Lake CX302

The Lake CX302 is an incredibly stiff pair of road shoes thanks to a supportive, handmade, carbon fibre sole mated to a plush upper for extra comfort. A wide range of sizes are on offer too, plus you can also go wide or extra wide should your feet demand it. It's important to get the length right, though, as the rounded toe-box isn't as forgiving as some.

Check out our guide to the best road cycling shoes for more options.

> Buy now: Lake CX302 for £299.99 from Lake Cycling

Lake describes the CX302 as a lightweight climbing shoe, and at 506g for this pair of 44.5s on our scales they weigh less than the £439.99 Scott Road RC Ultimates, and only a few grams more than the knitted DMT KR SL lace-ups, so I'd agree with Lake on that one.

They are breathable, too, with plenty of mesh panels running along the sides, along with some small air holes on the sole as well as entry and exit ports, which allow wind to blow through the shoes under your foot.

In the very hot conditions we've seen lately they make a noticeable difference, especially when paired with some lightweight summer socks.

Upper & fastenings

The upper is made from a synthetic microfiber leather from Clarino, and it's a plush-feeling material. It's supple so moulds to your foot shape well, and when it's hot there is enough stretch that it can cope with your feet swelling up a bit.

The Li2 Boa dials are easy to adjust as you can tweak their tension by rotating them in both directions (left-loosie, righty-tighty), and a pull on the dial fully releases the tension.

The tongue of the shoe is nicely padded, which helps spread the tension of the Boa cable so you don't get any hot spots where they stretch over the top of your foot.

Other neat details include the reflective heel tab and the grippy material found on the inside of the heel to stop your foot rising on the upstroke.

White and Metal Black are the two colours available alongside the bright yellow on test, which I think looks the business as well as being eye-catching, and the CX302s are well made throughout.

Sole

The CX302s use Lake's CFC 3K carbon sole which is handmade. I very much like the shape as it has a gentle arch under the foot giving support without being too pronounced, and considering that its profile isn't that thick, its overall stiffness is very impressive.

There are plenty of markings for cleat alignment, although there is only about 8mm of fore and aft adjustment which is less than some – the Suplest Edge+ 2.0, for example, has closer to 12mm.

Fit & sizing

I found the shape of the CX302s a bit different to many others, with a very rounded toe-box. The Giant Surge Pro shoes, for example (shown in the picture below for comparison), are longer and more pointier even for the big toe. I found the shape of the Giants a more comfortable fit, but as long as you get the sizing right on the Lakes you should have no issues.

Feet sizes from 39 right up to 50 are catered for, with many half sizes too. The best thing to do is use Lake's sizing chart, which gets you to measure your foot length and add 5mm. You can also measure the width to see if you need the wide or extra wide fit too.

Value & conclusions

At £299.99 the CX302s are not cheap, but they are made from some top-end materials and finished to a very high quality. They certainly won't let you down on the performance front either.

The Giants I mentioned above come with a similar build spec and performance and cost the same, while the Suplests are much more expensive at £369.99. The Scotts I mentioned at the top of the review are over 400 quid.

In terms of stiffness and weight, the CX302s compete with any of those shoes mentioned above, and considering they are cheaper than two out of three of them, by a decent margin, they aren't excessively expensive.

For me personally, with their rounded toe-box they don't quite fit me as well as some other shoes, but that's the only thing I would consider a downside.

Verdict

Very stiff, light and comfortable, although the round toe-box won't suit everyone