This new Ride Concepts Accomplice shoe is lightweight, and as comfy as your favourite pair of slippers. The mesh upper is soft and flexible and fastens securely with a wraparound BOA lace system, which is rapid to tighten/undo and doesn’t cause any hot spots across the top of your foot like some other BOA designs.

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The front portion of the Accomplice has a thick cushioned tongue, built up toe bumper, and a reinforcing box to ward off impacts. The whole upper is stitched into an EVA midsole with just the right amount of thickness and flex to feel the pedal, without being so thin that feet get pummelled on rough descents or on long days pedalling. Underneath, the sole uses the brand’s Max Grip rubber sole and tread pattern that meshes nicely with all leading pedal’s pin designs.

Ride Concepts’ Max Grip rubber compound is used for the sole

As a big fan of Ride Concepts shoes over the last few years and having spent a lot of time wearing the Hellion Elite and TNT shoes, I had high hopes for this super comfortable new BOA model.

But, while I really liked the fit and invisible feel, and have been impressed enough with the grip and durability of the brand’s stickiest DST Max Grip sole in the past, I won’t be making the Accomplice my regular riding companion.

Firstly, despite the nylon upper looking like it’s well ventilated, the Accomplice runs really hot, meaning my feet were constantly getting sweaty and craving air, even on days when it wasn’t that warm. And, on the hottest days they became uncomfortably stuffy and humid inside.

Ride Concepts uses the proven BOA dial and cord system for fine tuning the fit

The bigger issue, however, was the lack of sufficient grip and damping when interacting with the pedals. Each time Ride Concepts has sent a shoe for review over the last 18 months, I’ve sensed its grippiest sole was becoming very slightly less sticky and grippy, and I’ve also worn out the tread pattern on the latest two pairs of Hellion Elites much quicker than the first pair I had about three years ago.

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This new Accomplice continues this trend of reduced performance further, and the speckled tan sole no longer has as much grip and damping as I want or expect given the competition at this price from the likes of Five Ten, Specialized, and Fox.

The Accomplice BOA shoe is well built with plenty of heel protection and support

Ride Concepts’ rubber was never quite as dull and squidgy as the latest Specialized 2FOs (which I consider the grippiest flat pedal sole around), but was very similar to a Five Ten Freerider Pro, which is another flat pedal shoe I rate highly. Both RC’s and Five Ten’s shank isn’t too thick either, so there’s a good midsole balance between isolation from bumps while retaining enough feel for the pedal and no sense of being too high up and perched on top like an Impact Pro or Specialized’s 2FO.

I reached out to Ride Concepts last time I reviewed its shoes about the decline in performance of its soles, and was told nothing had changed.  The only likely explanation would be minor potential differences in production. That may be true to a degree, but I’m totally convinced that the sole here is more plastic-ey, less sticky and faster rebounding than the first-generation shoes I had after back-to-backing with an older pair. And other MBR test riders that have tried the Accomplice have independently come to the same conclusions.

Ride Concepts no longer advertises the DST 4.0 Max Grip blend it used to, so I’m not sure this latest sole uses the exact same rubber formula. Or perhaps the speckled tan rubber is harder to eke as much grip or damping from as plain black, which is something I’ve heard from tyre manufacturers in the past. Whatever the reason, the outcome is the same.