Every year more and more innovative products are put on the market for mountain bikers. While every one has their favorite, looking back at 2008, my favorite gear purchase ended up being a pair of shoes.
To be specific, the Impact 2 Low Freeride shoe featuring a Stealth Rubber sole by FiveTen, AKA 5.10.
Looking around, you’ll see 5.10 shoes have been showing up on more and more feet- for good reason. I’ve been using the shoes for everything from Downhill riding at Northstar, to All Mountain Rides in Marin. The sticky rubber soles are so effective, I’ve pretty much given up my clip-in shoes and pedals.The soft grippy rubber on these shoes work great in wet conditions or dry. Can your clip in pedal system say that? As a downhill/ freerider type, we want shoes that stay put with good power transfer, with the freedom and safety flat shoes and pedals provide. These shoes do exactly that.
Having ridden these shoes all summer, I can safely say these shoes do exactly that. My feet stay put regardless of the trail conditions, and yet I can corner and jump with the freedom of riding bmx platforms. For my personal style of riding, these shoes are perfect, and have enhanced my riding experience in a major way.
We’re a little late jumping on the boat with this one, but until a few years ago, sticky rubber compounds were primarily utilized for rock climbing applications. The sticky, highly durable rubber soles have proved so popular that FiveTen makes shoes using Stealth Rubber for hiking, trail running, freerunning, and freeriding, among other applications.
I would still argue that for certain courses, clip in pedals and shoes would offer higher performance, but in everyday riding, these pedals up the fun factor and comfort level in riding. We use them on uphill rides, downhill rides, or anything in between. FiveTen offers five models of shoes aimed at Freeriding mountain biking. Among these, a high top version of the Impact shoe with additional ankle protection we are very interested in checking out. Ideally I would use the Impact low for trail riding and the high for DH, shuttle, or ski area riding.
With a retail price of $105.00,the shoes are priced reasonably, and I have found the sticky rubber to be durable as well. After a season of riding, my shoes are holding up well, and still going strong.
Specs:
COLOR: Black
SIZES: US 7-13
UPPER: Action leather and winbuck with scratch rubber slingshot
MIDSOLE: PU
CLOSURE: Barrel lace
OUTSOLE: Stealth® S1
The 5.10 Impact Lowtops come packaged with black and white laces. We weren’t fans of the white laces, and switched them out for the black ones right off the bat.
read more about stealth rubber here:
So there you have it, our favorite gear buy for 2008.. however, I’m sure everyone has a fave, chime in on the comments below!
