Stack height rarely leads a sales pitch, but it decides how close your foot actually sits to the pedal axle, and Shimano's Dura-Ace PD-R9300 puts that number at 12.5mm. It gets there through SPD-SLR, a reworked pedal and cleat interface that drops the shoe-to-pedal connection by 2.3mm against the previous generation. This is the first ground-up change to Shimano's road interface since SPD-SL arrived, and Dura-Ace is where it shows up first. If you have already spent your money on the drivetrain and the wheels, the contact points are what is left.

The platform grew as the stack came down. An expanded contact surface spreads load across more of the sole, which is what registers under real effort — the sprint where you are hauling on the bars, or the seated climb where your foot wants to rock. Carbon fiber-reinforced construction carries the body, in line with how the flagship pedal has been built for years. The reshaped profile also widens the cleat catch area, so clipping in out of a corner or off a stoplight takes less aiming and fewer attempts.

These run the new SPD-SLR cleat rather than the SPD-SL cleat sitting on your current shoes. The PD-R9300 ships with CL-SL110 yellow cleats at plus or minus 3 degrees of float, and the rest of the family fills in around it: CL-SL100 for a fixed position, CL-SL120 with 2 degrees, and CL-SL130 with a wide mounting range for riders working through a fit. Shoe mounting stays three-bolt, so anything in your closet from another manufacturer still bolts up.... Read More