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flat pedals/shoes for trail?

DH Dad

Monkey
Jun 12, 2002
436
30
MA
Probably not a common practice among trail riders but after an unfortunate slow speed endo on granite that broke my wrist (straight over, neither foot unclipped) requiring surgery I think I'll go back to flats for tech trails and leave the clips for xc racing. I have 5-10 impact shoes for DH that work fine but not enough sole support for climbing. Any thoughts on good pedaling flat shoes with decent grip?
 

kidwoo

Artisanal Tweet Curator
Clipless pedals are for noobs.
Well dh dad, you certainly know who NOT to listen to now :rofl:




Any thin pedal coupled with some 5.10s will be about the best you can do. What do you mean by not enough sole support for climbing though? If you're on flats you're not pulling straight up like you are with clips. It's more of a foot angled down/back pressure thing on your pedals. Throw some superfeet insoles in them and impacts are damn solid shoes.
 

kail

Monkey
Mar 14, 2002
134
0
Montana
What, can't a guy be sarcastic every now and then? But seriously, I threw all my clipless pedals away a long time ago and I haven't looked back. Though I don't race anymore, either.
 

DH Dad

Monkey
Jun 12, 2002
436
30
MA
I'm guessing a concave pedal may be more ideal. My impact shoes seem to provide very little support, old Vans had more.
 

Sandwich

Pig my fish!
Staff member
May 23, 2002
21,031
5,920
borcester rhymes
do we own the same shoes? The impact and rennies I have are the stiffest "sneaker" type shoe I've ever owned. I'm a pretty regular white guy though, so maybe "kids these days" are running around with plastic soles.

Either way, you won't get better than 5.10 impacts and a good set of flat pedals with thin pins. I like HT or Deity plastic ones.

I personally really like clipless pedals, but I think you don't give up a whole lot with sticky shoes and good flat pedals.
 

4130biker

PM me about Tantrum Cycles!
May 24, 2007
3,882
447
How old are your 5.10s? Seems to me like they get a bit more flexible after lots of use. Maybe a fresh pair?
 
May 30, 2011
82
0
Louisville, KY
If you are wanting something stiffer you could go with a 5.10 Hellcat or other 5.10 clipless shoe and just leave the cover over the spot where you bolt in the cleats. That way you get the stiffness of a clipless shoe but the stealth rubber like the impacts.
 

boogenman

Turbo Monkey
Nov 3, 2004
4,290
973
BUFFALO
I always had good results with 5.10's but recently went back to clipless. I still use flats and 5.10's when I ride tech trails
 

Jim Mac

MAKE ENDURO GREAT AGAIN
May 21, 2004
6,352
282
the middle east of NY
Just for sh1tes and giggles, I switched back to flats & 5-10's for trail riding over the last 3 months. Your intuition (and advice here) is right - put some orthodic insoles in and ride some flat concave pedals. I slapped my Atomlab Aircorps on and have been having a ball.
 

boostindoubles

Nacho Libre
Mar 16, 2004
7,839
6,145
Yakistan
Teva Links paired with Answer pedals have been a winning combo for me this season. The Teva shoes have excellent grip but not the sticky grip of 5.10's. Now they have a mid-top for more ankle support.
 

HardtailHack

used an iron once
Jan 20, 2009
6,628
5,443
Also you may find the 5-10's that have the fully moulded one piece sole to be stiffer than the normal ones.

I had the original freerides and they were pretty stiff but they only lasted about five rides before falling apart, the new ones look the goods.