RoadR 520 Carbon Road Cycling Shoes

Lightweight. Stiff sole. Good power to pedal

Saw these reviewed in cycling weekly. Found them at Decathlon. Due to lockdown I was unable to visit the store. They were delivered quickly. Very happy with them.

Shoes are good and will do the job, the design is nice, and the fastening system is good However the model is particularly tight, even with 1/2 UK size bigger than usual my feet feels niggly on rides >20km. Also, there is a big problem with the 2 bolt cleats that has gone lose and cant be properly fixed which is extremely annoying (I had to super glue to stop the noise as i use the 3 bolts cleat).

After around 135 miles in these shoes all has been fine, however the 2 bolt cleat fitting (which I don’t use as I use the 3 bolt road cleats) has worked its way lose and creates an extremely annoying and surprisingly loud rattle each pedal stroke. As another reviewer has mentioned about the same problem there is no way to access the 2 bold cleat by removing the insole. To sort this I had to remove my 3 bold cleat and but some blue tack type fixing to stop them moving about.

I have had these shoes for about 4 weeks now and I've already put them through their paces. I can only give them top marks. I'm a UK 8 and the EU 42 fits perfectly. My only observation is that due to having slightly wide feet I've experience a bit of numbing around the big toes, a slight adjustment of my cleats and a loosening of the bottom strap has reduced this problem on long rides.

The shoe looks great, performs really well and is good value it also offers a 3 pin road setting or 2 pin mtb setting. Because I use this for road riding the 2 mtb slots are redundant, after just a few rides these have become loose in the left shoe and now rattle and cannot be reached by removing the inner sole. Otherwise a great shoe

Bought these shoes 3 months ago, and have been using them since. They have been great, however, after a week or so the left shoe has been falling apart. On the inside of the shoe, some fabric has come loose just above my toes.This fabric is now pointing down into my toes while cycling, which is very painful. I can't use them anymore and I'm looking for new ones. Based on my experiences I wouldn't recommend them.

I bought these as I have both look and SPD pedals and couldn't make my mind up. First of all they fit really well and transmit power really well, secondly the negative, on one shoe underneath the look cleat the SPD bits were loose this didn't affect the shoe's performance however it produced an absolutely maddening rattle, fixed hopefully now with some judicially placed placed plastic

Measured my feet by stepping on a piece of paper and comparing with the chart provided - the shoes were a perfect fit. Used them on several medium to long rides now (up to 100km) and have to say they're great value for the price. Getting in and out is super easy due to the Boa system, the vent system on the sole works great, no hot feet, no blisters - so happy I bought these as compared to some of the much more expensive products out there. I use them with SPDs on my roadbike and the compatibility is great.

It is stiff, well made and light. On the narrow side, so keep the in mind if you have a wide foot. Ratchet system in not BOA but works as expected. Best value for a composite carbon sole cycling shoes.

I had high hopes for these shoes as they're well designed and built, and backed by Decathlon's customer service guarantee. Unfortunately, there's some good and bad. The ratcheting knob for tightening down is top notch, despite not being BOA-branded. I found myself not needing to adjust the velcro strap across the toe. Attach points for both SPD and three-bolt road-type cleats make this a versatile shoe. Ventilation is excellent, with perforations on the uppers and vents on the lowers - despite working up a sweat on an indoor trainer, my feet never felt hot. The downsides: no outsole lugs to protect a SPD cleat, make these less versatile than shoes with lugs though that would perhaps negate the ability to accept 3-bolt road cleats. The biggie though: sizing. These run NARROW for a given size, most specifically in the forefoot. RULE FOR SHOE SIZING: buy a size large enough to allow for toe and forefoot splay without allowing your heel to lift or rub. Unfortunately, with my very average, "D-width" foot, buying in my regular size results in extreme arch pain after very little riding. Going up a size, still results in arch pain, while also allow my heel to lift. I ended up returning them after a month and going with Shimano XC series shoes instead which offer more room in the forefoot without heel lift. The SH-XC300 is comparably priced to the Decathlon RCR520, with the XC5 the next step up if you can't find the XC3. Still, I'm TACITLY recommending these RCR520s, if and only if you have very narrow feet. If your feet are average or wide, look elsewhere. I hope, in the meantime, Decathlon goes back to the drawing board and offers these in a wider version as they're otherwise a great shoe.

The materials and build quality are good especially at this price. The carbon composite sole is stiff enough, with no noticeable flex when putting the power down. Be sure to try before buying as the sizing runs slightly on the narrow side. I went one size up for this shoe, which results in a slightly looser fit at the heel. One downside is that it's slightly heavy (some other brands offer a lighter shoe at the same price point). Some details I like: The shoe upper is well ventilated so my feet don't overheat on long rides in hot weather. The rubberised inner at the heel cup prevent heel slippage when pedalling. The bumpers under the heel make for secure walking when I've dismounted the bike.