Road cycling shoes are incredibly diverse and the breadth of options is somewhat staggering. Whatever you are looking for there is an option out there, and our guide to the best cycling shoes, despite being one of our longer lists, is only a small slice. Even among all that competition we still have two Specialized S-Works level shoes in there.
The reason, of course, is that Specialized makes some of the best road cycling shoes on the market. The other reason is that it makes a lot of shoes, and not just a lot of shoes across the lineup of pricing either. Unlike most brands, Specialized makes a lot of top-tier shoes that each cater to small differences in riding styles, as broken down below:
- S-Works 7: All-rounder
- S-Works 7 Vent: Hot weather and indoors
- S-Works 7 Lace: All-rounder, lace-up, classic aesthetic
- S-Works Exos: Lightweight, hot weather
- S-Works Ares: Power transfer, a sprinters shoe
- S-Works Torch: All-rounder
Whichever S-Works shoe you buy, you can expect to spend a considerable amount of money on a high-performance product, but with so many, what are the differences?
The S-Works Torch is the latest of the options from Specialized, so it’s natural to wonder if that means it’s the best. Having spent a lot of time in both the S-Works Torch and the earlier S-Works Ares, we are ready to discuss how they compare. Keep reading to see how they differ and which one makes sense for you.
S-Works Ares
The tag line for the Ares is “Faster at the finish line.” There’s also quite a bit of info about how they are one per cent faster at the finish line than anything Specialized ever made before. That claim comes from the beginning of 2021, long before the S-Works Torch, but it’s still an indication of the focus of the shoe. Developed together with Tour de France sprinters Sam Bennett and Mark Cavendish, this is a shoe designed for sprinting.
What that means in practical terms is that the design keeps the foot in contact with the sole no matter how explosive your power output might be.
Getting there means a couple of things: the…
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