Product Full Name | Specialized 2FO clipless shoe

Retail Price | £130

Available From | Specialized UK

Specialized 2FO Clipless – one of the best feeling shoes available

Although the classic stiff sole and technical upper of trail clipless shoes is ultimately more efficient on the bike, some riders look for out-and-out feel on the bike. Especially if preferring bigger pedals such as the Crank Brothers Mallet which offer the closest feeling to flat pedals you can get.

The Specialized 2FO clipless shoe is a neat looking shoe, sharing looks with skate shoes but actually packs a far higher performance than it’s appearance lets on…

The Specialized 2FO Clipless is probably the most casual looking of all the clipless style shoes available, so the high performance might surprise you when you get cranking.

The Details

With a upper made using thermo-bonded technology, there are no stitches to come undone, or panels to snag and tear.

The rubber toe box is really sturdy, and despite offering plenty of room for your toes isn’t bulky or clunky. The whole shoe has a surprisingly compact external – certainly slimmer than some other shoes in this field. A sturdy heel envelopes your ankle well, and the inside of the ankle is raised for protection against the crank arm.

The 2FO clipless uses a no-frills lace up design and has a simple elastic strap to hold the laces in place – but no flap to keep the elements out.  The sole features a stiff shank for performance pedalling – and is noticeably stiffer in use that many similar shoes.

The sole has a decent sized cleat recess, and cleat channels 4mm longer than most others for optimum positioning, Note the firmer black rubber in the area that the shoe contacts the pedal, and the softer red rubber on the rest of the shoe.

EVA padding in the sole makes the 2FO clipless very comfortable to walk in off the bike, and a dual compound rubber sole caters for walking traction with a softer compound on the toe and heel of the shoe. The area around the cleat recess is a firmer compound rubber to offer unhindered access to the pedals. The design of the sole isn’t exactly aggressive for off the bike action, and it offers similar grip to a pair of Shimano AM45s.

The cleat recess is named the Landing Strip, and it’s longer than most with an extra 4mm of rearward cleat positioning available – ideal for riders wanting to mimic the aggressive stance of flat pedals. It also has handy markers for getting your position matched up on both shoes.

If you like moving around on the bike, you’ll love the feeling of the SPecialized shoe on bigger platform pedals like the Crank Brothers Mallet. Photo Joe Hayhow

Out on the trail

The Specialized 2FO clipless shoe is instantly comfortable when you step in to it and has a surprisingly secure feel given it only has a lace up design. This is partially due to the toe box making your feet feel protected, but also due to the heel box that really does grip your ankle tight. At first this feels a little odd on the inside of your ankles, but after a couple of rides you get used to it.

I tried the 2FO’s on both Crank Brother Mallet E pedals and Shimano XT Trail SPD pedals. With both Crank Brothers and Shimano cleats, there is no strike on the floor – even with a spacer under the Crank Bros cleat. 

Clipping in on Crank Brother pedals feels excellent – the firmer rubber does seem to make a difference compared to shoes like the Five Ten VXi clipless. Support wise, it feels excellent on big bodied pedals, and made a perfect companion to the Crank Brothers Mallet E pedal – in fact probably my favourite combo to date for the feel of a flat pedal but the performance of a clipless pedal.

Our new favourite pedal/shoe combo for smashing out runs – Specialized 2Fo Clipless and Crank Brothers Mallet E. Such a great feeling combo! Photo | Simon Nieborak

How a shoe of this style feels on Shimano SPD pedals can be a deal breaker for me, and many others have come short in this department due to the shoe not contacting with the pedal and the cleat doing all the work, which gives a very unstable feel.  Thankfully the Specialized 2FO Clipless doesn’t suffer from this – and outside Shimano’s own shoes has the best feeling on the Shimano trail pedals we’ve tried. It’s easy to locate the pedal, and once clipped in to place the shoe is supported properly.

This combined with a very stiff sole means they feel amazing to pedal in. And certainly as stiff as many high performance trail shoes.

The 2FO Clipless performs impeccably on the bike, but it does have a slight weakness – the combination of lots of ventilation and the lace up design means they fill up with water easily. The saving grace is that they don’t absorb the water half as much as most other shoes so remain comfortable to use, and they dry out over night next to the radiator.

We say

The Specialized 2FO Clipless shoe is one of the best feeling shoes we’ve used on the bike – the sole really is excellent. Support; ease of clipping in and pedalling efficiency are the best we’ve tried in any shoe of this type.

Off the bike in muddy conditions they’re pretty useless for pushing a bike back up a muddy trail, and leave you skating around in the muck. But they work so well on the bike that it almost doesn’t matter! Most shoes of this type are pretty useless for pushing up – we’d love to see Specialized put some deeper lugs in the toe and heel to aid this as the flex in the sole feels great to walk in. 

Overall performance is brilliant though – they feel great to ride in, clean up well and will dry out over night when soaked. They’re also a great shoe for commuting and working in – if you’re able to wear more casual clothes – as they feel practically as comfortable as a pair of trainers. 

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