Giant Surge Pro road cycling shoes review

The incredibly bling Giant Surge Pro shoes are impressively stiff, but best saved for those with narrow feet

Giant Surge Pro road cycling shoe
(Image: © Josh Ross)

Cyclingnews Verdict

Absolutely gorgeous shoes with an ultra-stiff carbon sole and a unique twist on the BOA LI2 dials. There’s a lot to like about the Giant Surge Pro road shoes but the exterior material and closure system holds them back a bit.

Pros

  • +

    BOA Li2 dials look great and pop open for easy on and off

  • +

    Exo-beam carbon plate is incredibly stiff

  • +

    Chromaflair colour option is gorgeous

  • +

    Resistance to toe overlap destruction

  • +

    Lots of ventilation

  • +

    Swappable insoles and arch support options

Cons

  • -

    Velcro strap does little to enhance fit

  • -

    Top BOA dial tightens too low on the shoe

You can trust Cyclingnews Our experts spend countless hours testing cycling tech and will always share honest, unbiased advice to help you choose. Find out more about how we test.

Way back in late 2015, Giant came to market with a shoe that was unlike anything else. It had two features that made it unique, ExoWrap and ExoBeam. Seven years later the latest version carries over the same two features but they are almost completely unrecognisable. There's actually a lot more of the DNA from that early model in there as well. The question is, are the evolution of those unique details enough to help the latest version of the Giant Surge Pro compete among the best?

With that question in mind, we took a few spins in the old shoes just to get reacquainted then we spent time testing the new shoes. Giant likes to name drop Simon Yates and Team BikeExchange-Jayco for their use of the new shoes but that's what every company does. It's not a bad thing that pro riders use the shoes but what about the rest of us? 

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