Sporting some new features and Five Ten’s crowd-pleasing Stealth MI6 rubber, the new Freerider Contacts are a bit more refined and comfortable than its predecessor. It seems Five Ten (5.10) has melded comfortable skate style shoes with their trademarked performance even better for 2015.
Five Ten’s Stealth rubber is something that has been talked about by riders all over since it fi rst came out over 15 years ago. It revolutionized what people thought could be done on fl at pedals and gave riders grip previously impossible without shin-mangling pedals with extreme spikes.
The Freeriders are different from other models in that they have a smooth portion under the ball of the foot, which 5.10 claims helps fi ne-tuning foot position and small movements on the pedals. To increase durability, the new Freerider’s sole is now stitched to the toe box. The design of the upper has changed slightly and there is some added toe protection for when the trails get rowdy. One of our favorite upgrades was the ventilated tongue and much more fl exible toe box.
ON TRAIL
From the fi rst ride our new 5.10s felt comfortable and uniform around our feet, and the more we rode them, the better they got. We did everything from short shuttles to hike-a-bikes and even some multi-hour trail rides without any thought of our feet.
One of the things we had trouble with on the previous Freerider VXi shoes was comfort while hiking as the top of the shoe at the toe box junction seemed to cut into our toes quite painfully. We are pleased to report this was not an issue on the Contacts. Most walking or hiking isn’t an issue, however, we still found that very steep hikes on very loose or marbly rocks were a bit sketchier due to the smooth section on the shoe. We typically climb using the balls of our feet up such hike-a-bikes and extra care had to be given in the worst of conditions.
While we’ve only been wearing these shoes for a relatively short time so far, no signs of wear are presenting themselves yet and we’ve been quite pleased overall. Traction, as we assumed, was typical 5.10 and our feet remained fi rmly planted on a variety of pedals. If you don’t spend most of your time hiking up really steep, loose terrain, the new Freerider Contacts are a great shoe that we’ve been rather pleased with. We dig the comfort, the grip and also the muted colors. It’s nice not having to feel like a walking neon advertisement for enduro every time we go for a ride.
WEIGHT: 387 g. each
PRICE: $120
