VANS GRAVEL

Finally a competitor to Five Ten! There are plenty of flat pedal specific shoes out there, as well as innumerable non-specific skate shoes that will do the job, but when your bike and body is bouncing over rough terrain at break-neck speeds you really want your feet to be as close to glued to those pedals as possible, and until the introduction of this Gravel shoe from Vans, no-one could even come close to Five Ten’s sticky Stealth Rubber sole.

It would be easy to talk about legendary Vans styling, so too the proven waffle pattern sole, or even the revered construction of the company’s shoes, but what is most important is the grip factor, and we really have to say that these probably steal the show in the market right now. If there’s one thing we’d have to doubt though, it would be the Gravel’s rigidity – particularly around the toes, but it really is a small trade-off for owning the best looking and possibly best gripping shoes in mountain biking.

PRICE: £84.99

Vans 0080080 001 966
www.vans.co.uk