The replacement for Five Ten Impact VXi
The Five Ten Impact Pro is a new name in the Five Ten catalogue but it’s actually pretty much the new Impact VXi. Why not just call it the new VXi?
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The Impact is Five Ten’s original mountain bike shoe, and probably its most iconic, designed to take a beating on gravity trails so your feet don’t have to. This year it gets a makeover, in the shape of the Impact Pro with a reworked outsole, and a host of internal changes that are harder to spot.
It’s the sticky sole that makes the Impact such a top performer, and the compound remains unchanged in the new Pro version, clad in full dotty S1 rubber. FiveTen has worked on the tread though, introducing mini dots in the front half of the shoe and siped dots just at the toe, the idea being to make the shoe easier to push back up trails in (it’s that kind of shoe). Impact aficionados will have noticed the puma image on the sole has gone too, although we have no idea why it was there in the first place.
What we do know is that the toe cap now has 3mm of impact resistant Poron foam inside to defend your digits, and there’s a new midsole to increase the shoe’s shock absorption and comfort. The Impact Pro comes in three colours, blue, black/gold or black/camo.
Because the sole is no longer using the super sticky (52a durometer) Mi6 rubber and as such it’s a significantly different proposition. The new Five Ten Impact Pro uses 64a durometer Stealth S1 rubber for the outsole.
The old Five Ten Impact VXi
The design of the sole tread is also vastly different to the Impact VXi. The Five Ten Impact VXi sole (pic above) was a uniform ‘shower mat’ dotty pattern. Classic Five Ten. The new Impact Pro is still heavily dot-based but mixed in there are smaller dots, some dots that look like paracetamol and other shapes too. The changes aim to improve both on-pedal feel and off-bike hiking performance.
A glimpse under the sole of the new Five Ten Impact Pro
The midsole is also much, much thinner than the VXi and is made from polyurethane rather than EVA foam. If you’re into marginal gains, Five Ten claim the move to polyurethane midsole results in faster rebound damping for the shoe. No more having your shoes pack down on repeated hits.
The upper is actually the thing that’s most reminiscent of the discontinued Impact VXi. With the seamless wipe-clean outer (every UK MTBer: “hurray!”), the elastic lace keeper and the reinforced toe box bumper. A closer look reveals that lace eyelets have switched from metal to laser welded slits.
Five Ten Impact Pro
“The Impact Pro features a fast-drying synthetic upper and a burly, protective toe cap and an aggressive Stealth® S1™ multi-dotty outsole sheds dirt and mud while providing a more consistent feel and edge control across the entire pedal.”
Material: Synthetic/Polyester Textile
Benefit: Stealth, Flats
Weight: 17.4 oz (493 gm)
Abrasion-resistant, fast-drying synthetic upper
Stitched & reinforced toe cap with Poron® XRD® foam
Durable & supportive, compression-molded PU midsole
Stealth® S1™ outsole for proven grip and durability
SRP: £124.99