[Closed] Five tens - which ones?

Impact Lows are awesome, and if you look after them (dry them out, etc as the do soak up water quite a lot) they last for years. If you just leave them to fester they fall apart pretty quickly. Pretty ugly in a 'special shoes' kind if way though. I've had 2 pairs since they started producing them and just ordered a 3rd pair to replace the first ones that have died.

Impacts have a much stiffer sole with more padding. Much better for long rides - overall shoe is chunkier.

The new Danny Mac signature version have a stiffer midsole than the old freeriders of the barons, which is a bit flexy and not as comfy on long rides, or as grippy.

All offer amazing grip though.

Freeflow bikes have some good prices on five tens just now. Got some Danny MacAskill freeriders for £57 recentley

[url= http://www.freeflowbikes.com/Product.aspx?brand_id=144&query=. ]http://www.freeflowbikes.com/Product.aspx?brand_id=144&query=.[/url]

Ive just bought a pair of line kings of crc and have found that yes they do grip very well on flats, however they are about twice as expensive as a pair of dc or airwalks and are not worth the extra money!

so save yourself some £££ and buy some other brand!

I love my freeriders. After using Adidas Samba's 12 for years, then I got some Adidas Berms which I though were pretty good. The five tens are in a different league.
I did need to change my pedals though. I used to have DMR V8's on one bike and Shimano DX on the other. I found that because the five ten soles are so sticky the pedal would roll if I tried to move my foot around on the pedal, which is not good for ankles. I now have much flatter flat pedals as is the current fashion but they have cured the pedal roll.
The combination is a big improvement.

i've got freeriders and suffer no loss of grip at all.

I can see them having a finite life-span though as they're showing a little bit of wear on the sole from spikes.

I found Airwalks have soles made of cardboard and an insole that slips after 1 ride. I binned them after about 2 weeks.

Sam Hill impact lows. Sixty five quid and removable inner soled which is a godsend for drying them out.

weeksy - Member

...I can see them having a finite life-span though.

I use freeriders (newer purple), the older typre did not have the stitched sole which people reported was a problem. They seem do dry ok and are looking good after a fair bit of mud punishment.

Grey freeriders aren't stiched. I think impact lows look pretty bad.

Comfy, super grippy (they genuinely do make a difference) and work great with my Wah-Wahs.

The 'Line Kings' look cool, they're a hi-top freerider and £58.99 at CRC. The back of the cuff has a cut away for pedalling.

Spitfires look good but suede just seems the wrong material for MTB shoes!

[img] [/img]

what was the problem with the unstitchd freeriders?

I tried on some impacts and freeriders, went with the freeriders, much thinner sole (still thicker than my old elemetns mind you), the impacts felt very tall.

Grip is in a different league to skate shoes, skate shoes are fine on good pedals (I never slipped once on burgtechs in my elements), but the stealth rubber is infinately stickier, it really does live upto the reputation for being too sticky! DC, Vans, Etnies and Element are all good, airwalk I found a bit pants, maybe it was just that model but the sole was way too thin so you could feel the pins and seemed to be made of foam which broke up quickly.

Can't comment on sole stiffness as I use orthopedic insoles to try and preserve my knees and spread the load over my whole foot to stop my arches from acheing or gettign 'hotspots' on the pedals, and they always add a little to the stiffness of any shoe.

Also tempted by a 2nd pair as they do take ages to dry out, they've been on the windowsill since a mildly moist (ok, it rained a lot, but my socks were dry-ish still) ride on Sunday.

Do they all still have cardboard footbeds/insoles?

Serious question - I'm not paying £90.00 for something that can't handle everyday wet riding.

Mine look like they have some sort of finourous material in there, dunno if that's the cardboard bit? They survived sunday which was 4 hours of constant rain. Bessides at under £50 they're more 'normal' shoe prices so I'd probably buy them over other shoes anyway, and if they last as long it's a bonus.

My Impacts couldn't cut it in winter, they just seemed to rot. Fair play, they never completely dried out for months on end just from constant use, so that's pretty hard on them, but OTOH my AM40s stood up to it much better.

Freerider's a better shoe IMO- less clumpy, thinner sole, and seems better constructed as well. Bit more splashproof and no bloomin cardboard. I nuked mine with Granger's shoe waterproofing spray which has also helped. Doesn't have as much toe protection, but I find it easier to just not smash my toes off things.

The unstitched soles have a habit of ungluing and coming away resulting in 😥 & 😡 as well as more leakage and premature death. Not cool for £90 shoes! A mate has the freerider pro, they look pretty good in the flesh. I don't like the clumpy Karver style, they look like goth trainers.

Footbeds in my freeriders look suitably high quality with a moulded support for the heel and midfoot. No cardboard here.

The tongue is absorbent obviously but the synth uppers in the new ones (don't know about old) dry quite fast. After a soaking weekend at Coed y Brenin shortly after buying them, some bails, muddy trails etc etc they get a wipe with a cloth and other than the nooks and crannies where dirt collects (between lace eyelets, edges of panels) look pretty newish.

I'm totally sold on 5tens for MTB and don't see myself going back. You can't reposition your foot so easily, which is weird at first! You have to actively lift and relocate onto the pins.

In terms of stiffness, twinned with a large platform they are very supportive (nano, wah-wah, electron/neutron etc) and the grip makes me feel more connected on climbs than my previous vans/visions. The sole is thin enough for feel, but thick enough to support.

Depens who you want to ride like...
Same hill? Danny Macaskill ? Danny Hart?

Ive tried a few pairs over the years. Not sure on the model as they came from the LBS but they all felt fantastic.

Freeflow bikes have some good prices on five tens just now. Got some Danny MacAskill freeriders for £57 recentley

http://www.freeflowbikes.com/Product.aspx?brand_id=144&query=.

Thanks for that, just ordered some. 🙂

I have both Impact Lows and Freeriders. I prefer the Freeriders, since they look less dopey. I wouldn't use any other brand on flats now that I've experienced the difference between 5 10's and normal shoes.

I went back to Impacts after trying Freeriders as I prefer the thicker sole and extra protection. Not bothered too much about the looks.

Impact Lows are bloody great.

The Freeriders are nice but I found they were like sponges when it was wet. I swapped to using the Impact Lows and they're so much better, seem a bit more water resistant and have thicker soles. The do look a bit orthopaedic though if that bothers you.. 🙂

I bought some Barons just after Christmas (using a combination of those cheap vouchers and deals, worked out about 45quid) and I'm still very pleased with them. My reasoning was this:
The Impacts soak up water like a sponge and looks pretty special....so no.
The Freeriders look great but don't seem to have much protection.
The Baron is pretty waterproof, has toe protection, but is very red.

I could deal with the red. I quite fancied some of the AM40s from shimano, but the newer ones are just too ugly for words. They're like rejects from the Tron props cupboard.

In reality, the Barons are pretty good. I ride hardtail predominantly and used to have a problem with my feet getting blown off (the pedals) on fast rocky sections. They haven't completely cured this but they deffinitely let me concentrate on riding a bit more and less on what my feet are doing.
Also, they are more waterproof than you'd expect for something so trainer-like. The material is like a plasticy vinyl that seems very hard wearing and stops most of the moisture. Mine are showing signs of wear though on the sole, a few chunks missing here and there.

Impact Lows FTW.

As others have said the are a bit absorbent but dry them out between rides and they seem to last well. Had my original pair for 6 years now and the sole is just starting to disintegrate. Will probably go for another pair at the end of the year.

+1 For the Freeriders and at the decent price from Freeflow Bikes.

Great grippy shoes that don't look "special".

just like post an update on this:

Grey freeriders aren't stiched.

I ordered grey ones from CRC despite the above warning, and the soles are indeed stitched, the pic on the CRC website doesnt look like they are, but the set I got sent are.

Not tried them other than in the street, but they are super comfy and do seem to stick well to my wellgo pedals.

Quick blast round Pitmedden at the weekend should give them a good test.