Five Ten Impact VXi Clipless shoe.

For 2014 Five Ten has done a full revamp on its already popular Impact shoe. In conjunction with Greg Minnaar and the other Five Ten athletes, the new Impact VXi has been designed to be the best downhill-specific shoe on the market. The new Impact is still equipped with Five Ten’s tried and tested Stealth MI6 rubber – with great grip on all surfaces, it would be silly not to use it – and the main change is the overall design of the shoe. It is a lot slimmer and more compact than in previous years, and also in comparison to other downhill-specific shoes on the market.

At first I didn’t really like the new look: they reminded me of the shoes I had to wear in Year 7 for school, which were so not cool. After adding the spare coloured laces provided, though, my mind was changed. They have slimmed down a lot from previous years, but haven’t lost any robustness. After hitting a rock at high speed with my left foot and not breaking my toe or even damaging the shoe, I was very happy with the Impact’s strength. Slimming the shoe down has reduced its weight, so they are easy to pedal in, and they also haven’t lost any comfort; even though they look fairly tight I could be wearing slippers, they are that comfy.

One issue I did have with the shoes was how hot and sweaty my feet got when out riding. This caused next to no real discomfort, but I would still prefer not to have soaking feet at the end of an otherwise dry ride.