New Shimano S-Phyre RC902 shoes hit the road
Top-end footwear by the Japan-based company gets further refinements
The new Shimano S-Phyre RC902 shoes feature performance-oriented tweaks to the company’s top-tier kicks for road riders. The shoes first appeared in 2016 in their signature blue colour. The new line comes in blue, as well as black, red and white. There’s a women’s shoe in white, too.
The S-Phyre RC902’s upper continues to feature what the company calls a surround wrapping. With the previous model, the surround wrap promised to accommodate a wide range of foot shapes. The upper of the new S-Phyre RC902 is built with the 360-Degree Surround Upper design. It further improves the shoe’s fit and comfort. “The new design delivers a surreal connection to the pedals,” says Jessie Gascon, Shimano’s lifestyle gear product manager. “The RC902s have remarkable holding power and provide the sensation that power is being 100 per cent transferred with every pedal stroke.” The uppers have perforations to let in a cooling flow of air. The shoes also have a new toe box to increase comfort.
Two Boa dials per shoe are once again used to secure everything to your feet. The new platforms have a more recent dial, the Li2 closure system.
Shimano took information from its Bikefitting.com fit database and used it to adjust the heel cup. The company wanted to reduce twisting in that area. It achieved this feature by blending flexible and rigid materials. The combination keeps the foot steady and boosts power transfer.
The carbon sole of the news shoe is the same as the previous iteration. It has a stiffness level of 12, the maximum of any Shimano shoe.
The previous pair of S-Phyre shoes, in size 42, weighed 232 g. The new S-Phyre RC902 shoes tip the scales at 235 g, the company says, for an increase of 3 g.
Look for these shoes in late October. They’ll run $600.