Hey, Hopefully I can help with some answers for you. I work for FLi, and we’re the UK distributors of O’Neal and we had a lot to do with the design of these shoes. They are even named Trigger after Tristan in the office here!
We designed the O’Neal Trigger / Stinger shoes to offer an alternative to the 5.10s for exactly the reasons you’ve highlighted. The sole rubber is a touch less sticky, but the waffle pattern means that the grip is similar, and because its a bit less sticky its actually preferred by many riders because it means you can adjust your foot position if needed a bit more easily.
We made the sole a bit stiffer because we’re finding more riders want a flat pedal shoe they can actually put some miles in on, so this was a conscious decision.
If you want some actual first hand unbiased advice, I can suggest you call Supernova Cycles in Newbury. Their shop owner (Christian – thats his name, not his religion 😉 ) has just had some O’Neal shoes to try, so he’d be a good person to ask, because he’s a very experienced rider.
http://supernovacycles.co.uk/
The shoes did feature in MBR a couple of months ago, but I can’t link to it because I don’t think its on-line.
Cheers
Col.
