Power transfer or all-round comfort and style? S-Works Ares vs Torch head to head

Specialized S-Works Torch vs Specialized Ares shoes
(Image credit: Josh Ross)

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: 

Josh Ross

Josh hails from the Pacific Northwest of the United States but would prefer riding through the desert than the rain. He will happily talk for hours about the minutiae of cycling tech but also has an understanding that most people just want things to work. He is a road cyclist at heart and doesn't care much if those roads are paved, dirt, or digital. Although he rarely races, if you ask him to ride from sunrise to sunset the answer will be yes. Height: 5'9" Weight: 140 lb. Rides: Salsa Warbird, Cannondale CAAD9, Enve Melee, Look 795 Blade RS, Priority Continuum Onyx

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