The Endura MT500 Plus Overshoes are specifically designed for flat pedal riders and for FiveTen shoes in particular. Will this finally mean no more soggy Five Tens?

We actually brought you news of these a few months ago (see our story below) but now the MT500 Plus Overshoes are available. Now there’s a bit more info about the product and some testimony from the R&D squad at Endura.

The Endura MT500 Plus Overshoes

Built for trainer-style riding shoes, with an open sole made from hardwearing rubber for flat pedals (and clipless pedals too if required). The upper is “super tough” and made from nylon-faced neoprene rubber.

The new moulded rubber sole required Endura to carve through five prototypes while dialing in the ideal shape between structural rigidity combined an open area large enough to maximize contact between shoe and pedal.

The underside tread used on the rubber toe section provides a bit of extra grip off the bike (not Five Tens’ strong point). The Velcro closure with fit adjustment should make them relatively easy to pull on and take off even with mucky paws. Thanks to the wide fit, the MT500 Plus Overshoe is suitable for a large variety of MTB shoes, whether designed for use with flat pedals or clipless.

Endura’s Brand Manager Ian Young: “We like to start with a clean sheet of paper, but with the upper, we found ourselves coming back to what we’d used for the standard MT500 overshoe. We investigated various materials, even including some of the heavier fabrics we use for rain jackets, but came back to neoprene, which offers the best combination of stretch, toughness and protection.”

UK freerider Chris Smith was part of the development team: “Ninety per cent of my riding is on flat pedals. For freeriding, I’m on flat pedals all the time. They give me much greater freedom on the bike. I’m a lot more committed in corners, and able to stick out a foot, if I need to. I’ll take on a more risky line, if I’m on flats, because they give me an escape route.

“But in the winter, when you’ve got a spanking pair of shoes covered in mud from top to bottom, it can be very annoying. And once your shoes are wet, they weigh so much. They can be like sponges.”

Here’s our original story from January…

Scottish clothing brand Endura have revealed something we’ve never seen before – an overshoe specifically for flat pedals.

Regular overshoes are designed around clipless pedals and clipless shoes and are almost exclusively the reserve of roadies and commuters.

Endura are nothing if not inventive and being comprised of a large number of regular mountain bikers themselves in and around Northern Britain, they’ve spotted a gap in the market.

That gap being flat pedal using FiveTen shoe wearing mountain bikers who are fed up of having damp feet on rides.

And thus the Endura MT500 Plus Overshoe was born.

Based around their regular clipless-based MT500 overshoe, the MT500 Plus uses the same neoprene upper as the MT500 and similar rubber ‘hovercraft skirt’ bumper around the bottom edge. But the similarities end there. The sole design is entirely different.

(The rear fastening is also different – it’s Velcro with a large pull tab for closure as opposed to a zip – but this fastening method will be introduced tot he regular MT500 overshoe as well.)

The overshoe in these pictures is a prototype. The finished item will very probably have an ever larger opening on the underside (that bit with the two holes in it will be removed).

Unlike regular overshoes that have to be designed with a bit of leeway for various different shoe styles and shapes and sole treads, the MT500 Plus is going to be principally designed around FiveTens and skate-style shoes of that ilk. This means the MT500 Plus overshoe should be able to make do with minimal underside overlap and still remain firmly in place.

It’ll be interesting to see how they work out on the trail but kudos to Endura for trying something new and catering for their British fans.