At this point though, I was just itching for the outdoors.
In the time I unloaded Hyro from my car and strapped the front SKS Speedrocker fender/mudguard onto his fork blades, I had already been pelted by drops of cold clammy rain. That rain kept on through the opening minutes of my ride, even turning near-torrential in the first twenty minutes.
Rain jacket on, arm warmers fitted, I just kept at it and continuously gauged grip levels as I went. It was some of my most explosive riding this year, regularly hitting 500 W as I crested the climbs of my old stomping grounds. It was a practical lesson in getting comfortable in uncomfortable riding situation: feet wet from soggy socks; body heat and physical exertion fighting off the relatively chilly conditions; eyes always on the lookout for paint or manhole covers or fallen leaves.
Much like bike commuting in the rain, then.
It was also a good venue to test a couple of products to see if they were up to snuff.
The SKS Speedrocker fender set was pretty good, despite the fiddly reinstall process on the front fender’s forward projection and overall shorter coverage than the old Bluemels set I ran. I had no dirty skunk stripe up my back, and I didn’t eat any mucky water sprayed up from the road surface. That’s a pass in my book.
Shimano’s RX8 shoes shined outdoors, their only downside being lack of grip walking on a polished concrete floor. Everywhere else, they just worked. Despite running a well-worn set of SH56 multi-release cleats, the shoes provided solid power transfer while remaining comfortable…and when I was done riding I could quickly kick them off my feet with the BOA Li2 dials releasing all tension with one pop.
Grabbing riding opportunities like this was important and I relished it. Post-ride analysis showed I enjoyed the ride so much I had spiked my training stress score into the 160s. No wonder my legs felt dead the next morning.
Ever curious about following new technologies in cycling, I’ve dabbled with tubeless wheels and tires. After years of false starts and conflicting standards, at least on the road and gravel cycling side, the technology is now at a point where I could call it mature without putting asterisks after it.
That said, if 2023 taught me anything significant about my chosen sport, it’s that going tubeless can be dumb.
I’ve established in previous posts that one needs to prepare a lot of things to make the transition to tubeless. That much has been covered multiple times across multiple years in other media outlets, as well. What they don’t tell you though is where tubeless falls flat on its face.
I welcomed my son into my family earlier this year, and that meant a drastic reduction in the time I had available to ride outside. The only riding I had for ten months was all spent on the indoor trainer.
Out went my outdoor-riding rear wheel, with its 38 mm Panaracer Gravel King SK tire set up tubeless. In went my trainer-specific rear wheel shod with Continental’s Hometrainer 32 mm tire, which requires an inner tube. I left my front wheel installed, which also had a 38 mm Gravel King SK set up tubeless.
With my outdoor-use wheels now remaining stationary, no centrifugal force existed to keep the Orange Seal tire sealant running around the inside of their tires. Most of it dried out, hardening into large scabs around the tire carcass.
Worse, when outdoor riding was (suddenly) finally back on the cards, having to repeat tubeless setup was more work than it was worth. Removing tubeless Presta valves from my wheels required use of pliers – so stuck were they that the concept of sticking an inner tube into the tire as emergency roadside repair was bad comedy. Not only that; I’d have to charge up a 160 psi slug of air at least twice to seat the tires properly, inject sealant, and hope the entire system holds air for at least six hours.
Knowing that I’d have to go straight back into indoor trainer riding anyway, I just threw on a couple of inner tubes into my wheels and called it a day. Sure, I had to pump 20 psi more air per tire, but they spelled the difference between being ride-ready in 45 minutes, or being ride-ready in half a day. I just don’t have the luxury of time like I used to.
So, yeah. For folks who no longer have the luxury of regular outdoor ride time for prolonged periods, I suggest forgetting about tubeless and putting inner tubes in your tires instead. They will keep their air and stay airtight for far longer, and they’re much more accommodating of sudden outdoor riding opportunities after months of nothing but the turbo trainer.
Despite spending almost all of 2023 riding indoors due to parental obligations, I still found myself needing new cycling shoes.
The Specialized S-Works 6 XCs that I found in 2019 at a massive discount, and had dutifully served me since then, were now at the point where their ultra-stiff carbon fiber outsoles were separating from their Dyneema uppers. This was just the last straw in a long, slow process of these shoes just slowly disintegrating in other areas such as the tongue and heel collar.
My alternate pair, the Fizik Terra Powerstrap X4s, are still perfectly serviceable. However, they’re also not the last word in sole stiffness, which does count as a bonus on the indoor trainer and is something my sesamoiditis-inclined feet have appreciated as a welcome fit-related feature.
From arm’s length, the second-generation RX8 is a subtle evolution from the original – perhaps too subtle if not for the new colors and distinct split between the heel and the rest of the upper. The first shoe found a lot of fans, so this is clearly a case of not messing around with success. The general shape is that of a sleek, low-cut road cycling shoe, with just a touch of cladding around the toe box and heel cup as a nod to the demands of gravel riding. The shoe then tapers inward at the edges of the outsole, reducing visual bulk and making the road cycling shoe comparison even more apparent.
After the snafu that was the original XC5s, the RX8s are something of a throwback to my first clipless shoes, the RT33s. Both shoes eschew the traditional tongue over the top of the foot for a overlapping split upper arrangement, over which the retention system goes.
Where the RT33s had two Velcro straps, the RX8s use a single BOA Li2 dial and a Velcro strap on the toe box. Coming from the S-Works 6 XCs and their two BOA S2-Snap dials per shoe, I had read that a single BOA dial may not offer the same kind of fit flexibility across different zones of the foot. In practice, the BOA wire routing and anchor arrangement made this a non-issue, and the Li2 dial’s instant wire release meant taking these shoes on and off is a lot quicker.
Underfoot, the RX8 carries over the carbon fiber outsole of the first model, rated a 10 on Shimano’s arbitrary 12-point sole stiffness scale. While the S-Works 6 XCs were very proud of their carbon outsoles and exposed weave, the RX8’s plaid carbon layup is a little classier and more discreet. I’ve never been a fan of the weave pattern of naked carbon fiber, so I gravitate towards Shimano’s more subtle approach.
A few bits of rubber tread are stuck on for grip and protection, but otherwise the outsole is notable in how exposed it is to the elements and how relatively shallow the traction lugs are. While you could try using the RX8s for the high-speed hike-a-bike of cyclocross, there are no provisions for toe spikes. Nor is there any flex in that sole – the 10/12 stiffness rating isn’t for show, and walking is facilitated by the same lengthwise rocking of the entire shoe that also featured on the noodlier-by-comparison RT33. Suffice it to say, walking with these on polished indoor floors is not recommended, although the top of the shoe is a lot more comfortably padded than the comically thin tongue on the S-Works 6 XCs that made ankle articulation so difficult.
An interesting inclusion with the RX8s is a pair of arch support inserts for fine-tuning the fit. I have never come across any other Shimano shoes that do this, so perhaps this is reserved for their high-zoot stuff. That said, I typically don’t need these as I am very flat-footed.
FIRST RIDE FEELS
I fired up IndieVelo the next morning and put in a hard 100 minute effort with lots of climbing to test these shoes. I tested them largely in an unmodified state clipped into my Look X-Track pedals via a spare used set of Shimano SH56 multi-release cleats; I didn’t resort to swapping out insoles like I tended to do with my other shoes. As mentioned, I was a little worried about how these would fit after the shambles that was the XC5 for my particular pair of feet.
The BOA cable and its anchors are offset from center, eliminating pressure points.
The RX8s were spot-on right out of the gate. The size 45 E fitment was perfect, with just a little bit of breathing room for my toes.
Any lateral forefoot pain I had with the XC5s was a distant memory on these; I felt the outsole had a wide enough foundation to support the total width of my foot even with me forgetting to measure exactly how wide it was. Much like the RT33s, I could simply keep on with the business of pedaling once I had dialed in my cleat position; unlike those, there is less worry of my feet curling around the cleats because the outsole is much stiffer.
On-the-fly adjustments with the BOA Li2 dial are quick and easy, each notch delivering a palpable effect. The upper is decently ventilated too with all the perforations peppering it. Even with many out-of-the-saddle efforts, the RX8s did a good job holding on to my feet, and my power meter (via IndieVelo) estimates these shoes are worth a 6W bump in FTP.
That all this benefit comes at a good sight less money than any S-Works shoe is already very impressive. Over here in the Philippines, local bike shop pricing is even cheaper at PhP10,900 (~$195), and mine were discounted further to PhP8,500 (~$152) due to Built Cycles‘ November sale – just a tad pricier than the Fizik Terra X4s.
My main question with cycling shoes these days is “would I be comfortable riding in these for a 200 km audax ride?” I ended the trainer session without any real complaints from my feet, and it felt like they could carry on for longer in these shoes if necessary. Perhaps it’s still too early to hand a definitive verdict, but the RX8s easily feel like a spiritual successor to my beloved RT33s, just turned up to 11 in all the areas that matter.
No need to be apprehensive of Shimano footwear any more – these are GOOD.
the accidental randonneur 