Customer Review: FiveTen Freerider Pro

David Paterick sent over another Review for us. This time for the Five Ten Freerider Pro Flat Pedal Shoe. FiveTen has made quite a name for themselves within multiple outdoor sports. For many people, FiveTen seems to be their "go-to" without any doubts or hesitation. For many of us here at the shop, FiveTen is also our "go-to" riding shoe. Let's take a look at David’s impression on the Freerider pros!

Several years ago I was having constant pain in my hips while riding. I tried a couple of different bike fits, but that didn’t help. As I was looking through a few bike sites, I saw a link to an article mentioning hip pain while riding. It was an article by James Wilson talking about flat pedals and how using them can relieve repetitive stress to the hips. I decided to try a pair. After doing some research I went with a pair of Deity pedals and Five Tens shoes to go with them. The Five Tens fit well on my wide forefoot and narrow heel. More importantly the hip pain is gone. I basically had to relearn how to ride my bike again. The first time I went off a jump with the flats and tried to pull the bike up by the pedals was an eye opening and scary moment. My legs came up, but the bike stayed where it was. I somehow landed on the saddle and stayed up right. With the flats and Five Tens I learned how to jump properly and am much better at it. I also ride a lot more technical features. I wasn’t consciously thinking about not being able to pull out of the clipless pedals on the technical stuff, but that fear was obviously there in the back of my mind.

Overall I am very happy with my decision to go to flats and Five Ten shoes. So what about the new Freerider Pros? They are probably my 12th or so pair. I have four pairs in my closet now. They fit great, look awesome, and the rubber sticks to the pedals when I need it to and easily releases when I need to get off the pedal. I don’t notice much difference in efficiency between the flats and clipless. In fact a couple of weeks ago I decided to try an experiment and put flats on my road bike for a ride. I didn’t particularly notice any loss of efficiency with the grippy rubber on the Freerider Pros, because of this I don’t know if I will go back to the clipless.

Unlike other shoe brands that seem to constantly change their sizing and fit every year (I’m looking at you Altra), I know when I get a 10.5 Five Ten it is going to fit just the same as any other model or different year Five Ten. Well done Five Ten. The problem with Five Tens is the same as many other shoes brands, the insole is pretty much disposable. Fortunately, there are some decent and inexpensive insoles to be had (I use Superfeet), but a $150 pair of shoes should have much better insoles. If you ride flats get a pair of Five Tens. The Freerider Pros are my favorite so far, but you will be happy with pretty much any version.