Sam Hill (AUS) is definetly to be flavour of the month at the moment. He took the Worlds title, in front of our very own Steve Peat (GBR). Some say Sam is smoother with more style than Steve. Some even say that Steve is getting past it. What they forget is that Steve is an indestructible northern lad from Sheffield way who cut his teeth in Wharncliffe woods in the wet and the mud and will be back. Anyways, that aside I love my 510 Sam Hill biking Shoes and I think they are one of my best purchases and here is my review.  

I used to be clipped in the whole time riding the sweet trails of south Wales in the Peaks with my 2005 (and current and still loved) FSR Expert StumpJumper. At first I had a few small teething accidents getting used to clips (mainly coming to a stop on uphills forgetting I was clipped in and slowly toppling in a quite undramatic movement, yet amusingly to the side).

Then very quickly, being clipped in, I felt at one with my bike. It wasn't even the incredible pedaling efficiency and energy conservation on the ups I loved. It was that feeling whilst on sweet single track in descents that you felt at one and totally connected with your bike. She became that much more responsive to every sightliest action and seemed to perform that much better too. (These were Crank Bro's Eggbeaters with a little platform to absorb the shock by the way and I am a big fan and I may do a separate review)

12 months on I (or more, my friends started and I followed), getting into trails with bigger and bigger dops and runs. The likes of Aston Hill, Chicksands and CwmCarn spring to mind with sweet and a few painful memories / scars. The clips came off and flats came on. A life of changing pedals, cleaning and re-greasing them regularly depending on the trail, ensued. I wanted shoes that I could the pedals escape from and they needed to be flat, hard and with good grip. At the time I couldn't find anything to boot in the standard bike shops. So I went for some skateboard shoes. These are hard to absorb impact have gGood grip for the board and good style factor. You could wear them outside of biking and were cheap as chips. These are still a good option but they wear dead in 3 months max sitting on spiky flat pedals. They were great and I felt safer but I never got that at one and connected feeling with my bike on them.

A new bike was born in spring 2007  in . My 2007 Specialized Big Hit 3 (another love / hate affair to be reviewed shortly). Around the same time I purchased my Five Ten Sam Hills. Pure love and they have been ridden in Chicksands, Fort Bill and Hamsterley. Here's is why I recommend them:

• The fit like a glove due to their new 'slingshot rand' thingy which is designed to give better heel protection and secure the shoe.
• They have barrel aces that are designed to be done up tight yet smooth and easy to undo in a rush when needed. 
• They have a flat strong sole for strong impact resistance yet seem to bend with your feet and toes as you need to move for jumps and drops
• The proprietary Stealth S1 high friction out soles provides amazing grip on flat pedals.
  
•  They are a cool style and design (sorry Peat)

The absolute best bit is you feel clipped in wearing them. The only negatie is you have to remember to lift your feet to move anywhere along the pedals (they don't slide). But unlike being clipped thye do lift off the pedals;). Overall I'm back to that feeling of being connected and at one with my bike, which is great. These shoes are good for DH and free-riding and I even wear them when out on my stumpy on the trials.

If anyone has a recent purchase they want to rview then please Post. It's easy to Post an Article and you don't need to be registered to Post. Once I get enough I will open up a section on Kit Reviews.

OK back to work.. thanks for checking this post out.

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