Quoc Chelsea

A unique take on cycling-friendly footwear, the Quoc Chelsea boot is comfortable, practical and stylish. If you want cycling shoes that look good down the pub or at work, and function well for strolling round town or dashing through traffic, these are for you.

For a multi-purpose shoe like this, you want the answers to several questions, including what are they like for walking around; what are they like for riding flat pedals; and what are they like for riding clipped in. Let's take those situations one at a time.

Walking around

I initially wore the Quoc Chelsea boots round the house to break them in and after a few hours they'd softened up enough to be comfortable in medium-thickness socks.

A long stroll round the village wearing thin polyester cycling socks left me with blisters, though, so be aware you're going to need to gradually break these in (or get your feet used to them, whichever way you want to look at it).

Once that's done they're great. There's enough give and flex in the sole that they're comfortable, and, as mentioned below, an SPD cleat sits deep enough in the sole that it doesn't clack and clatter with every step.

Riding with flat pedals

The Quoc Chelseas are pretty good for flat pedal use. They're not as grippy as, say, Five Tens with their super-tacky Stealth rubber soles, but you wouldn't expect them to be since the sole here needs to be durable enough for walking.

With pedals that just have aluminium nubs the Chelseas held on well in the dry, even when I did some easy mountain biking. They're even better with steel-studded pedals, as you'd expect.

Riding clipped in

To fit two-bolt cleats you undo the screws to remove the cover plates in the soles. Mount your cleats (don't forget to Copaslip the threads) and you're away.

The cleat recesses in the soles of the Quoc Chelseas are deep. In fact they're probably as deep as you can get away with and still be able to clip in. That's good because it means you can walk around in them comfortably without much noise from the cleat hitting the ground, which also suggests walking won't wear the cleats out too quickly.

Nevertheless, clipping into SPD pedals was a doddle, and riding in them perfectly comfortable. I even did a three-hour gravel ride in the Chelseas. The sole is plenty stiff enough for casual and touring-style riding and for commuting, and they're among the best SPD-compatible shoes I've ever used for walking around off the bike.

> Buyer's Guide: Best casual cycling commuter wear

The only significant problem I had was that tiny pebbles can get in fairly easily down the cuff because it's not as snug as the tops of most boots and shoes. It's not exactly inconvenient to pull them off to shake the grit out, though.

What I've come to really like about the Quoc Chelsea boots is their sheer convenience. I can pull them on to pop out to the shops or into town and grab whichever bike I like (well, other than my Assioma-pedal-equipped road bike but then there's no way I'm ever leaving that in town). Town bike, mountain bike, cargo bike, all are happily propelled by the Quoc boots' cork-infused rubber soles.

Sizing

I found the Quoc Chelseas to be slightly on the small side. The last pair of Quoc shoes I tested, I started with 44s, which needed thickish socks to work well, and I eventually swapped them for 43s. This time I've gone the other way. Even with the thinnest socks I own, a 43 Chelsea boot is too tight fore and aft and across the ball of the foot and toes. The 44s are much better, to the point where I was able to comfortably wear them all day.

> How to choose the best cycling shoes for you

I suspect I'm in between Quoc sizes and which of 43 or 44 fits me best depends on exactly where and how the fit can be adjusted. The dials of the Mono shoes afford plenty of tweakage, but aside from the give in the elastic sides there's no scope to tune the Chelseas aside from waiting for the leather to stretch a little as it wears in.

Construction & materials

Unusually for modern cycling shoes the Quoc Chelseas are made from real suede. Two panels are made from soft, raw-finish material while the large panel around the front is waxed for water resistance. That came in handy on the descent of Rivey Hill, a track that can't decide if it's a bridleway or a stream. The outers got damp, but my feet were dry and cosy.

Being made from actual hide means the Chelseas will eventually conform to the shape of your feet, but as mentioned above there's definitely a breaking-in period if you're going to walk a lot in them.

There's no way you'll forget who made these shoes. I counted nine Quoc logos on each shoe: four on the pull-tabs, one on the outboard upper, one on the sole, one on the tongue, another on the Natural Fit insole and a final one moulded into the sole unit inside the shoe. Yeah all right, you need a torch to find that one. Oh, and when I took off the cleat-hole covers I found a capital Q, styled like a signature, moulded onto the plastic midsole. Cute!

You pull the Chelseas on with a pair of tabs at the front and back of the foot opening. Many civilian Chelsea boots just have a tab at the back, but being able to pull the Quocs on with both hands has to make them easier to get into. On these brown boots, the tabs are a cheeky bright pink with black logos; the black version has black tabs with pink lettering for a more subdued look.

The rear panel also has a large rectangle of reflective dots for visibility after dark.

Value

As far as I can tell there are exactly no other SPD-compatible Chelsea boots on the market, so it's rather hard to talk about the immediate competition for these shoes and how they compare on price.

Broaden the scope to include cycling shoes that don't look too much like cycling shoes and we liked the £89.99 Giro Gauge shoes (read the review here) and the £99.99 Giro Rumble VRs (review here), but neither of them have the quality GQ calls a 'spirit wholly undeterred by the shifting preferences of fickle footwear connoisseurs'.

> Buyer’s Guide: 10 of the best flat shoes for commuting, leisure & urban cycling

If you want something that really doesn't look like a cycling shoe, check out the DZR H2O and several other DZR models, or Chrome's offerings such as the Kursk AW Pro 2.0.

None of them really have the Quoc Chelsea's sheer style, though.

Who should buy Quoc Chelsea boots?

If you want cycling footwear that looks good with your best jeans or even tailored trousers, and that keeps its cycling identity well concealed, these are for you. That goes double if you want clipless compatibility combined with decent walking functionality that still works well if you hop onto a flat-pedal bike too.

Verdict

Unique SPD boots that look good and work well on or off the bike – the ultimate commuting footwear