the spread of the pressure proved unfounded. I'd worried that the single Boa dial, compared to the twin dial arrangement on some shoes, might not evenly spread pressure, but these are very comfortable shoes with no uneven load across the top of the foot. Even with the Boa dial tightened excessively, the load is evenly distributed.
The best thing about the Boa dial, and why it's my preferred closure system, is that it's very quick to use. It can be adjusted easily on the move, and you can even adjust it when wearing overshoes, something you clearly can't do with velcro. You can release the pressure, and loosen the shoe, by rotating the dial in the opposite direction with the same level of micro-adjustment. To remove the shoes, the Boa dial 'pops' up, releasing all the tension.
Visually the R5B has a lot in common with the much more expensive R3B (those will set you back £215). The R5B shoes are constructed from a Microtex upper with laser perforated dots scattered liberally across the top and sides, which will likely provide a bit of ventilation in the summer, but give the shoes a smart appearance the rest of the time, breaking up the white finish. The heel is finished with a large panel of reflective material. That's a really nice touch compared to the usually tiny patches of reflectivity you get on most road shoes, and there's more reflective material along the front of the shoe too.
Underneath the shoe is a carbon-reinforced nylon sole. That's the key difference between the more expensive R3B, which gets a carbon fiber sole. My size 45 shoes weigh in at 301g each, which is actually lighter than the Giro Factor ACC Road shoes I reviewed earlier. Those are quite a bit more expensive too. The Boa dial does save a fair bit of weight then.
A difference that can be noticed with the nylon sole is a small amount of flex when you push really hard on the pedals. However, it's a minute degree of flex and you really have to be looking for it, and most of the time they felt just fine. In fact, this proved to be a positive trait as they were extremely comfortable, compared to some carbon road shoes I've tested in the past that are uncomfortable due to the extreme stiffness. More stiffness isn't always a good thing.
There are the standard three cleat holes with a good range of fore-aft adjustment. Setting up cleats (Speedplay in my case) is made easier with horizontal and vertical numbered markers, and the a grid covering that entire cleat zone. That makes lining up left and right shoe cleats a cinch, and completely removes the guesswork sometimes involved with achieving a symmetrical cleat setup.
Comfort and fit is where these shoes really impressed me. I can rarely slip on a new pair of road shoes and find them immediately comfortable, but that was certainly my experience with the R5B shoes. The shoe hugs my foot nicely, the tongue helps to evenly spread the pressure from the Boa dial lace system, there's no heel lift. They're just perfect, really they are.
So, highly impressive comfort and fit to match the best shoes on the market, great looks, generous reflective details, easy Boa dial adjustment, lightweight '' there's a lot to like here. All this performance comes at
Boa-equipped Italian beauties - Fizik’s R5Bs offer a great fit, comfort, and adjustability at a very attractive price
The R5 might be the base model in Fizik’s road shoe line-up, but it’s styled to perfection – and this year it includes the new Boa IP1 closure.
The IP1 has the same rotate-to-tighten design of all Boas (using wire), but now the ratchet is two-way, so you can make micro adjustments to tighten and loosen the grip. The dials are also side-specific, so to tighten the right shoe you turn the dial clockwise, anti-clockwise to release, and the opposite way with the left, which feels very natural. The dial still pops out for fast release.
A short Velcro strap just above the toe box helps maintain stability throughout the seamless, matt finish Microtex synthetic leather upper, which is perforated for breathability. Inside, a padded and textured ankle cuff helps hold your foot in place, and the heavyweight padded and meshed tongue keeps them seriously comfortable. The footbed is well formed, and we like the double-thickness integrated neoprene pad over the cleat zone.
Underneath it’s a carbon-reinforced nylon sole with substantial bumpers on toe and heel. It offers a little more flex in the midfoot than the stiffest carbon soles, but the shoes feel very stable with no side to side twist, and the extra give makes them very comfortable for big rides, and walking isn’t such a stiff-legged Bambi-on-ice affair.
They look great, fit wonderfully and are easy to adjust, and though you can find stiffer, lighter (at 592g for a pair of 45s they aren’t ‘heavy’) ‘race’ shoes at a much higher price, you’d be hard pushed to find better for fast endurance rides and general riding.
Highs: Looks, fit and performance
Lows: Not pro-race shoe stiff
