Italian shoe brand Udog isn’t perhaps the first brand that springs to mind when you think of the best gravel bike shoes, or cycling shoes at all, even. This is probably because until the recent launch of its new Distanza gravel shoes, it only had two pairs of road shoes in its lineup.
The Distanza comes in two flavours: A carbon soled and a composite soled version. I’ve been trying out the latter to see how they stack up against the best in the field, how they fit, where they excel and which bits are going to annoy you. Will it be a number one debut gravel single, or a difficult second album? Let’s fire up the turntable, torture some metaphors, and find out.
Design and aesthetics
Design and aesthetics go hand in hand with functional features, and perhaps in these shoes more than most. Thanks to the Tension Wrap System (TWS), which we will get into in more detail in a bit, the visuals are slightly defined by the mid-foot external straps. That’s not what immediately draws the eye though; that would be the hefty gum rubber outsole.
It’s the chunkiest rubber toe section I’ve seen so far on a gravel shoe. I appreciate looks are subjective, but my opinion is that it makes the shoes look rather ungainly.
There isn’t a great need for such chunky rubber over the top, or even in front of a gravel shoe. Yes, sometimes we push our bikes, but this has tread on the front and on top of the toes, with thickness rivalling some hiking shoes. Oddly, at the front of the base of the sole – the main wear point given the stiffness of cycling shoes – the tread is noticeably shallower. It strikes me as a clear case of form over function.
The asymmetry of the toe wrap has been implemented, I presume, to reduce the risk of tyre strike, and beneath the gum rubber is a second layer to protect the woven main material of the upper. The shoes would have been better without any of this rubber beyond the fore of the sole. They would have looked better, and been lighter, with no real impact on the walkability.
The sole itself though is well thought out, with hefty, grippy lugs for walking, and rubber between the midfoot and heel to better protect the sole on rocky ground and for when you miss a clip-in.
The main outer material is a woven construction similar to the Rapha Explore Powerweave shoes, with a soft…
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