The Fizik Terra Ergolace GTX is not your usual flat pedal shoe. There’s no hint of the skate-inspired look most flat shoes lean into, instead the exquisite build quality and design touches mean it has more in common with Gucci loafers than Etnies Kingpins.

It’s also very expensive, at £200, and Fizik hopes the attention to detail this affords will propel it into the ranks of the best mountain bike shoes on the market.

With a rip-stop upper, deeply-cut tread, and Gore-Tex lining, the Fizik Ergolace is, to all intents and purposes, an outdoor shoe

Design and specifications

To help justify the price, the Terras use a genuine Gore-Tex three-layer breathable liner membrane to make them ‘storm-proof’, according to the brand. The outer has a very slimline profile with offset laces on the outer side of the top of each foot and a thicker, deeply treaded sole.

This outer sole is updated from previous generation Fizik flat pedal soles and made by Vibram. It’s cut wide to provide plenty of contact with platform pedals, yet still looks more like a hiking boot sole than most flat pedal MTB shoes, like the Five Ten Freerider Pro and Ride Concepts Hellion Elite.

The Fizik sole stiffness is engineered to balance efficient pedalling performance with enough flexibility to cradle and mould around the pedal, and also to bend enough to hike up trails in comfort. The EVA midsole is reasonably thin, but with the outer Vibram sole being thicker, the foot is elevated off the pedals a tad more here than some rivals.

They saw a ton of all-day action from kicking out rocks while trail building to long rides in all kinds of weather and proved very tough and well made

Fiizik’s nylon outer fabric uses a tough ripstop weave to resist cuts and scuffing and gets squeezed together by a widely-looped lace pattern. The brand deliberately made the overall shape low profile so the shoes aren’t as clumpy as some flat pedal rivals, just in case you want to wear them out and about off the bike.

Performance

I spent a week in these Ergolaces riding and fixing trails at the ‘Ard’ enduro race I’m part of. They saw a ton of all-day action from kicking out rocks while trail building to long rides in all kinds of weather and proved very tough and well made through it all.

Fizik’s main shell is quite a bit stiffer than many MTB shoes. I found they took a while to bed in and dug in and rubbed a bit at the heel while doing so. They also felt tight at the top of the foot where the offset laces and tongue pressed on the small bones on the top of the foot. (Caveat: I do have quite wide feet, but they weren’t too small in terms of length). And while they did soften up a bit, I didn’t ever find them particularly comfortable; the Ergolace GTX is definitely never slipper-like and invisible on the foot like some rival models.

Vibram rubber just isnt tacky enough to glue you to the pedals, and the rebound damping is not slow enough either

On the bike, the Vibram sole is a long way off in terms of grip and stickiness from something like a Five Ten or Specialized 2FO, and also feels a bit plastic and solid, rather than squidgy and conforming. The tread pattern does slot nicely into flat pedal pins though, so there isn’t too much fore and aft movement on the platform while descending.

Fizik’s shoe doesn’t feel too heavy pedalling and the sole stiffness helps when getting about off the bike on rough terrain on softer ground. But, again, not having the same amount of outer sole tackiness as rivals, you don’t feel as surefooted on wet slimy rocks or woodwork.

A Gore-Tex liner is great at keeping water out, but there is always a way in – specifically, the big hole at the top for your foot to slip into

I’m always a bit wary of anything that claims to be waterproof, and Fizik has very sensibly termed the Ergolace ‘storm-proof’ instead. Aferall, water can always just find a way. In this case it’s via the ankle, but there’s no doubt the Gore Tex liner here does an effective job of keeping you drier if you’re splashing through puddles, riding in the rain or hiking about in soaked grass and reeds.

Mechanical grip is fine thanks to chunky lugs, but ultimately I would rather ride something with a sticky sole, like a Five Ten Freerider Pro

My main issue with Fizik’s shoe though was when riding downhill tracks over rough terrain my feet simply didn’t feel as planted as I’d like. While it was rare my feet came off the pedals completely, there were multiple occasions where my feet bounced up and felt light on the pedal platform. Many rival shoes I regularly use simply don’t budge whatever you ride down or over, and this is mainly due to a slower rebounding, more damped and sticker sole rubber.