Very experienced biker here, actually an old fart by most accounts, used to race BMX and half pipe shenanigans in my youth, lots of trials, hopping around on the rear tire and big drops, raced expert cross country in the early 90’s, placed third in an Ontario provincial, had sort of a sponsor (parts, jersey and ride to the races), and worked as a mechanic in a bike shop for years, tons of road (recently unloaded my Giant Team bike), so you could say I’m pretty adept at clipless pedals BUT…
-broke a few bones in my hand when I went down in a rock garden in Spider Lake a few years back when I couldn’t get my foot out quick enough, at a walking pace…
-tore a rotator cuff in Tanzania going down hard and fast last year when I couldn’t get a foot out fast enough
So now I’ve passed my Norco Faze x-country down to my wife and I’m riding an all-mountain, I’m thinking about giving the platforms another go…
So, unfortunately my old BMX pedals don’t fit my bike so a quick run to the bike shop this morning, and my old BMX specific Vans still fit…so off to see if I can relearn how to handle technical with platforms, and maybe tackle wheelys and hopping on the back wheel again after 15 years…
I like to put on the flat pedals every once and a while, the only time I really miss clipless is on climbs. I’m definitely slower with the flats in combination with my fully rigid bike but it’s fun to add a new element to the ride on a familiar trail. I also did a fair amount of trials and street BMX and find that I remember what it’s like to have free floating feet pretty quickly.
Yeah, first ride as expected, I felt off but as the article linked says, I’ll try them for at least a dozen rides before deciding. I remember bunny hopping up onto some pretty high shelfs with platforms, albeit two decades ago…I’m hoping it comes back to me.
Where can you find Five Tens locally? MEC can order specific shoes but I’d prefer to try them on first. My old BMX Vans seem to be working fine but they are quite worn.
I was in the states and got couple of pairs from Amazon. I found last year’s models for half the price which is just fine for me. They are true to the size so it was easy to get my size. They may feel stiff at first but takes no time to brake in and it is the most comfortable shoe ever. Now I sound like a salesman for five - ten
Found some Five Tens! Got the red Barons, seem pretty robust and I’ve got some Saint pedals, the combination makes me wish I swapped back a long time ago.
Been out on my favourite spots and don’t notice any decrease in speeds, feet have never bounced off on rough descents, climbs are no different, not really missing the clips cranking on the road to the trailheads, but I’m not so nervous about getting the front end up or getting into rock beds where sudden stoppage might put me over in clips. I’m impressed and will probably stay with the flats. The only thing I’m finding is I forget my feet aren’t attached and I don’t put my foot down as much as I could, and I tend to keep my foot too far forward on the pedal. Obviously not as stiff as my carbon soled clipless, but I’m thinking you only need the stiffness because of the very small pedal contact, but with these large platforms you don’t need overly stiff shoes.
