Shoemaker Quoc has a new Lalashan Collection that expands on their popular Gran Tourers with a new more performance-oriented XC adaptation, plus a pair of more affordable Escape shoes for riding on or off-road. And rounding it all up is a new pair of Lala slides, light & simple slip-on sandals for post-ride lounging…
Quoc Lalashan Collection of riding & post-ride shoes
Calling the new collection inspired by hunting forest mushrooms in northern Taiwan’s Lalashan mountains, Quoc pretty much doubles their shoe line-up across an even wider spectrum – now from road rides to XC racing to off-the-bike recovery. At one extreme there is the most high-performance off-road race shoe yet from Quoc. At the other, it’s as chill as you can get near a bike. And in the middle are a couple of simple but modern shoes for any ride in between.
It’s a pretty broad scope to drop into a single release, but Quoc unifies it a bit with a color palette of subdued pink, an earthy amber yellow, and sandy beige.
Quoc Gran Tourer XC mountain bike or gravel race shoes
Quoc’s Gran Tourer was their introduction to modern cycling shoes, targeted at adventurous gravel riders. In its original weather-resistant lace-up guise, it became popular for all sorts of off-road riders, and with a recent upgrade to modern dial retention more performance-focused riders took notice. Now taking inspiration from their stiffer, 2-dial road shoes, Quoc has given the Gran Tourer an XC upgrade.
Calling it the “ultimate, off-road adventure shoe”, the new Gran Tourer XC adds a stiffer carbon-reinforced sole and that second dial for improved fit adjustability, all while keeping the tough upper & popular Gran Tourer looks – perfect for gravel, cyclocross, cross-country, or marathon mountain bike racing.
GT XC tech details
The new shoes are now built on a much stiffer carbon composite outsole, covered with durable TPU ‘AL_Terrain’ MTB tread for good grip, but also adding thread-in toe spike for even more traction in especially bad conditions. A bit of a change from the other Gran Tourers’ GravelGrip lugged soles. Improvement in retention comes from two of Quoc’s own dials for more fine adjustment across the forefoot, separated from the main midfoot closure.
The upper is still made from tough “abrasion-resistant microfibre” with perforations throughout for ventilation, and gets the signature rubberized wrap-around scuff and weather protection of the Gran Tourer family, plus an extra TPU toe bumper. Inside the GT XCs add three different height arch supports to the insoles to further fine-tune your fit.
The Gran Tourer XC shoes sell for $310 / £240 / 275€, and are available now in Dusty Pink (sand+pink), Charcoal (grey+black), or all Black. The shoes come in whole EU sizes 38-47, with a claimed weight of 342g per shoe (size 43).
GT XC First Impressions
Unpredictable and unseasonably cold spring weather has limited our pre-launch testing time with the new Gran Tourer XC shoes mostly to gravel riding. But outside of summer XC race season, gravel feels like a great fit for these shoes. They are noticeably stiffer than either of the previous generations of Gran Tourers, making them feel even more efficient while pedaling the paved sections of our gravel rides.
In fact, combining the still pretty stiff upper with a much stiffer sole and improved fit adjustability, they have made a pretty efficient option for winter all-road training while keeping walkability. Plus, it doesn’t hurt that our small size 38 shoes are a lot lighter than claimed at 564g for the pair (282g per shoe). With better weather on the horizon, we’ll be putting a lot more kilometers in on these shoes off-road, but I think the all-road versatility will see them rack up even bigger mixed-surface distances, too.
Quoc Escape Off-Road gravel & MTB shoes
While the GT XCs take off-road stiffness & fit to a new race-ready height and higher pricepoint, the all-new Escape pairing simplifies the Gran Tourer family to the core essentials in order to create more affordable, yet still modern performance shoes.
The Escape Off-Road is of course the walkable MTB SPD clipless version targeted at mountain bikers and gravel riders, but still with plenty of efficient pedaling stiffness.
Quoc Escape Road shoes
The Escape Road is pretty much a carbon-copy of the Off-Road version, which is a good thing for endurance roadies. The upper is the same – just with simplified scuff bumpers – and it gets a stiffer road-friendly carbon composite sole.
Escape tech details
Both Off-Road & Road variants share the same simple synthetic upper with plenty of randomly dispersed perforations for venting, zig-zagging webbing guides sewn onto the shoe, and a single Quoc dial closure that with 3-lace points makes for very fine tension adjustment, even if there is only 1 dial – just like on the recently updated Gran Tourer 2.
The Off-Road shoes get a walkable glass fiber-reinforced nylon sole, with the same ‘al_terrain’ lugged TPU sole that wraps up into a toe bumper, just like on the new Grand Tourer XC. They also get the same replaceable toe spikes, and get rubberized scuff protection just around the toe & heel.
The Road shoes step up the stiffness with a carbon-reinforced nylon composite sole, add a small toe tread pad that curves up into a tiny rubber toe bumper, and get a replaceable heel pad for some walking stability.
The Escape Off-Road shoes sell for just $200 / £150 / 185€, and are available now in Sand, Amber, or classic all Black. The shoes come in whole EU sizes 38-47, with a light claimed weight of 311g per shoe (size 43) thanks to their simplified construction.
(Our 43s were a tad heavier at 315g a shoe.)
The Escape Road version also sell for the same $200 / £150 / 185€, in White, Amber, or Black. They are available in the same EU 38-47 size range, and weigh just 262g per shoe (size 43).
Quoc Lala Slide post-ride slip-on sandals
Lastly, the Lala Slides are Quoc’s first non-cycling shoes. They call them ‘athlesiure’. Developed for either hard-charging cyclists who need to let their feet relax after a long ride, or just as a lightweight slip-on for adventure bikepacking riders to pop on for post-ride camp life, the Lalas get their name directly from the Lalashan mountains.
Lala tech details
The Lala slides are pretty simple, but still pack in some good tech – and an outdoor-ready grippy outsole. Quoc designed the anatomic cushioned foam footbed to offer support and a secure fit, with space for air to move around and under your toes, whether still in socks or barefoot. Then, they bonded on soft, thick microfiber straps – the same durable Gran Tourer fabric – for durable but comfy hold around your foot.
The Lala slides come in four colors that actually create very different looks – from the all black that kind of disappear, the Sand tan straps with a black footbed for a bit of almost monochrome contrast, or the gray footbed with either Amber or Dusty Pink straps to stand out a bit more. The slip-on sandals sell for $50 / £39 / 45€ now in the same size range, with a weight of just 150g per shoe (size 43).
Lala First Impressions
Just because the snowy, cold & wet weather kept us out of the XC shoes didn’t mean we stopped riding. So tired feet needed lots of recovery time. To be honest, we wondered if we really needed a pair of cycling-specific slippers, but oh how we’ve changed our tune. The Quoc Lala slides are simple and kinda perfect.
Again, our little size 38 ones are quite a bit lighter than the average at 246g (123g per shoe).
Around the house after a ride they were super comfortable to slip on, and quickly became a daily favorite – whether there were bikes to ride or not. Justifying the price for a pair of slip-ons will always be a tough call, and a personal one. But these slides look great, feel great, and have probably been worn for more hours in the past month than any other single pair of shoes in the house. That’s our hot take.
All four new Lalashan Collection shoes are available now direct from Quoc, and from their retailer network.
Quoc.cc
