Adidas Five Ten Trailcross LT MTB Shoes

I bought the Adidas Five Ten Trailcross MTB Shoes to use for bicycle touring in October 2024. Here’s my rolling review and experiences with them.

Adidas Five Ten Trailcross LT Shoes

(Purchased 16th October 2024 – This is a rolling review updated every few months)

I recently decided to swap from SPD to flat pedals on my bike touring setup, which meant I needed a new pair of shoes to go with my also new Shimano PD-GR500 flat pedals.

After some research, I picked the Adidas Five Ten Trailcross LT Mountain Bike Shoes. These seemed to offer a good mix of being lightweight and also wearable both on and off the bike which was important to me.

In the past I’d taken two pairs of shoes on a bike tour, one to cycle in, and one to wear off the bike for sightseeing and hiking.

My new plan, was to have just the one pair of shoes for bike touring and time off the bike. I could then just throw in a light pair of flip-flops for relaxing in if I wanted.

First Impressions

The Trailcross LT shoes looked great out of the box. They are lightweight with a sleek, low-profile design. The upper is made of a durable synthetic material with a reinforced toe box. The sole is Adidas' signature Stealth rubber, known for its excellent grip.

I’m an awkward size 10 and a half UK, which means sizing can sometimes be a bit hit and miss. These were spot on though, and fitted me fine.

First Ride Trailcross Five Ten With Shimano PD-GR500 Pedals

For the first ride, I paired the shoes with my new Shimano PD-GR500 flat pedals. The pedals have 18 pins on each side for added grip. I left the pins at their maximum height of 4mm.

The ride went really well. The Stealth rubber soles provided excellent grip on the pedals. It felt secure, almost like being clipped in with SPDs.

However, when I got home, I noticed that the pedal pins had left significant indentations in the soles of the shoes. Keep in mind, this was after just an hour of cycling.

The Trailcross LT shoes have relatively soft, flexible soles compared to dedicated mountain bike shoes. This is great for comfort and walkability off the bike, but it clearly means they are more susceptible to damage from aggressive pedal pins.

So, lesson learned, maybe having those pins on the pedals at their maximum height wasn’t a smart move! I’d next try taking them all out and just riding without any pins.

Second Ride with Pins Removed

For the next ride, I completely removed the pins from the PD-GR500 pedals. I wanted to see how the Adidas Trailcross cycling shoes would perform with a standard flat pedal.

The thing is, it’s not exactly a standard flat pedal, as it is slightly concave. As a result, I found that on the uphill sections of road the Trailcross shoes were not quite as grippy as I hoped they would be. This was simply due to there not being enough pedal to grip on. On the flat road, they were perfectly fine though.

Another thing I noticed is that as it was a slightly chillier morning (about 13 degrees when I set out), I noticed that the shoes felt a little more ‘boxy’ where the toes were. And, while my feet didn’t get cold on this ride, it made me wonder what winter cycling in them would be like. 

To be fair, I normally use Sealskinz socks in the winter so I don’t think it will be an issue, but if you suffer from cold toes it might be worth considering that these are perhaps 3 season shoes. I’ll update more on this in the winter months though!

So, the Adidas Five Ten Trailcross LT shoes worked fine on this ride. For the next ride, I decided to add the pins back into the pedals, at the lowest height setting. The idea here was to see if they would offer more grip without chewing the bottom of the shoes up.

Third Ride (Pins At Minimum Height)

After reinserting the pins into the pedals along with the washers to minimise how much they protruded, I took the bike out for another hour’s ride. 

This ride went really well. I felt the pins gave enough grip to make cycling feel very similar to having SPD’s. More importantly, the pins barely made an imprint on the shoes this time!

I'll continue testing these shoes and will update this review with long-term durability notes over the coming months. But so far, I'm very happy with them and they seem well-suited for my style of bike touring.

Next update due April 2025 (unless something happens before then!)

If you’re interested in buying the Adidas cycling shoes for flat pedals, you can check them out on Amazon:

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