About this deal
When riding, you can feel that the shank of the shoe is softer than most dedicated MTB shoes, especially lighter, more XC-oriented options, and this does decrease the feeling of instant power transmission when you stomp on the pedals. On bigger rides or longer days in the saddle, my foot / arch would often also feel more tired than I’m used to due to the increased flex. The wider toe box (than the Five Ten and Pearl Izumi shoes that I normally wear) does also allow more movement from the front of your foot, which makes it feel like less of a performance fit in the front half of this shoe. But these same traits are very welcome when hiking in the Trailcross. The softer sole helps avoid that awkward heel-first rolling step I find myself often adopting in shoes with a stiffer sole, and the wider toe box gives your feet (toes) a bit of room to spread apart and increases stability when walking. I found the shoes very comfortable on long rides. The upper half of the shoe helps here too. The laces allow control over the tension of the shoe’s upper. I didn’t find tension migrated across the laces during a day’s ride, and the Velcro strap didn’t press the lace’s knot into the top of the foot, even with the thin tongue. The proprietary EVA mid-sole is said to have the necessary toe flex for walking, but without sacrificing the stiffness needed for effective power transfer in the rest of the shoe. Thanks to the Gore-Tex membrane, the Trailcross GTX can be comfortably submerged in water up to the membrane’s limit for prolonged periods (I submerged them for 20 minutes) without any ingress.
The heel doesn’t feature particularly bulky protection. There’s ample padding around the heel, though, with a fairly well-defined heel cup.Adidas Five Ten regularly features in our list of the best mountain bike shoes, but the footwear king has an extensive and sometimes confusing range of options. Such that, shoes that look similar can often perform differently on the trails, thanks to different materials, construction and rubber. Which is why we’ve created this guide to which Adidas Five Ten shoes are right for you. Five Ten mountain bike shoe models From what we call see, the only MTB shoe not offered in a Women’s version is the Kestrel Pro Boa clip-in DH race shoe. Recommended models Kestrel (XC/trail), Hellcat Pro (DH), Hellcat (DH/enduro), Hellcat Pro BOA (DH/enduro racing with BOA closure)
With platform pedals, the shoe effectively and comfortably transfers pedalling power, all day. It’s not race-shoe stiff either, which further aids all-day comfort.
Five Ten Kestrel Lace
They are truly waterproof, then, especially given on-trail wettings will be splash-based or, at the worst, brief submersions in deeper puddles or water crossings – much less demanding than a 20-minute bath. My Shimano cleats didn’t sit proud of the sole, and so while there’s some cleat chatter on rough surfaces, I could walk through a restaurant without turning heads.