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Yes, I awarded my first 5-star review score recently to the Fairlight Strael 4.0, but my favourite kit in 2025 was the 3.5-star DMT Pogi’s shoes.
“But, you’re wearing a product you only gave 3.5 stars to,” one rival colleague remarked at a bike launch this year. Jokes aside, the insinuation was clear: if I thought they were so great as to keep wearing them, why didn’t they earn 5 stars?
This isn’t a vanity pick, though – some kind of justification that I am a bit like the great Slovenian. Nope, these just happen to be the most comfortable cycling shoes I’ve ever worn.
If the shoe fits…
The reason why I still wear the DMT Pogi’s shoes is simple: they fit me almost perfectly.
I say “almost”, because I’m not sure there’s a shoe out there that would readily wrap itself around my very thin ankles, but the last on the Pogi’s is a perfect shape for my also-narrow feet, while catering for their EU46.5/UK11.5 length.
The soft, knitted and partially elasticated upper is incredibly flexible. With such low-volume feet, this is a real bonus when trying to get a comfortable wraparound fit.
I’ve found other shoes I have, such as the impressive 5-star Specialized S-Works Torch Lace, tend to offer too much airspace inside the shoe, even with my own G8 Performance arch supports inside filling it up. The result? Laces (or dials) that need to be pulled in so tight that the shoe’s upper looks as if it’s being squeezed together, with inevitable pressure points.
I don’t care that the Pogi’s shoes’ fastening system is finickety to tighten and then tuck away. I never need to adjust them on the move – and clearly Pogačar is happy not doing so too, otherwise I suspect it’d be a Boa dial on his feet.
It doesn’t bother me one bit that I need to use a shoehorn to get them on, owing to a lack of traditional pull-away tongue. It stops me mashing my foot in lazily, and once they’re on, I don’t need to take them off until I’m back home again.
I also use Look Keo pedals, so I’m making use of the cleat-replacement mechanism. As a Shimano pedal user these days, I wonder if Pog got annoyed by the rattle of the floating bolt hole? Unlikely – he wouldn’t have been able to hear it above the cheers of his fans (he’s since upgraded to a ‘superlight’ version of the shoe with a lighter sole without said bolt, anyway).
The one thing that does bother me? The white colour of my test pair. Even Pog’s greatness can’t save his kicks from being spoiled by dust and rain, and mine are no different, while the white plating that covers the carbon outsole has chipped with my careless foot placements when clippy-clopping for my mid-ride caffeine bump.
That’ll hurt, especially if you’ve just spent a colossal £370 / $480 / €409 to own a set, and won’t be given free replacements willy nilly.
But make no mistake, there’s a black pair on my Christmas list.
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