Sticky rubber soles on shoes for mountain biking? Who would have thought of that? Jeff Steber of Intense Cycles, that’s who. The genius behind some of the sport’s most iconic bikes came up with the idea and with the technology already employed by Five Ten, then just a climbing shoe manufacturer; they brought out one of the first collaborations in mountain biking. But it would be nothing less than a revolution in the way many of us ride our bikes.

Back then everyone just called them ‘Intense shoes’, Five Ten were yet to rise to the position they are in today, but this is now and that was then; the advent of sticky rubber soled shoes and the dawn of a new era in mountain biking equipment. The shoe you see here is all that is left of my personal Intense shoe collection. The first pair were the low cut ones, in a ghastly brown and red colourway, the oldies out there might remember them. Where they are now is anyone’s guess. I ordered them from the US and even though I knew they looked bad, after a few months of riding my local DH trails in them, there was no way I’d go back to regular shoes. The high tops shown here came next, I got these off a guy in the UK called Craig Robertson. I remember seeing them on Chris Kovarik at a World Cup, back then, like now Chris was my favorite rider. If the Karver was rocking them, I had to get some too!

I can remember buying two pairs, one pair for me and a pair for Red Dog (part time staff member here) as these were some of the last off the production line and with neither Intense or Five Ten showing any signs of further production, I was more than concerned as to what to do when these died. I wasn’t the only one, back then these shoes were like rocking horse shit! Literally, I remember riding in the Alps and Craig stopping me and remembering the exact transaction, there were so few of them around and a highly prized possession regardless of condition.

Five Ten shoes represent more than a product, they represent a riding style born from their ability to let you ride your bike loosely and on the ragged edge, without being either clipped in or being bounced off on regular skate style shoes. I am a bit ragged on a DH bike, although with age and a few knocks over the years I have calmed it down some. Five Tens allowed me to ride my bike like never before.

You just have to look at the pro field today, I can only think of a few of the fast ‘young’ guys and girls coming through clipping in, with the rest all rocking flats and Five Tens. 2010 World Champs, Mont Saint Anne, men’s elite in gold and silver, down one hell of a rough and incredibly physical track, both on Five Tens. That’s a good point actually, Stevie Smith needs a signature Five Ten!

This is nothing new of course, Chris Kovarik and Nathan Rennie pioneered the riding style that the Five Ten shoe allowed them, not that they needed a product to do this, it just helped unlock what they doing in the first place. What they started, Sam Hill finished. No one else comes close to the way Sam rides a bike, but that’s if he stays on the bloody thing anyway! He’s unstoppable, the “silent assassin” as Warner will no doubt be shouting at the top of his lungs on Freecaster come April (I can’t wait!) and of course Josh Bryceland, Brendan Fairclough, Sam Blenkinsop and that’s just the tip of the iceburg.

So times have changed, Five Ten now produce a plethora of different shoes, all sporting Stealth Rubber and all for off road bicycle riding. The kids today don’t know how good they’ve got it! So there we have it. The Intense Five Ten shoe, a turning point for many people and with a few other brands having had a bash over the years, namely Nike and Sixsixone, no one has come close to the feel of Stealth Rubber. Vans of course are hot on their heels (no pun intended!), but we’ll have to wait and see, they look nice, they’re Vans after all, but how are they going to compete with Five Ten? Only time will tell and I’m sure there’ll be more contenders as our sport continues to grow.

For more info on this subject, our buddies at Vital published a sweet article by Seb Kemp a few week ago and for everything Five Ten, look no further.

Heres to Jeff Steber, Five Ten and sticky rubber!

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