My first Cycling Shoes, Shimano RP5 Black

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Bought my first cycling shoes two weeks ago, but only managed to receive it yesterday, due to special order of the colour that I wanted, black.

I bought it from Khass bicycle shop in Taman Perling, Johor. The boss was kind enough to hand deliver the shoes to my shop (ShaShinKi) yesterday.

Brought it home in the evening and can’t wait to setup the shoes to test out cycling. It took me quite a while to install the cleats and adjusting them correctly onto the shoes.

You have to adjust the cleats to the correct position of your toe’s bone, so that you can give the maximum power output to the pedals later. I have to install and adjust them at least 3 times to get the feel right.

The shoes came in a nice bright Shimano blue colour box. We always talked about Nike, Reebook, Adidas, Under Armor…but never Shimano shoes. But in Cycling world, Shimano is the KING, dominating almost all cycling accessories.

This is the first time I learnt about BOA system as well. My friend, Melvin, said that this is the best system to allow tighten and loosen your feet from the shoes especially during cold / hot day. So I opt for this RP5 model with BOA system. It is indeed very easy to use and you can adjust the tightness of your shoe very precisely.

Front part of the shoe is using velcro. I have to loosen it a bit as my front feet is large. A better or more expensive shoe will be using TWO BOA system, but that’s beyond my budget.

By the way, before I chose this RP5, there is a RC7 available in the shop for my size 45 as well.

RC7 is a famous shoe, but the colour is not to my liking, as white will get dirty easily and hard to maintain.

I didn’t know there is red colour RC7, else I think I might ordered that. Price of RC7 not sure, but I think is RM500+. The RP5 that I bought is RM420.

So I ordered the RP5 black. By the way, RP5 is available in white and camo (special edition), but seeing the shoes in person, I prefer black.

Bottom of the shoe is stiff, (stiffness index 8 by Shimano vs RC7 is having stiffness index 10).

My size is 45. I tested 43 to be too tight, and I thought mine is 44. But after testing out both 44 and 45 in Khass, 45 definitely feels better.

Pedaling with this clipless shoes definitely feels more power and easier. It is locked down to the pedals (I use Shimano 105 R7000 clipless pedals), and it is actually quite easy to clip and unclip from the pedals.

With clipless shoe, you are not only pedaling DOWN, but pulling UP in the opposite direction as well. So cycling is much more efficient.

Another happy purchase.