Five Ten Freerider Pro BOA Shoes Review

For those familiar with the standard Five Ten Freerider, this review may well be summed up as follows. “They have BOA now, and they’re still very good.” The Freerider is Five Ten’s big flat pedal shoe, and they are both simple and high-performing. Though their name may not let on, they’re for more than just the hard-jawed freerider crowd. They rock for Trail, Enduro, and all the grey-area, in-between categories you might be able to spin up. With BOA, I think they’ve become even better.

Five Ten Freerider Pro BOA Shoes Features:

• Regular fit
• Micro-adjustable dial-based BOA® Fit System
• Abrasion-resistant synthetic upper
• Reinforced toe cap
• Textile lining
• Midsole drop: 7 mm (heel: 24 mm / forefoot: 17 mm)
• Stealth S1 Phantom rubber outsole
• Contains at least 20% recycled content
• MSRP: $170

Simply Exceptional

The Freerider Pro BOA shoes keep the core simplicity that their predecessors have embodied. They’re just a clean-looking, medium-stiff, moderately wide-boxed flat pedal shoe with the low-profile looks of a skate shoe. To the eyes, on paper, and on the feet, they offer no overstated flashiness or flare. What they do have is all the necessities, and they’re executed perfectly.

For starters, the most important trait of any flat pedal shoe: grip. To be short, it’s fantastic. Known more generically for making “dot rubber”, Five Ten has been cranking out various iterations of Stealth rubber for years and years, well before Adidas bought the brand. The quality remains high, both in rubber compound and the beloved dot lug layout. In my testing of the Freerider Pro BOAs, I never did slip or get jostled off the pedals, even when I was riding my hardtail. I always felt firmly planted and secure. On my hardtail, specifically, that’s not exactly the norm. These shoes have the kind of grip that a person needs to instill confidence for any kind of bike or riding.

They’re also quite comfortable both out of the box and when fully broken in. They have a moderately spacious toe box, good padding on all sides, and decent thin insoles over the EVA midsole. They feel comfortable and supportive for riding, and they’re fairly comfortable for just walking about too. Sometimes riding shoes are a little stiff for regular use, but the Freerider Pro BOA can do double duty there.

Of course, the BOA system is a major component in the overall comfort of these shoes. I found that they cinch consistently across the top of the foot and the forefoot, giving a good snug fit all around. Initially, I’d wondered if 2 BOA dials would be better in order to dial in the forefoot and upper more precisely, but after a couple months of riding in these shoes, I don’t think that’s necessary after all. They’re perfectly serviced by a single BOA dial, both for fit and the resulting comfort.

The BOA systems themselves are the Li2 mode. They’re lower profile than other BOA models out there, but they share many of the same attributes otherwise. They have an anti-slip rubber on the outside of the dial, and a plastic bump guard on one side to reduce the risk of clipping a dial and exploding it in a crash. With 1 millimeter adjustments per click, it’s pretty easy to cinch down to exactly the right tightness. If you overdo it though, the Li2 has both an option of full disengagement or a single backwards click to loosen the cord by 1 millimeter.

On the materials front, the Freerider Pro BOAs employ a sturdy synthetic upper. It’s not a naturally breathable material, but it’s perforated in the right places to keep things decently breathable. In many ways, the upper on these shoes reminds me of the Giro Latch uppers, and shedding water is one of the ways they are similar. The Freerider Pro BOAs are not waterproof, but they certainly deal with a puddle or a light shower better than a mesh pair of shoes. Much of my testing period has been inclement, and I’ve had several rainy rides where I come home with dry socks, just because the uppers of these shoes shed water so well.

The uppers are also a meaningful component of the overall durability of the shoe. They’re burly, and they’re stitched together well. The tread is slow-wearing so far too, in spite of the aggressive pins on my pedals. If there is a weak link in the longevity of the shoe, it’s the EVA midsole. EVA compresses with time. For some shoes, like the Giro Tracker, only a few short months of hard riding can meaningfully compress the EVA so that it doesn’t spring back to its original shape. Regardless of the specific shoe though, EVA inherently has some lifetime limitations, and that point where the foam loses its impact-absorption properties is a certainty. So far, my pair remains springy and comfortable, but I’m betting on a couple hard seasons before they clap out. All told, that’s a decent lifetime for a riding shoe.

As a couple of final notes, I think it’s worth calling out the simple aesthetic of the shoe. They look great. There’s nothing loud about their design. Thank goodness. Mountain biking has too much loud, out-there graphics, colors, and cuts anyways. An understated, simple shoe appeals to me, at least. Lastly, the price. MTB shoes typically run in the $100-$200 range, and the Freerider Pro BOAs are positioned on the upper end of that range. For their quality, I think that spot is appropriate, but I personally would probably end up waiting for a discount code… That’s just my cheeseparing nature speaking though.

Fit: I typically wear US M size 10.5-11 shoes, depending on the activity, and I tested a size 10.5 here. They were snug and comfortable, and I felt the sizing was accurate.

Buy Now: Available at REI