2012 Mavic Fury shoe — First look

Lighter and more durable for the new season

Matt Pacocha

Published: June 17, 2011 at 10:20 am

This year Mavic set out a tall order for the designers of the Fury, their flagship cross-country race shoe: make it more durable, robust and lighter by 30g per pair for the coming season. The weight reduction is all the more impressive, when you consider that the current Fury is one of the lightest fully featured mountain bike shoes on the market, at 350g per shoe.

The ratchet buckle and strap have been improved – the combination of a stronger spring in the buckle and deeper ratchet valleys on the strap is said to offer a much more robust closure – and the ‘Energy Frame’ (the overlaid injected TPU material that wraps around the instep of the shoe, holds the buckle and provides support to the upper) has been considerably beefed up for 2012, adding much more structure to the shoe.

The buckle and strap are areas of major improvement for the new version: the buckle and strap are areas of major improvement for the new version - Matt Pacocha

The buckle and strap are areas of major improvement on the new version

The 'ErgoStrap SL' closure system is lighter by way of cutouts on the tabs, and it remains ‘customizable’ through a choice of three steps for the hook-and-loop anchor of the Kevlar cords used on the forefoot. The final big improvement comes to the sole in the form of uni-directional carbon, instead of the 3k woven carbon material previously used.

The Contagrip rubber tread and tread profile — the strongest attributes of the original shoe — remain the same. The 2012 Fury will ship with two sets of spikes in different lengths and sees a price jump from US$300 to $325; the shoe will be available in October.

Mavic's contagrip rubber tread is the best we've used on light weight racing shoes; it grips and wears well and the shape does a great job funneling cleat to pedal: mavic's contagrip rubber tread is the best we've used on light weight racing shoes; it grips and wears well and the shape does a great job funneling cleat to pedal - Matt Pacocha

Mavic's Contagrip rubber tread is the best we've used on lightweight racing shoes; it grips and wears well, and the shape does a great job of funneling cleat to pedal