Rapha’s Explore is perfect for heavily Instagrammed gravel ridesMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
It’s a handsome shoe alrightMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The logos above the heel are reflectiveMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The anodising on the D-rings is a nice touchMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
That carbon plate looks lovely… for nowMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
Jazzier laces and alternative arch supports are includedMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The arch supports are easily changedMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The Classic is an all new lace-up road shoeRapha
If you’d prefer something lairier, both new shoes are available in high-vis pinkRapha
The Explore is a brand new gravel and adventure shoe from Rapha. By the lofty standards of the brand, it isn’t ridiculously unaffordable and it’s accompanied by a new Classic road shoe which costs a little less.
Rapha has been out of the shoe game for a while but the brand is back with a new road model called the Classic (which we first spotted at the Tour Down Under), and the Explore, designed for two-bolt cleats and aimed squarely at gravel and adventure riders.
It’s a handsome shoe alrightMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The Explore is a lace-up, walkable design with a chunky natural rubber tread. A carbon plate aims to give road shoe stiffness but, critically, it doesn’t span the full length of the shoes.Instead, it ends 3cm from the heel and 2cm from the toe, allowing a little bit of flex at either end that’s supposed to make walking easier.
The carbon plate is mostly hidden (and protected) by the rubber tread, but it’s visible at the sides of the shoe and around the cleats, where it lends the shoes a touch of highly-scratchable class.
That carbon plate looks lovely… for nowMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The cleat plates themselves are titanium for lightness and feature oil-slick style anodising, as do the titanium D-rings through which the Rapha signature faux toe-straps thread.
The anodising on the D-rings is a nice touchMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The Explore’s upper is seamless microfibre (i.e. a synthetic leather-like material) and its matt finish gives the shoes a very premium feel. Rapha designer Joël Salamin describes the upper’s construction as being “double layered and folded back on itself to create a double wall”, which is designed to distribute lace tension more evenly across the top of the foot for a secure but comfortable fit.
The logos above the heel are reflectiveMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
The fitted laces match the upper, but Rapha also includes a more eye-catching pair — the choice is yours. In case you’re worried about laces fouling chainrings, there’s an elastic strap to keep them tidy on the bike.
Jazzier laces and alternative arch supports are includedMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
Shoe fit is obviously a very personal thing, but the Raphas ship with interchangeable arch supports, so there’s some scope for riders to tweak things to their needs.
The arch supports are easily changedMatthew Allen / Immediate Media
This pair of size 44s weighs 722g, which is decent for shoes with a chunky tread, but unexceptional.
BikeRadar’s take
It’s easy to scoff as more and more product categories go gravel-specific, but more shoe options that don’t look overtly sporty are always welcome. The Explores are pitched at adventurous riders, but doubtless affluent commuters will want them too.
Matthew Loveridge (formerly Allen) is BikeRadar's former senior writer, an experienced mechanic, and an expert on bike tech who appreciates practical, beautifully-engineered things. Originally a roadie, he likes bikes and kit of every type, including gravel bikes and mountain bikes, and he's tested a huge variety of all three over the years for BikeRadar, Cycling Plus, Cyclist.co.uk and others. At 174cm tall and 53kg, he looks like he should be better at cycling than he actually is, and he's ok with that.
