I purchased the Kestrel Lace from Five Ten right when they became available in February of 2016. I have been a little hesitant of laced mountain bike shoes. But I loved the way these shoes looked and I heard they were going to be about 15% less stiff than the original kestrel shoes. I do some walking when our riding and a super stiff shoe makes the fact that you are hiking instead of riding that much worse.
I have been using Shimano M200's great shoe but super stiff and I was actually experiencing some foot pain, I am not sure if its just the fact they were getting some miles on them or if I was over tightening them....They have a boa type and ratchet type closure system.
The Kestrel lace on the other hand are just that, classic lace up shoes...Out of the box I was was pleased with the appearance. When I tried to flex the sole I was extremely surprised how stiff they felt in hand, so I immediately put them on and was shocked at how stiff they were, and these are 15% less than the original boa type kestrel's? WOW. I have heard that Five Tens are super stiff and let me tell you, if this shoe which is supposed to be a little less stiff is any representation of then you will not be disappointed.
I think what I like about them most is that I can get them to the perfect fit, it always seemed that my ratchet type shoes were either to tight or to loose, and my boa type were the same, I couldn't get them perfect.
When I picked these shoes up we were experiencing some very needed wet weather here in Marin County and I put these shoes to the test right away, they never claimed to be waterproof and they weren't, but they did dry out quickly and were not super uncomfortable when wet.
All in all these are the best shoes I have every purchased when it comes to the clippless shoe game. I highly recommend them.
Link to Five Ten:
http://www.fiveten.com/us/kestrel-lace-onix-yellow
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