Five Ten Hellcat Pro: $180Five Ten, with the assistance of a guy named Greg Minnaar, redesigned its Hellcat Pro clipless-style racing shoe to bring its performance to the next lever, and also to address a few issues that customers had with the previous edition. At first glance, the new Hellcat may appear unchanged, but it is in fact, an entirely new design - one that adheres to the winning formula of its predecessor, while introducing better construction, materials and construction aspects.
Five ten says that Greg Minnaar had a lot of input in the redesign and won his last World Cup on the new Hellcat. Designer Luke Hontz remarked that, in the final stages of production, Minnaar claimed that the Hellcat's cleat slots were two millimeters too far forward and angled one millimeter off-center. Hontz disputed that fact, but placed the shoes on the test lab's optical comparator to measure them against the original drawings. Minnaar was correct and Five Ten spent nearly $50,000 to redo the tooling for the soles.
What's New:• Co-molded synthetic uppers
• Ventilated toe box and tongue
• Redesigned and reinforced cleat recess
• Tougher C-4 sole material
• Wrap-around toe-box protection
• Stiffer, cycling-specific unidirectional sole design
• Co-molded hook-and-loop retention strap
• Molded and padded insert
• Reduced weight: 12.8oz/363g (US 9 or Euro 43)
• MSRP: $180 USD
• Contact:
Five Ten New lowers: The soles are redesigned to be stiffer in one direction, to counter pedaling force, and at the same time, more flexible in the toe area for walking. An EVA foam shock absorber is inserted between the sole and the foot bed, from the arch to the heel cup, to cushion botched landings and to create a better "stride" for walking. The stealth rubber has been upgraded to Five Ten's C-4 compound - a slightly harder, tougher material that, besides being more durable, does not compress as much. The softer sole of the previous Hellcat allowed the cleat to settle deep into the clip-cavity, which created release issues and in some cases, a lump in the foot bed. C-4 rubber provides the mega tacky grip that Five Ten is famous for without the settling issue. The "Dottie" pattern is retained and a molded plastic liner in the cleat cavity ensures against delamination, and improves entry and exit from the pedals. Five ten says that Shimano cleats are flush with the sole, and Crankbrothers cleats protrude about one millimeter from the surface to optimize both systems.
All new uppers: The most visible improvements are in the Hellcat's reinforced uppers. The materials are all synthetic and up front, a tough, wrap-around plastic toe guard extends almost to the mid-sole on both sides of the shoe. Stitching at the toe ensures that the rubber will not peel there. Also in the name of durability, the arch strap, which occasionally tore off at the stitching is now a one-piece extension of a tough layer of engineered fabric on the inside of the shoe. In the rear, the heel cup has been re-formed and the padding there is tougher, so it can withstand more abuse from lazy riders who cram their feet in without unlacing their shoes completely.
Good ventilation: Five Ten increased the ventilation in the top area and switched to a molded and perforated mesh tongue that allows the shoe to breathe much better and to expel water.
New insert: Assuming that many customers would replace their sock liner inserts with more expensive custom orthotics, Five Ten supplied low-quality inserts for a period of time. All that has changed. From this point onwards, they have switched to a molded and padded liner, shaped to give the foot a neutral stance over the pedal. "The Hellcat is a true cycling shoe," says Luke Hontz, "So we didn't want to use an ergonomically biased liner that might destabilize the angle that shoe meets the pedal."
Five Ten Freerider Pro: $150Fans of the previous Freerider shoe will applaud the news that Five Ten has abandoned the super-sticky, but short-lived soles made from their M-16 rubber compound and returned to the original S-1 rubber. According to Five Ten, M-16 was intended to be a compromise: super sticky soles, at the expense of a short lifespan - very similar to a racing tire. Unfortunately, that concept did not translate well to riders who paid the $150-dollar asking price and expected their Freerider soles to last more than one season of hard use. Beyond the new Five Ten Freerider Pro's more durable soles, is an encore of improvements intended to extend the durability of the full-synthetic uppers, as well, as adding some long-awaited comfort features.
What's New:• Synthetic uppers
• Ventilated toe box and tongue
• Tougher, longer wearing S-1 sole material with full "Dottie" pattern
• Hidden toe-box protection
• Anti abrasion toe and heel
• Molded and padded insert
• Reduced weight: 13.6oz/385g (US 9 or Euro 43)
• MSRP: $150 USD
• Contact:
Five Ten /
@FiveTen Good ventilation:In summer conditions, the previous Freerider shoes made your feet feel like dogs locked inside a car with the windows up, but Five Ten came to the rescue with a well ventilated toe box and a perforated mesh tongue that allows much of the shoe's upper to breathe.
Big Dots: The bare area in the M-16 sole has been eliminated in favor of a consistent pattern of larger sized "Dotties" that enhance the grip and feel of the S-1 compound soles.
Reinforced toe box: A hidden, wrap-around impact layer protects the toe box. In addition, both the toe and heel are further protected with anti-abrasion layers.
EVA cushion: Shock absorbing EVA foam between the upper and the sole protects the foot from trauma due to hard landings or crashing. The padded heel also improves the walkability of the shoe.
Lighter weight: The latest iterations of the Freerider weigh only 13.6 ounces (385 grams) in a size 9 (43).
"practical"
As for the shoes you can wipe it after every ride if you afraid of any stain appearance on it. But I can ride even with stains on my shoes... IMHO
Impact: using more than one year for biking (xc, dh, everything, more than 3000km - sorry guys, i using SI). The wear is visible but no major issues.
Camp four: sole was loose by factory, i had to send for repair, since then serves well - i use only winter, when i'm not biking that much.
So overall, my experience with them quiet positive.
I would like the insight with a sole of the impact. Unfortunately i'm not Greg Minnar to get this...
www.pinkbike.com/u/ivankvkharkiv/album/Five-Ten-After-10-Weeks/?directtolastphoto
www.pinkbike.com/photo/13845729
www.pinkbike.com/photo/13845728
As for me they are perfect.
Can I see a photo of yours?
Just have to buy the resole kits and put them on a decent shoe.
I have used Five Ten shoes since the mid 1980's and used to rock climb with one of the founders.
The climbing shoes are not as good anymore either. Sad.
“ @SingleTackKiller (3 hours ago)
I made the switch from Giro to 510 this year and have already warrantied two pairs within 6 months of trail riding an average of once a week. I've had my Giros for almost six years now and they still look as good as new. Once I’m out of the year warranty with 510 I'm switching back."
The First: I gave photos of soles of my 510 on which it is absolutely clearly seen that "stealth" rubber didn't change it's color.
The Second: "certain chemicals/elements" and radiation are totally different things... You are to know this from school.
The Third: on our Kharkov trails there are no "certain chemicals/elements" to contact with.
The Fourth: NO ONE could assume such a strange theory you had...
I'm investing in their new Freerider pro as I am looking to get lighter pair of shoes for riding.
Eh?
No idea what to replace them with, the last 5-10's friends have gotten have lasted 2 seasons if lucky....
I know they made them too tough at first and killed repeat sales unless years apart was ok, but the turn to a seasonal throw-away shoe is good for the bottom line temporarily - but piss off too many and you loose again. How about we find a nice medium compromise?
Everyone I know who had them had the same problems and replaced them multiple times.
Surely there is a better balance between comfort and pedaling performance/water absorption?
Wage of 8 year old who made them ( yes ADDIADS is a sweatshop company) 1c a week.
Watching people pay Nike prices for deck shoes with or without a clip... Priceless.
However, we're buying a lot of sweatshop products (jersey, short, gloves) and we're not making a fuss about it.
I sad i didn't buy more.
I could do with some in US 14/UK 13 PLEEEEEEEAAAAASSSSSEEEEEEE??
And I thought finding big pedals was bad enough...