Checked out the Rowan's in person today, they are so oddly narrow and pointy it wasn't even worth trying them on as it would have been an exercise in futility and a waste of the employees time. They have a wide shoe 'shape' at the metatarsal area it's still super skinny and the toe box is a literally a triangle; horrible.
Totally different shoe...where the OG Rowan had Half Cab vibes, the R2 is def leaning towards the Zahba end of the spectrum.
I wonder if this is the choice of the pro rider, or someone in R&D or even just randomly done, but some toe areas are so big and wide, while others are so narrow and pointy in consecutive shoes, even some upgraded shoes have changed like this over the years, eg Half Cabs - some older ones are way more rounded in the toe area than the more recent ones, which are squashing my toes right now in this new pair.
Older models I had I recall talking about a lot that I also pulled out not too long ago to compare to some current shoes:
TNT - wide and round
TNT2 - a bit more pointy
TNT5 very pointy
Rowans - lots of room in the toe area
AVE Sk8 low - very pointy but worked well
Rowley Shambles - very pointy
Rowley Solo - medium pointy but worked well
Rowleys in the yellow box I can't remember the name of, but they were a lot more round
A few team models I can't remember the names of but were very round and I would have bought a lot more of those, but they only came out more so in weird colours.
Too many others to go through right now...