5.10 Daescent Preview

With the growing popularity of do-it-all bikes riders face a conundrum when it comes to shoes/pedals. Many who once would never think of ditching their clips are now running flat pedals for their all-day epics or quick xc excursions in addition to their gravity runs. These riders are looking for a shoe with all-day grip, comfort, weight, and a name that is spelled funny. The 5.10 Daescent seems up to the challenge.5.10's mtb lineup has long been the benchmark all others are measured against. While in the market for a new pair of shoes I almost pulled the trigger on a pair of impact lows several times but always felt like I wanted more. I had heard from various people that they weren't the most comfortable shoe after a few hours in the saddle and that their weight became noticeable if you were to ride xc in them all day. With this in mind I looked for a shoe that would be just as grippy yet lighter and more comfy. 5.10's own Daescent is what I settled on. Already popular among the parkour crowd, I wanted to see how these would hold up to some serious riding. Here are my initial thoughts to be followed by a more in-depth review in a month.

Overview:


The Daescent is an approach shoe. This means that it is meant to hike in to a climbing location and scale any initial obstacles (slabs, scrambles, short boulder routes, etc) in order to get to the technical route you are trying to climb where your climbing shoes would take over. Since approach shoes are often clipped to a climber's harness during the climb, they are usually very light so they don't cause any problems. They must also be heavy-duty enough to hike in and grippy enough to tackle the previously-mentioned obstacles. The Daescents are true to the breed in all of these regards. They feature 5.10's new "Stealth Mystique" rubber, designed to have all the grip of the original Stealth rubber but with twice the endurance. The sole has low knobs wrapping from half way up the back of the shoe and fading to a smooth surface under the arch. The rubber surface wraps up the side of the shoe and givies way to a band of tough-looking leather to form a durable shell around the toe box. The upper is made of a light-weight mesh with a band of rubber wrapping from mid-shoe around the heel to keep you locked in.


Initial Impressions

The first thing you notice about these shoes is how light they are. Without putting them on a scale all I can say is they are far lighter than my trusty Sambas and Specialized Sport mtb's. The Daescents also seem very well put together. All of the stitching is of the highest quality, as would be expected from 5.10, and the rubber/shoe interface doesn't look like it will be coming apart any time soon. The heel cup is very well padded and the upper conforms to your foot like a climbing shoe. I was a little worried about rock strikes being a problem with the thin mesh upper but the thickly armored toe box and heel cup seem like they will provide enough protection.


During a brief street ride the soles have a tremendous amount of grip. Even with my worn down Odyssey pedals (no pins to speak of) I had to pick up my foot in order to reposition it. An hour at the boulder gym confirmed the outstanding grip and wowed me with the comfort these provide. I've come to expect my toes being crunched and bashed around while climbing but the stiff toe box prevented this from happening. Overall I would say I am impressed.

Over the coming month I will be competing in three Super D races, riding xc twice a week, commuting, dabbling with my trials bike, and monkeying around at the boulder gym in these. Any weakness the Daescent is hiding will quickly be exposed for you to read about in my in-depth review. Below are a few things I will be sure to have my eye on:
-Water drainage
-Cleanup (these babies are getting muddy for sure)
-Durability of flat sole (will the pins in my trusty mg-1's puncture the sole?)

If there are any particular points you would like me to investigate please leave a comment.