Flat pedal shoes
The question asked by anyone who exclusively rides clip-in pedals, is how do your feet stay on if they’re not mechanically attached to the bike? The answer doesn’t involve witchcraft or mind control, it’s simply a combination of a good platform pedal (see last month’s issue) and a grippy shoe united, crucially, by the right technique (check out mbr.co.uk for loads of advice about how to ride with flats).
Flat pedal shoes come in all shapes and sizes and an array of different rubber compounds. Top of the heap for the last two years has been the Five Ten Freerider Pro. It uses Five Ten’s excellent Stealth rubber, which is super-grippy and reasonably hard wearing – you can often get a year to 18-months out of a pair. So rubber is important, but the tread pattern and flexibiliy also plays a vital role in enhancing grip. Malleability matters, because when you’re riding rough tracks, your feet will start to bounce off the pedals, and a flexible sole allows you to absorb the impacts.
The downside of a flexible shoe is that it’s less pedal efficient. So getting the balance is key to a great shoe, and the Freerider Pro has got this spot on from day one. But new contenders hit the market on a regular basis, and since our last group test, a whole host of new challengers have popped up boasting soft compounds and unbeatable grip. Time to put those claims to the test.
USED & ABUSED
How we test
To get an idea how soft the rubber is on the flat shoes we used a durometer to measure it. This gives us a ballpark figure for all the shoes before we get out and test them in the field. We then rode them back-to-back on the same tracks comparing how secure and stable each shoe felt on the pedal. At this stage we also gauged comfort and fit. We then weighed each shoe and measured the sole
