New products: Pearl Izumi presents X Project, a new category of mountain bike footwear.

LOUISVILLE, Colo.—Pearl Izumi presents X Project, a new category of mountain bike footwear that hikes and runs as well as it pedals a bike, the company reports. This performance shoe weighs in at 320-grams, with a patent-pending tuned carbon shank said to provide power transfer equal to any mountain bike shoe the company offers while offering vertical and torsional flexibility during off-the-bike foot strikes.

“For serious mountain bike junkies, cyclocross addicts and anyone who pushes the limits, the question isn’t whether you’re going to get off the bike and hoof it, the question is when,” said Tony Torrance, cycling footwear product line manager. Created with insight from four-time MTB champion Brian Lopes and all-mountain, BMX standout Ross Schnell, the X Project line is made with technologically advanced materials and tested specifically for the professional level athletes that wear the brand.

“For years mountain bikers have had to compromise a comfortable off the bike shoe for on bike stiffness and power; lightweight materials for more durable, heavy components, breathability for foot protection. This is the first shoe that can do both, superbly.” said Lopes “This X Project shoe is everything we have been dreaming of as we spend long hours on and off our bikes, trekking up hills, running through streams and forging paths when we’re not shredding the single track.”

( by AOB Editor )