I just got a set of these:


Shimano Saint MX80 pedals with a pair of Five Ten Freerider shoes.... The tread on the shoes lock onto the pins on the pedals and it feels like your feet are glued to the pedals. There is almost no slippage. Yet it is easy to "unclip"...

I don't use clipless because, on the trails I ride on, you simply have to expect the unexpected: dogs and kids jumping in front of you, squirrels, deer and so on. I simply don't want the risk of falling from not having time to unclip after coming to an unexpected emergency stop.

I tried them for the first time yesterday and I love 'em! The shoes stick to the pedals like clipless but release (almost) like regular platform pedals... I did have one spot where I had to put a foot down very quickly and I almost met the membership criteria for Club Tombay -- but I was able to get my foot off of the pedal quickly enough...

They're not going to let you 'pull' on the pedals -- but they do seem to provide a similar level of lateral attachment.

And, oh yes! You can actually walk in the shoes!

I love 'em!

Looks too practical for me. How will you ever get a Tombay award? I'm working on my second Oaf Leaf Cluster.

After a lifetime of dealing with computer crisis in IT and then people crisis in community mental health, "Boring" became kind of appealing to me...

Plus, in IT -- as a systems analyst -- I had to manage people who wanted the latest and greatest, the biggest and the best -- even if it cost a fortune but didn't actually do anything or improve anything. So, asking: "What do you need" vs "What do you want" became sort of second nature.

It works, it gets the job done, but it's boring...
...and that's fine!

To release you just pull up? If you pull back, will it not release? Why didn't they release when you almost joined the club?

The little pins are about an 1/8" or so high and they stick into the valleys between the nubs on the soles of the shoes. You have to lift up a little to get the pins out of the valleys. If you try to drag them across, the pins keep sticking.

And, I was at a busy intersection with limited visibility in both directions. I was just starting to cross when a car came flying around the bend to my left and I had to stop. I was on a side slope and a hill -- so I had to get a foot down real quick. My foot almost stuck to the pedal -- but luckily I got it down.

Five Tens like totally rock dude!

Very likely +1. I've taken a friend up on his offer to give me his Shimano pedals (he's now using Speedplays), so once I get shoes/cleats, I'll probably be upgrading my 'honorary' TC membership before too long...

They look like nice pedals. The thing I'll add is that one has less float with these than with many types of clipless pedals. If you don't need float, you're golden. If you do, either smooth pedals with (half) toe clips or clipless may be the way to go. There really is no One-size-fits-all solution for, well, anything...

You're right. They don't have much float... If you want to move your foot, you have to pick it up and put it down again...

And, today I tried the shoes on my Trek that still has the OEM pedals (with just a serrated metal rim rather than the pins) and they stuck to the pedals better than regular tennis or hiking shoes -- but not nearly as well as they do on the Shimano Saint downhill/freeride pedals with the pins.

Nice Pedals, glad they fit your use.