My poor old bike shoes where literally falling apart, they served me well, but it’s time to retire them.

I wanted a good pair of Triathlon specific cycle shoes, shoes that are designed to be clipped onto the bike so that you can run barefoot out of transition, then insert your feet and strap up once you start cycling (saving time) The Specialized Trivent SC is the latest edition of Specialized’s Tri specific shoe.

The key to a triathlon shoe is ease of entry, you need to be able to quickly insert your foot, strap up and race, you also need to be able to quickly remove your foot while riding up to T2.

The Velcro straps are large and easy to grab and they feature a little tag (just above the D on the specialized logo) this allows the strap to be locked into an open position.

To aid pulling the shoes on while riding, there are finger straps on the heel.

The heel straps are twisted so that they always remain open and there are handy rubber grippers inside.

There is also a toe strap for fine tuning the fit

Another great feature is the hooks to allow for elastic bands to be attached.

When you leave your shoes clipped onto your bike for fast transition, the shoes need to be held in a horizontal position and not hanging down vertically. To do this elastic bands are used, connecting the heel of the shoe to the fame of the bike. The elastic will snap when you start pedaling.

The sole is carbon fibre, so very stiff. It has rubber pads on the heel and toes to give some grip when walking and features a drain/vent under your little toe.

Cleat attachment is only via the 3 hole standard fitting, so if you fit for example Shimano SBD’s (2 hole), you will need an adapter plate. There is a nice grippy surface texture on the sole to prevent the cleats from slipping.

The shoe is designed to Specialized’s Body Geometry philosophy, which they describe as: -

Body Geometry Footbeds are ergonomically designed and scientifically tested to increase power, endurance, and comfort by optimizing hip, knee, and foot alignment.

They are certainly very comfortable, I’ve done many miles and a few races in them now with no issues. For me, the fit is snug and secure and hasn’t caused the occasional cramping I would get from my previous shoes.

So far I’m very happy with these shoes, they are comfortable and very well built.

Getting into them on the bike is getting easier as the upper softens up a bit, at first they were quite stiff and a struggle to pull over my heels. The nice big heel loops certainly helped.

Stiff, light, well ventilated and very comfortable.