The not-so-minor details
Positives
Very supple fit, the soft upper sole conforms to the foot perfectly. BOA dial makes for simple, lightweight and great fit.
Negatives
Too soft in the sole to be considered a cross country race shoe.
Us
If you haven’t tried a pair of shoes with BOA Technology (dial adjustment, in place of velcro) enclosures, you’re missing out. These shoes from Louis Garneau offer the best of what a BOA dial can do to the fit of a shoe, in a super supple and close-fitting shoe.
The fit of these shoes is their best asset, primarily due to the supple material used in the shoe’s upper, and the BOA dial. They are quite soft to touch and it reflects when not fitted to a pair of feet, they lose their shape. But when on, they conform to said feet with upmost comfort. The fit is quite narrow around the toes, which suited us well.
They are not the stiffest shoes out there at all though, which is a bit odd as they are positioned quite high in the range of Louis Garneau shoes. The carbon sole may be made from the stiff material, but the whole shoe bends around the pedals quite a lot when riding. Mated to a trail style pedal, like the Shimano Trail or Crank Bros Candy, helps to keep a solid connection between the foot and pedal a sold one.
These are the type of shoes that at the end of the day when you take them off, it feels like you haven’t been wearing rental ice skates all day.
The removable carbon blade thing on the outside of the sole does next to nothing, and we were perplexed by it’s intention to increase stiffness of fitted, or increase ventilation if removed.
We’ve been using this shoes for many months now, and really love the slipper like fit, when compared to some of the rock hard shoes available. All day rides and standing around in these puppies is a pleasure, and when riding the give in the sole allows you to feel the pedals underneath you rather than isolating yourself from the bike.
The T-Flex shoes will suit a rider looking for a softer and supple fitting shoe that you can walk about it and wear all day, but perhaps not stiffest shoe for hard nosed racing.
Them
The T-Flex LS-100 features the BOA L4 Technology that weighs up to 2/3 less than other cycling shoe closures, provides a smooth, no pressure point fit, is an easy, efficient adjustment with one turn of the dial and infinite degrees of fine tuning, and locks onto place. The T-Flex Dual Density Outsole is constructed of a dual-density PU material that offers both density and traction when needed. The different angles of crampons allow for better mud evacuation. A removable carbon blade provides maximum stiffness when needed and when removed allows for cooling and ventilation.