I’m in the market for some five ten SPD shoes as my current Mavic switchbacks are on their way out. I currently have SPD’s on both bikes (ht & fs) but want to get better at jumping so will be switching over to flats occasionally, I fancy either the hellcat which I’ve tried on & feel great but are quite wide at the back, bearing in mind my current mavics are much narrower & have rubbed the chain stays on the bike (through 2 layers of heli tape but probably due to my riding style) or the maltese falcons which are similar in shape to the mavic but I can’t find in a shop to try on so will have to be an online purchase. Thoughts & opinions please ??

Two pairs of shoes. If you’re going to take the trouble to change pedals you might as well have the right shoes to match.

+1
I’ve hellcats whenever I’ve jumped on mates bikes with flat pedals its not been great, huge compromise as most of the stealth sole that would have been in contact isn’t there due to cleat cut out

If you only occasionally using flats for practising jumps (ie not long rides) get spd shoes and a 2nd pair of more casual style skate type shoes, 5-10 do a few with stealth soles, least then they can be worn off bike too

(I’d recommend hellcats, comfy all day and surprisingly waterproof but I also rub the chain stay, hadn’t considered it before but I didn’t used to as much before so maybe they are a bit wider

Fair enough if you just jumped on a mates bike during a ride but if I changed my spuds for flats then I’d also remove the cleats & put the “stealth” insert in therefore having a complete sole again… Not sure if the insert is supplied with the maltese falcon though ??

I’ve had Maltese falcons. Worst of both worlds for me. Bulky as an SPD shoes, and really hard and insensitive for flats. Flats you want to feel the pedal.

Buy some freeriders for flats, or have a look at the sombrio deals on CRC.

Quite bizarre, having read the online reveiws I thought people would be full of praise for both models…

the last thing you want to be doing is realigning cleats all the time.

Seriously?
You would go through all that faff of removing cleats, putting back inserts (not sure how long they would last) and doing the same in reverse
I bet you would do it once or twice before not bothering and getting a second pair of shoes!
There is other differences too, sole on spd 5-10’s is stiffer so not as good on flat pedals

Minnars are wuite good, like mine, not proper flats but good in a foot out kind of a way. The new Teva’s look great.

I’ve got some Greg Minnar SPD shoes and rode them without cleats on flat pedals at Triscombe for an uplift day as someone borrowed my Impacts. Didn’t have a single problem with them all day. That’s over 15 DH runs down very battered tracks and included jumps and drops.
Think they’re basically the same as HellCats.
If I give up on clips I’ll be just as happy running them on flats instead

Tom KP

Ps I didn’t bother replacing the blanks, just removed the cleats. No bother. Took about 30 seconds

Thank’s for the replies, I went & got some hellcats this afternoon & so far (messing about in the garden) I’m well happy with them although the wife & kids say they look like “special needs” shoes…