Lake MX175 Shoes

Paul Horta-Hopkins

Mid range MTB shoes from Lake promise top performance and comfort.

We recieved a pair of Lake MX175 shoes to try out this summer, let’s hope the weather gods play fair and we get to test them in the dry!

The Lake MX175 shoe is a smart looking shoe available in goes-with-everything black. Some jazzy red and white shoes are shown on the Lake website, but not sure how easy they are to find. Lake have a gone for some premium natural materials on the MX175, which make it stand out against it’s competitors.

The Lake MX175 comes in three colourways, we chose fashionable black

Most noticeable amongst these is the leather uppers and not just any leather either. This is Action Leather, a breathable split leather with a PU surface treatment. The PU treatment helps increase water resistance and reduces some of the leathers natural stretch. It also smells great! There’s nothing like the aroma of a real leather shoe, it oozes luxury and opening the Lake MX175 box was a real treat. The leather also allows for some stretch which should create a more comfortable shoe as the uppers mould to your foot shape.

The Lake MX175 feels like a luxury item, it’s all that real leather

Next on the list of natural ingredients is a Real Rubber outsole. This should give a little more grip on the great outdoors and the rubber lugs have a little flex in them to help you through the muck. The sole has a standard SPD fitting and is made from Fiberglass-injected Hi-Impact Nylon. The last is Lake’s Competition Last that is shaped for optimal power transfer and comfort. This puts the foot in a position over the spindle, but still allows for a comfortable forefoot on long distance rides. The comfort factor will be put to the test by the time you read this as this was my shoe of choice for the Wiggle CX Century, a 100 mile cyclo-cross sportive.

This will be a chance to try out the BOA closure system

The MX175 uses a BOA closure for adjustable fitting and includes a quick release loop at the top of the foot to help releasing tension. I’m interested to see how the BOA system works as I’ve not had it on a pair of shoes yet, it promises to spread the load over the foot. This should create a more comfortable fit, combined with the leather uppers I’m looking forward to saying goodbye to sore feet.

Real Rubber sole and some removable toe spikes on the Fibreglass and Nylon sole

So the Lake MX175 promises performance and comfort, perfect for long distance rides. I’ll also try them out in some summer ‘cross leagues and general bye-way bashing. I might also have to buy in a tin of shoe polish to keep them looking good.

Lake

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