Pearl Izumi had a bunch of new stuff on display at Interbike, but maybe the most exciting was the final release of the long awaited X-project mountain shoes. Ever since we attended the launch of PI’s wonder shoe, we’ve kept mum on final availability. The good news is that our shoes have been great, better news is that the only issue with the shoes that caused the delay has been addressed, and better still the green 1.0s will be available this week! The rest of the colors (2 colors for each model) and models should all be available by the end of the year.
Check out the rest of the goods including Pearl’s impressive new PRO Leader road shoes after the break!
The new super neon colors will sit next to the original black with neon highlight colors we saw back at the launch.
While the X-project is the high end shoe designed for riding as well as hiking, PI has updated the X Alp line as well with the new Enduro 4. At $120 the shoes won’t break the bank, and they feature a unique carbon rubber outsole to provide plenty of grip for your off the bike adventures.
Pearl has been teasing the new PRO Leader shoes for awhile, but the details are finally here. Wanting to produce one of the lightest, best fitting road shoes around, PI started with a 0.9mm thick, seamless Second Skin upper, which ends up the thinnest on the market. Power Web TPU material keeps the upper from stretching and keeps your feet firmly in place.
To attach the shoes to your feet, Pearl ditched triple Velcro in favor of one centrally located Boa dial. The dial pulls from both sides for a bi-directional closure for better comfort, plus it gets the dial out of the way in case of a crash. Even with the Boa, PI managed to cut out weight resulting in a 240g shoe.
