The Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro is a shoe designed to do it all. While most high-end clipless mountain bike shoes specialize in one discipline, the Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro aspires to be your go-to shoe for everything from gravel biking to downhill. Does it live up to its aspirations? Yes and no, but for the price, you could buy two pair of clipless mountain bike shoes, one for each end of the spectrum.

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Rigidity and Power Transfer

Everything about the Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro is ambitious, and its rigid for pedaling flexible for walking sole is no different. After extensive testing, Pearl Izumi used a stiff, carbon sole from the cleat to just shy of the heel. This is where they determined maximum rigidity was needed for a shoe not to sacrifice any power transfer.

So, does the ultra stiff sole from the cleat to the ball of your foot transfer power as well in the real world as it does in the lab? Actually, yes. The X-Project Pro might give up just a shade of stiffness to the Shimano S-Phyre XC9 or Giro Empire VR90, but if it does, you would be hard pressed to notice it out on the trail.

Traction and “Hike-a-Bike-Ability”

Naturally, the reason that Pearl Izumi put so much emphasis on just what portion of a clipless mountain bike shoe’s sole needed to be uncompromisingly stiff to facilitate maximum pedaling efficiency was so that they could use a sole with flex fore and aft of that to facilitate a comfortable walking shoe.

While the X-Project Pro’s walking ability off the bike might not quite match its pedaling efficiency, you would be extremely hard-pressed to find a shoe with more flex off of the bike and better power transfer on it.

As for grip, the Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro relies on hard plastic TPU lugs topped with 3mm of soft, tacky rubber for grip. The wide spacing of the lugs means that the X-Project Pro clears mud very well, while providing some of the best traction of any clipless mountain bike shoe in our review. However, there is a bit less rubber meeting the road at any one time than on some shoes, but this is about the only thing the X-Project Pro gives up when it is time to hike-a-bike.

Comfort and Fit

The Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro is a comfortable clipless mountain bike shoe, if not the most comfortable. It fits a bit larger than its predecessor but still seems to run a tiny bit to the small side of true. Like everything else about the shoe, the fit is quite ambitious, using a customizable footbed and shipping with multiple insoles and inserts to help you dial in the perfect fit.

As for its closure, Pearl Izumi opted for a dual Boa closure on the X-Project Pro. While nothing beats the ease of use and simplicity of the Boa system, it is more prone to pressure points and more difficult to dial in the perfect fit than other shoe closure systems, although using one closure dial for the ankle and one for the toe does help this a bit. We think that this is one area where the X-Project Pro might have been better served by going old fashion than high tech, as a traditional lacing system might have made it the most comfortable and customizable fitting clipless mountain bike shoe in our review.

Durability

The lofty claims and ambitions of the Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro have so far been mostly fulfilled. Unfortunately, the durability department is where both the claims and aspirations of the X-Project Pro go to die.

The upper is not on par with any of the more all-mountain/enduro oriented shoes on our list, but that was not the real deal breaker. The tacky rubber mounted to TPU lugs that provides the X-Project Pro with such great traction stands up to very little of the hike-a-biking that the X-Project Pro was intended for. The tacky rubber begins to break down and delaminate after minimal hiking over rough terrain and continues to wear out quickly.

This could be forgiven on a $100 shoe, but not on one that costs $350.

Weight

For a clipless mountain bike shoe that claims to be a true go anywhere, do anything, no compromises all-mountain shoe, the 419g weight of the Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro is pretty impressive. While it is not quite on par with ultralight XC shoes, it is well at home on the lighter end of the clipless all-mountain shoe spectrum.

The Bottom Line

The Pearl Izumi X-Project Pro is almost a great clipless mountain bike shoe. It really does offer the traction and comfort off of the bike, along with the pedaling efficiency on the bike that Pearl Izumi claimed it would, and it does it at a fairly light weight. However, it simply is not durable enough for anything but XC use, and anyone doing enough hike-a-biking to appreciate its off the bike performance will wear this shoe down very quickly. In the end, we just didn’t feel that it was durable enough to justify its $350 price tag.

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