Mavic Chasm, found these on Chainlove for 95 shipped (sorry Kevin! Told ya to wait for me, haha). For a number of reasons, I’m beyond satisfied with dropping the bill on these shoes. As with my helmet, my previous shoes were definitely nearing the end of their life cycle. I’d been looking for a new pair of shoes on and off for about a year and a half now. It started when I first threw on the eggbeaters on my track bike. Originally wanting a new pair of shoes, I decided to hold off and see just how much more life I could squeeze out of them. Year and a half past, and I’m glad I held off on getting new shoes. I can comfortably say that I used these shoes to the end. The cleat had already been scraping, but I continued to ride in them. The cleat no longer has definition–it’s flush against itself and the cleats on my shoe are at least 3/4 worn down, if not nearing the actual sole of the shoe. I must have logged at least a thousand miles in these shoes, and I’m glad to move past them. I’d been looking at the Mavic line for a while now, ever since I first saw the neon Furys, I knew it’d be hard to turn these down for Sidis, they just have so much more attitude than black on black. I’d looked at the Razor, the Tempo, and the Chasm. While the Razor had been the best deal in mountain clipless ever since they came out, you can’t deny the ergo straps help distinguish the Tempo, Chasm and Fury from the rest of the clipless world. For a while, the Razor had even been on sale at Performance for about 60, and I was pretty close to jumping on them–the time just wasn’t right and, shoes weren’t on my list of priorities at the time. A few months went by and they weren’t on sale anymore, but instead went back up to retail and hovered around 100 till now. I was a little skeptical about the ergostrap too though, even though it’s “kevlar” wire, I’d been reading comment after comment about how sketch they looked… and if they snap, you’re done (unlike a full velcro strap which is hands-down trusted all around.
Some other things I had to consider were, the full carbon sole plate on the higher end models, which I’d read to be uncomfortable when walking around, and also whether or not I’d be able to shred on the bottom–since that’s one of the reasons I went mountain over road for the track bike. Personally, walking around though is the bigger reason. While I may not walk around school a lot, since I have the option bringing a second pair of shoes, when the time does come where I have to walk around a cafe (so euro.), or up a hill (let’s face it 46×15 can’t get me up everything), it’ll be far more comfortable and economical to walk in mountain shoes than road shoes. Plus stairs, I won’t even start on how sketch it looks doing stairs in road shoes.
I’ve only ridden these shoes for a few days, commuting to school and back so I can’t say I have a thorough ride under them. From what I have noticed, they’re not uncomfortably stiff (I feel like that term gets thrown around too often… SO STIFF!). My previous shoes were stiff, and hard–you couldn’t bend them in your hands, but too hard. Thinking back, there were definite hot spots around the pedal, whether it was from the lack of a shoe bed, or the actual shoe, I’ve noticed that with the carbon sole plate, the pressure and stiffness is much more evenly distributed around your entire food as you power down. I’m not sure how great the Mavic insoles are, and while they are definitely an improvement over the “piece of cardboard” I was standing on in my previous shoes, I’ve heard that they weren’t the greatest, maybe I will try some Specialized Footbeds one of these days. I was reading that the higher Mavic models don’t flex as much when you walk because of the carbon, and as a result–you get heel slippage, which I can imagine is definitely a possibility with these shoes, I even got a little slippage myself. A few extra notches on the ratchet and problem solved. Sure the sole doesn’t flex enough to be a walking shoe, but I’ll have to try out the razor to see what flex from “walking” in the lower end models due to a lack of carbon, really means.
The contragrip is definitely a plus, I no longer have to walk around in clogs and grab the attention of everyone around me. The best description of the contragrip is “rubber” instead of molded plastic. Hopefully, these won’t slip on rainy concrete. I’ve read and heard that the ratchet on the Mavic tend to break, and while I haven’t exactly been able to compare solid and weak ratchets, I have noticed that if you try and slide the strap in too close to the shoe, it doesn’t insert to the right hole, probably just a first-time user error though. Sizing, I’ve heard these run about a half to a full size smaller. So size up homies, I previously wore a Forte 43, and that equates to about a Mavic 9. Since my previous shoes had a little wiggle room, which you aren’t supposed to have with cycling shoes, I stuck with 9, knowing it’d be smaller than a 43. Let’s just say they’re cozy, and I like it. Finally, a pair of cycling shoes I’m not ashamed to walk into class with on my feet, or strapped on my backpack…
Paired with a set of Crank Brother’s Candy 3s
Any questions? I know there’s a lack of Mavic Chasm reviews on the web–I looked, before buying these… Let me know if there’s anything you want to know about them.
