Giro Factor ACC road shoes

Giro have made quite a mark in the cycling shoe market over the past handful of years, and the updated Factor ACC is a lighter incarnation of an already very good high performance shoe, making it perfect for racers and serious sportivista.

The changes aren't radical, but small tweaks to a shoe that in 2012 road.cc summed up as "like wearing your favourite slippers with cleats on".

The main changes to the new Factor ACCs are to be found in the sole. The Easton EC90 carbon fibre sole has been stiffened up - not that it was previously lacking - and it's lost a bit of weight. The size 45 pair tested weighed just 620g on my scales. That compares very favourably with other similarly priced high performance shoes, but not as light as the similarly priced 560g Bontrager XXX shoes.

Setting up cleats on the sole is easy, with a load of markers to help you perfectly line up the cleats, and easily replicate the position on the other shoe. It's a three-bolt hole layout, compatible with most common cleat systems. There's no Speedplay-specific 4-bolt version though, which as a Speedplay user I would like to see.

The Factor ACCs use a combination of two Velcro straps and ratchet strap. The revised MR-1 buckle has a lower profile design than the old shoes, and provides enough micro-adjustment to get just the right amount of squeeze on the foot. It's a two-way buckle and getting the shoes off is a cinch.

It usually takes a while to get used to new shoes. Not the case with these shoes, they were comfortable out of the box. The lightweight and breathable Evofiber upper wraps over the top of the shoe and moulds well to the shape of the foot. So good was the fit, that I found little tension was required in the two velcro straps, with just the ratchet used to keep the shoes securely on the foot. This keeps the pressure across the top of the foot to a minimum.

Giro make a big thing about fit, and shoe fit is vitally important as anyone who has suffered from sore feet or hotspots will know. The Factor ACC shoes come supplied with Giro's SuperNatural Fit Kit, which provides a number of arch support inserts.

I found the stock setup very comfortable out of the box. It's nice to have the option to adjust the fit if you're confident of making changes yourself, without seeing a specialist. After a few rides I changed the soles for a Specialized BG insole though, which is purely down to personal preference and something I do with all shoes, road and mountain bike.

Thew latest Giro Factor ACC shoes are high performance shoes with an extremely stiff sole ideal for racing and demanding cyclists, with easily adjustable insoles and a light weight. Other colours are available if the white isn't to your tastes, sizes range from 40 to 48 and there are half sizes too.

Verdict

Impressively stiff and light race shoes with adjustable sole inserts