Five Ten Sleuth DLX Mountain Bike Shoes Men's

Product Information

So let’s dispense with any ambiguity upfront — the Five Ten Freerider Contact is extremely adept at keeping your foot on the pedals. But if you’re like me and actually prefer a bit less grip in exchange for easier foot adjustments, the Powerline’s DST 4. While I can’t objectively say that the Powerline’s D30 inserts at the ankle were noticeably more protective than a non-D30 material (mostly cause the other shoes I use are all low-cut), I’ve learned to trust that material in other products.

The Shift’s midsole and outsole are extremely pliable and feel very thin underfoot, particularly under the ball of the foot. soles is that they become too flexy, even before the rubber wears out, and then you can have support problems. The plain Freerider is slightly tougher than Sleuths, but it’s mostly an esthetic styling thing from what I can tell. But the absolute key significant thing that the Freerider Pros have over the regular Freerider is a moulded EVA midsole.Ha, I figured we might get a comment like this, which is why we noted at the top that we will be doing more reviews of shoes from more brands in the future; we just wanted to put this out right now since we’ve spent a lot of time in these particular shoes at this point. But if you’re looking for a dedicated mountain bike shoe or a mountain bike shoe that you’ll also use for walking around town, I’d opt for a grippier, more protective, and more cushioned option like the Five Ten Sleuth and Sleuth DLX. Most of the models listed below have been fully reviewed by our expert in-house test team, and links to the reviews can be found alongside the product info for each shoe. Sure, a slightly less sticky shoe might be easier to reposition, but once I get my feet planted on S1 Stealth, they’re not going to need repositioning unless I willingly take them off (or really screw up).

The low profile, while looking good, did cause some pressure on the tops of some of our test riders' toes, especially those with "blockier" toes. Alternatively, check the Fizik Terra Atlas, providing a more generously fitting shoe making it suitable for wider feet.As I said, there isn’t any tread interfering with the rider moving or twisting their foot a certain way. For me, this is a welcome feeling in technical downhill terrain where I might need to correct my foot position without losing contact with the bike. This seemed like a combination of the midsole and the fixed insole, which is pretty soft when compared with other shoes. We felt the Sleuth lives up to the expectations of a casual shoe that still rides well enough for shorter rides. Same issue with ski boots… I can fit narrower midfoot boots/shoes on, but after several minutes of descending, it feels like someone’s been beating on the bottoms of my feet with sticks.

But if you’re not a fan of the more “classic-looking” flat-pedal shoes, prefer a slightly softer sole, want to save a bit of money, and / or plan on frequently using your flats shoes around town, the Sleuth DLX is the best “transitional” mountain bike shoe I’ve used. The result is that they strike a really good balance of water resistance when stepping in shallow puddles and the like, without being total sweatboxes. The Freerider Contact / Vault combination of shoe and pedal has been my go-to for a while now (and easily my favorite that I’ve ever tried), and I’m relatively loath to test anything that takes me away from that combo.In this roundup, we’re comparing several of the different flat shoes that we’ve been using over the past few seasons and highlighting what makes them stand out, where they excel, where they do not, and hopefully help you figure out if they’d work well for you. Where they stand out is the sole has the most grip of all of them and they are ridiculously comfortable. Particularly, the Sleuth’s small dots on its tread have many small chunks missing from them, though the height / thickness of the dots hasn’t worn down.