Shimano Flint Hills Edition RX6 “Moonlight” Shoes: Getting Rolling – by Guitar Ted

A day after Shimano released a trio of new colorways on their RX8/RX6 shoes, Riding Gravel has the opportunity to show you the new RX6 Flint Hills Edition “Moonlight” shoes. To quickly recap the presser, Shimano is celebrating the “iconic Kansas landscape” with three new colorways, one each on the RX8, RX6, and the RX6W.

The range-topping RX8 gets the “Twilight”, the RX6 gets “Moonlight”, and the RX6W gets the “Sunrise”. Besides the colors, the shoes are the same as their standard counterparts.

Instead of giving you all the details of the Flint Hills special edition shoes, we thought a direct comparison between the RX8 and the RX6 would be good to do here. We’ve already explored the RX8 here, so the RX6, which we have not tested, is new to us and we thought it might be useful for you, the readers to know what the differences are between the two and if those differences are worth the price asked.

What It Is: Let’s get into the features of the RX6 and then we’ll take a quick look at some visible differences between the RX8 and the RX6. Here’s a bullet point list of features then on the RX6:

– BOA L6 dial– Stiff carbon reinforced outsole– Wider outsole for extra stability– Vivid inkjet printed graphics– MSRP: US $180– Weight: 274 grams (size 42)– US Regular Sizes: 38-46 whole sizes only

And to be fair, here is a feature list for the RX8.

BOA Li2 dialSynthetic leather upper Stiff carbon composite soleScratch resistant TPU outsoleRefined toe box fitVivid inkjet printed graphicsMSRP: US $275Weight: 268 grams (size 42)US Regular Sizes: 38, 39, 40, 442-45(half sizes), 46

While the list of features for the RX8 seem more robust, it’s when you sit the shoes side by side that you see that there are more similarities than marked differences. Let’s say its more like there are variances, maybe variances that matter little? We’ll let you decide.

First Impressions: The shoes look pretty bold in the indigo and lime-like greenish colorway. My daughter described it as a “Joker-ish” colorway, referring to the famous nemesis of Batman. Well, now that you put it that way…. But I don’t mind the bold look and once it gets dirty that brashness in contrasts between the green and dark blue will be muted.

Looking at the RX6 shoe you’d be forgiven if you thought it was the RX8. There really are not a lot of visual cues to let you know that you are looking at a less expensive shoe here. And when you really start to examine these shoes, that is further reinforced. The differences are very minor looking – to the eyes. Perhaps the differences will be more manifest in the wearing, That’s what we will seek to find out.

I know now that wearing a RX6 and an RX8 at the same time, the RX8 one on one foot, the RX6 on the other, I couldn’t tell you which was which without looking. Now, this was just walking around in my house. Again, I need to ride these to see if there really is anything to that impression.

So Far… The RX6 “Moonlight” Flint Hills Edition is perhaps a bit polarizing in its bold hues, but underneath that inkjet design is a shoe with a very similar design to the venerable RX8 gravel shoes we have found to be quite good here at Riding Gravel. Are the differences between the two models significant enough to warrant choosing one model over the other? This is what we hope to discern with this test.

Stay tuned for a comparison post after a month or so of riding.

Note: Shimano sent over the RX6 Flint Hills Edition Moonlight shoes at no charge for test and review. We are not being paid nor bribed for this review and we will always strive to give our honest thoughts and opinions throughout.