Five Ten Launches The New Kestrel BOA

Apr 18, 2023 at 6:32
by Five Ten  
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PRESS RELEASE: Adidas Five Ten

Five Ten Introduces the All-New Kestrel BOA, the Brand’s First Downcountry Bike Shoe

Make every pedal count with the new adidas Five Ten Kestrel BOA, where power meets performance.

adidas Five Ten today announced the launch of the new Kestrel BOA. The Five Ten Kestrel BOA is a “downcountry” shoe that pairs XC performance with Five Ten's significant gravity and mountain bike expertise.


For decades, adidas Five Ten, has provided technical advancements for riders of all abilities and multiple disciplines. To address the growing, aggressive approach to the hardtail and full suspension cross-country market, the brand has developed the new Kestrel BOA, a lightweight, clip-in shoe with gravity inspired performance and all day comfort. Five Ten’s new Kestrel BOA means that when you ride, every pedal counts. The Kestrel BOA features an innovative full-length plate made in part with repurposed materials and glass fiber. The glass fiber plate gives the shoe excellent power transfer and added stability on the pedals.

all new Five Ten Kestrel BOA

To keep up with the more aggressive demands of modern cross-country riding, technical features include an impact resistant toe box, a breathable and abrasion resistant upper that’s made in part with recycled materials, and a unique, strategically placed textured STEALTH rubber instep patch for superior grip. The Kestrel BOA’s soles feature grippy STEALTH rubber and raised toe and heel tread (aka “pillars”) for on foot traction.

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The Kestrel’s BOA Li2 closure system allows riders to quickly dial in a custom fit for every outing and for every ride. Infinite on-the-fly micro adjustability steps up both performance and comfort.

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Engineered for the most demanding rides, the Kestrel BOA is the shoe of choice for the modern XC rider. The Kestrel BOA combines pedal power with on-mountain performance in a casual, stylish design. When the most demanding rides come calling, the Kestrel BOA is ready to help riders tackle the most technical descents with confidence.

all new Five Ten Kestrel BOA

The kestrel BOA is available worldwide in independent bike retailers and online: RRP £200 / $230 / €230 - Discover more at adidas.com/mountain_biking

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109 Comments
  • 46 1
 After having the soles of my shoes fall off three pairs of 5.10's in a row (so much shoe goo to fix them) I am dubious about getting a shoe from them with a boa. It is hard to wreck your day if a shoelace breaks.
[Reply]
  • 26 1
 We're they all the same model of shoe? I've heard some things like that but mine have been absolutely bomb proof. On their third season and still going strong.
  • 12 3
 i've got some giro shoes with the boa closure on them and i have only been riding with them for about a month or 2 now. but something about the boa closure in general seems sus. every time i un-do the closure it feels like it is binding slightly more each time. i am wondering how long the boa closure will last before the cord gets all twisted and tangled up inside and then ruins my ride. i'm not really sure what happened to the velcro and ratchet type plastic strap closures, but i would take that back in a heartbeat.
  • 19 0
 I have more than a year riding 2-4x a week on the Specialized 2FO Roosts. They are hands down the grippiest shoe out there beating 5.10 at their own game. Durability-wise, they've held up impressively well only needing shoelace replacement. Super comfortable too.
  • 3 0
 @hellbelly: Great to hear. I’ve loved my Five Tens and haven’t had any issues but I’ve been eyeing the 2FOs.
  • 5 0
 @hellbelly: Agreed on Specialized. I've been using freerider pros for a long time and hated having to replace them every season. Not only do the Roosts grip noticeably better than the freeriders, they last way, way longer.
  • 10 0
 That's crazy, every time I've bought shoes that weren't 510s I've regretted it.
  • 5 1
 @hellbelly: To each his own. I've tried 2FOs and they don't feel good to me. In 30+ years of mountain biking, I still have to admit that Shimano has the best shoes for my kind of feet (pretty narrow). I wish they could add some color, though, since black is boring (to me).
  • 9 0
 @hellbelly: 2FO too skinny for wide foot people
  • 6 1
 The Boas are great for MTB shoes. Been using the Boa system on a pair of Shimano shoes for a few years now. So, far it has been solid. No issues. In my opinion, the Boa better than the buckle, velcro straps, or laces because you can really fine tune the fit.
  • 3 0
 @novajustin: I've got a pair of Giro xc shoes with boa that have been used for mtb and gravel racing for I think 5 seasons at this point. The boa still works great, but I've worn the rubber parts of the soles almost down to the base plate at this point.
  • 9 0
 Being concerned about Boa applies regardless of shoe brand. Boa it its own company and sells these closure systems to all shoe manufacturers. Specialized and 5.10 will use the same closure system. That being said, I have broken boa systems in crashes, but their warranty provides free replacement parts very quickly.
  • 4 0
 I don't think they are the same show since adidas took over...I have a black freerides that are still going (only wear to ride) I have not started using my peanut butter ones that are the adidas variety yet...but I have heard a lot of complaints about the soles falling off...
  • 4 0
 @hellbelly: Yea, people been sleeping on the 2FO Roosts, loved my pair. The lace tucking band on it needs a shout out too, amazingly simple, useful and somehow rarely found elsewhere. That said, the new Fox flat pedal shoes have been great, too.
  • 3 0
 @chaoscacca: Yeah man, outside of fit issues for some I can't find anything I don't like about the Roosts. I considered ordering some of the DH version ones, but the regular ones have had plenty of armor for whatever nonsense I've gotten into. The only reason I want to try the Fox shoes is b/c they come in red and since I am somewhat of a clown it seems appropriate.
  • 2 0
 I wouldn't worry about sole wear on these. When they start to wear down, one can simply click new Lego blocs into place
  • 1 0
 @novajustin: I had a pair of Shimano shoes with boas for three years. Awesome shoes. The boas held up fairly well but they are susceptible to dust, sand and other fine material.
  • 3 0
 @novajustin: it’s been a few years since I worked in a shop, but Boa had one of the best warranties I’ve worked with. I believe the closure system warranty is for the life of the product the system is on, not for the Boa itself. I think they mail you a replacement kit for free when it needs to be replaced and it was only a few minutes to do.
  • 3 0
 They’ve fallen apart since adias took over. I switched myself and kids to Ride Concepts. So far so good
  • 2 0
 @hellbelly: I love mine as well, solid, grippy, light
  • 1 4
 There are many good options beyond 5.10 for flat and clipless shoes these days. The only reason people are still buying 5.10 anymore is nostalgia.
  • 1 0
 @hellbelly: The Fox Union flats are as grippy as 510s and Roosts and are as tough as hell
  • 2 0
 My 2018 Boa Kestrels are still pumping strong, although I always alternated them with others. The sole is perfectly fine, but bits are already falling off the sole of the the Hellcat Pros I bought last year, which I was also alternating with the Kestrels.
  • 1 1
 @WalrusRider: Nobody makes anything comparable to the
5 10 leather eps hightops, and mine have been very durable. 5 10 has had some issues worth certain models but most of their shoes are still great and that's why they are the most popular.
  • 1 0
 @meathooker: they dont have a replacement for the impact-highs. I want a real high top boot I can choose to lace up as much or little as I want
  • 1 0
 Iv got it on my northwave shoes and I was sceptical but it’s still going 3 years on. It’s really useful before a run composing yourself adding a few clicks onto your shoes to tighten them up- no need to get off to bike to do your laces up . When you got muddy cold hands it’s easy to get shoes nice and tight . Il defo wouldn’t go back to laces .
  • 2 0
 Shoe Goo is good - try E6000. It's much better.
  • 2 0
 @novajustin: As someone who's used shoes with Boas for close to 15 years, I can tell you Boas are very reliable. And, in a rare event that you do get a cable badly kinked or broken, ratchet teeth worn out or whatever - free repalcements are an email away - just fill out a form on Boa's website, regardless of the shoe brand, no questions asked.
  • 1 0
 @novajustin: Mine lasted about three or four years and ten thousand miles before they eventually went out. Boas have a lifetime guarantee though, you can just go on their site, look up the shoe and request a replacement. Easy peasy, free shipping. Seem to show up in a about a week.
  • 1 0
 @cool3: Yeah it seems people either have Shimano shaped feet or Specialized feet. My feet go pins and needles in shimano shoes pretty quick, but I can ride all day in my Specialized shoes. Pearl Izumi shoes don't fit at all, and seem to run a full size small.
  • 1 0
 @b0bbY: I feel like their climbing shoe quality went way down when Adidas took over, but haven't tried the riding shoes since then.
  • 1 0
 I was on a big trip to Mammoth when the BOA dial failed on my Specialized shoes. Didn't ruin the trip, but it sucked since no shops stocked the BOA dials. Since then I started carrying a spare BOA on my trips. I just got some 5.10 Kestrels and need to find out if the BOA dial is replaceable.
  • 2 0
 @TucsonDon: This is helpful! I"ve been needing to get a spare BOA dial set. I had a BOA fail at the worst possible time. Ever since, I started carrying spares.
  • 41 0
 Just what we needed, downcountry specific footwear. I couldn't deal with using a XC or trail specific shoes with my Spur, now I can finally close the circle.
  • 5 0
 How about "mountain bike shoes"?
  • 2 0
 @Dopepedaler: It's Adidas; they made a shoe you can wear for baseball when you ride to practice.
  • 29 0
 FYI...old version is $66 with free shipping: www.adidas.com/us/five-ten-kestrel-pro-boa-shoes/BC0635.html
  • 1 0
 I've been using those for gravel/road riding for a couple of years and like them a lot. Beaten the crap out of them and they're still going strong.
I smashed one of the Boa dials and Boa sent me a new set of dials and wires for free, 10 minutes to install and good to go again.
  • 2 0
 Interesting that this has such a drastically different sole from the previous version. I'd have given it a new model name. And I wonder if the Kestrel Lace is going to get this new sole too. I like my Kestrel Laces just the way they are.
  • 2 0
 Thanks, good looking out.
  • 3 1
 @barp: I think they probably had a hard time selling the old version because not a lot of people wanted a clipless downcountry/trail shoe that weighs the same/more than the Hellcat. I bought the old Kestrel Pro Boas on clearance and they're around 500g per shoe without cleats (size 11). I don't consider myself a weight weenie but they're noticeably way heavier than any other shoe I've owned.

The new one looks much more like a standard XC shoe now and probably weighs like 20% less.
  • 3 0
 @bkm303: I guess I was the perfect customer because I have pretty much no idea what any of my gear weighs--consider me blissfully ignorant.
  • 2 0
 @barp: I hear you, I don't normally weigh my gear but it was the first thing I noticed when I tried them on so I threw em on the kitchen scale.

Anyway the main point is I think the old ones were probably too similar to some of their other more 'aggressive' shoes. Especially for that sweet sweet downcountry market segment Razz
  • 1 0
 These are the best, snagged some a few weeks ago to replace my current ones. There's a few promo codes out there that'll apply an ever deeper discount to them too!
  • 1 0
 Old version looks sweaty. New version looks like more breathable mesh. I could be wrong. My 5-10 freerides are super hot and sweaty. I hate them.
  • 22 1
 For when you need to mountain bike to your soccer game
  • 1 0
 Yeah I think they mixed up the sport blending hahah!
  • 15 1
 Is it "downcountry" or "gravity inspired performance"? Marketing inspired cyclists just try too hard. Funny how it is "clip-in" now instead of "clipless" since that old term makes zero sense to anyone under 40. Why is cycling plagued with poorly described products?
  • 9 0
 I’m not yet 40 and I rocked toe clips for 10 years! People new to clips think it’s hard to I clip from “clipless”? Ha! Try getting out of properly tensioned toe clips!
  • 1 16
flag neatoneto (Apr 18, 2023 at 8:45) (Below Threshold)
 Bro keep your "change the world" bs to yourself bro
  • 3 1
 OK bro.
  • 2 0
 You clip in your clip-in shoes into your clipless pedals. Or at least I do…
Conceivably, you could use clip-in shoes with toe clips without clipping in, but clipping out was what made me ditch clips for clipless 25 years ago.
  • 2 0
 @VtVolk: I had a customer call my shop a few days ago who wanted to do exactly that, except she knew almost none of the terminology so it took about four tries before she got her point across: She's been using SPD shoes and pedals, but wants to now use the same shoes with toe clips. She was looking for the little rubber block that she removed from the cleat mounting recess of her shoes when she first bought them.
  • 2 0
 I still have 2 sets of tow clip pedals. XT and a nice set of Sugino's. They were taken off my bikes in 1994 or so, when I went clipless. Shoes weren't right for flats back then, mostly Vans. Some cool clip shoes though. If you tightened the strap too much, the wedge would hold you in. Not unlike mud and my SPD's. You just don't know if you'll tip over these days. The suspense is always intoxicating.
  • 16 1
 Hard pass. For $230, I'll take a Shimano XC702 all day long; carbon sole, dual boa's, has a wide option and I would bet the farm are significantly lighter than the Kestral's are going to be.
  • 17 0
 "casual design"...by choice I'm not sure I'd be wearing these to lunch
  • 18 0
 Someone needs to tell them that making something match their khakis doesn’t make it casual.
  • 4 0
 I just bought some crankbrothers shoes. Then came to Pinkbike to find out I should have bought these since they are “casual design”. Damn.
  • 10 0
 DownCountry has officially become mainstream, therefore, I must despise it.
  • 7 0
 @mikelevy needs royalties from all of these downcountry trademark infringements!!
  • 7 0
 My friends keep having their boas break. It's a bummer. I prefer advanced technology called "laces".
  • 2 0
 We're so ahead of the curve, we've been using laces since 1999.
  • 7 0
 Don't try push your marketing here BS here, these are 5-10 XC Shoes
  • 3 0
 i don't understand what a downcountry bike is or means. clearly not a downhill bike, but 'down' to me means a descent, and these bikes are for climbing, too...i'm also the same with gravel bikes - why have one when you can have a hardtail? will gravel bikes end up with in order - fatter tyres, forks, short rear travel etc.and end up as short travel full suspension bikes? they seem the perfect capitalist reinvention model. Then there is the fact, it's not just up and down but along as well...

maybe i'm just old and not 'down' with the kids.
  • 1 0
 The Niner MCR 9 is all those things already.
  • 2 0
 Darren and Samantha are amazing, but this is an odd casting and writing from the brand. Both introduce the shoe as a shoe they wouldn't usually use or typically wouldn't be associated with. The whole thing felt awkward. Don't adidas/5.10 have riders that are closer to the target audience?
  • 2 0
 I was one of the few test group riders of the original Kestrel BOA shoes for 5/10. Never once have had a problem with them or the test shoes. Still have them and would go ride in them today. Have 4 pairs of the Kestrel BOAs and love them.

Will say, I am sorry to see them go away from the original tread pattern and to a traditional XC/MTB tread design.
  • 2 0
 Awful looking pale soles. Are they mean for the Gravel crowd, you know to go with brown or green lycra? My sons Adidas shoes are made in Myanmar - ruled by a murderous military government that regularly murders its citizens because they oppose it. Not going to support Adidas.
  • 3 2
 "a unique, strategically placed textured STEALTH rubber instep patch for superior grip"

Unique because everyone else knows you don't use your instep to walk on. Unique because you don't walk directly on your arch either, which is where that stupid extra Stealth patch is actually, _not_ the instep.

Unless the arch patch is help grip the pedal when you miss a clip and just need to get in a pedal stroke quickly, in which case if that happens enough to need special shoes for it, just use flat pedals!
  • 1 0
 I would be more concerned about the placement of the BOA dial on this shoe than anything else that may have been said. So far to the side = huge exposure to rocks n things all your gnarly skillz will put them through. One single good hit results in non-secure shoe for the remainder of your shred session, and anything from a busted boa to a busted shoe.
  • 1 0
 Had loads of FiveTen shoes only for the sole to fall off again and again as it seems to be the common issue and drove me insane so switched to Giro Ventana with boa dials and they are great. They are not the best in the winter as they let water pour in but that said it also doesn’t sit inside the shoe like my FiveTen’s did that just held water in like buckets. Set of waterproof socks and your gold.
  • 1 0
 I ride the old Kestrels for about a year and half and they are so far my favourite bike shoes for a commute trail ride and cassual fitness XC. Im not sure I would go for the updated version as it seems more "gravity focused" which I cant imagine doing with that firm sole without any flex.
  • 4 0
 Do they only work on downcountry bikes?
  • 2 1
 Ordered! Can't wait to try them out. Dirt cheap too after applying the credit from my warranty Hellcats that fell apart after 6 months. Let's hope these don't suffer the same fate...
  • 1 0
 falling agains the BOA plastic circle is REALLY painfull and can shatter bones in the feet by itself. I dont think its he absolute best.. but its really is fairly simple to strap on..
  • 2 1
 I won't pay more than $80 for mtb shoes. I'll stick with my clearance 5ten sleuths for another year and suffer the poor power transfer.
  • 3 1
 I hear you. I get all my Five Tens half off.
  • 12 0
 @gnarlysipes: Sorry to hear that you're one footed.
  • 1 0
 @handynzl: I see what you did there… :wink:
  • 4 2
 Can 510 make a flat like this? I want an flat that performs like a clipless shoe with the same look.
  • 1 0
 I just wanted to comment whether I am the only person wanting a flat pedal shoe like this?
  • 3 3
 Sad to see this model 'reimaged' as a shoe for the spandex crowd. I've had the two previous versions and they're definitely my favorite shoe, good thing that they're durable so I won't need to replace them for a long time.
  • 2 0
 These look like the most basic, standard factory output, white labelled shoes.
  • 1 1
 "Partner Factories"
  • 2 0
 Wait these just released? I have seen them at german retailers for at least a month, if not two.
  • 2 0
 Although interesting initial preview, would prefer the longevity test. I think it should last 5yrs.
  • 2 0
 These colourways are pretty rad
  • 2 0
 Downcountry bike shoes? not suitable for jumps more than 7''?
  • 4 1
 Y no BOA for flats? =(
  • 3 1
 Why boa at all?
  • 1 0
 i don't get it. i thought the brand's value prop was the grippy compound attached to a knock off of an es accel.
  • 2 0
 5Ten Disco slippers. No thanks
  • 1 0
 Pair well with XTR cranks and a steel hardtail? Combo is more confusing than Liam Neeson being Tooken.

But I digress.
  • 3 2
 Not for me‍♂️ 5-10 are Overated shoes… Go with other brands !
  • 2 1
 Agreed!
  • 2 0
 #dwnctryshes
  • 1 0
 Product renderings: nice work on the materials, terrible lighting setup.
  • 2 1
 This is diluting the 510 brand.
  • 1 0
 Perfect! I've been looking for a new bowling shoe
  • 1 0
 Poor ole fiveten, just continues to fall off the map
  • 1 0
 The "oh s#!t" patch is actually pretty cool though
  • 1 0
 Fiveten just invented xc shoes!!!! Ok.. wait.
  • 1 0
 Seems a strange choice for the first in Adam Brayton's footwear line.
  • 1 0
 Any ideas about the shoe's weight and its stiffness index?
  • 2 1
 Nice!!!!!
  • 1 0
 you mean adidas.. lol
  • 1 0
 No knee pads = XC
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