A Tale of Three Flat Pedal Shoes (from Northwave)

This little fiasco began with a pair of winter mountain bike shoes, which are a dime a dozen.What was unusual is that these were designed for flat pedals. Unfortunately, I was quite sure they were going to suck. They were too stiff, the rubber wasn't very sticky, and I wasn't sure about the shape either. Despite these seemingly fatal flaws, they didn't suck at all. In fact they are some of the best flat pedal shoes I've worn.* The grip is excellent, I can easily reposition my feet, and they were sturdy and well built. In fact, I continued riding them long after the frost was gone because I wasn't ready to put them away for 8 months. Then a fever took hold.

*An exception is that Northwave's Multi Cross GTX winter shoes don't work as well with pedals that that are convex, particularly when the ball of your foot is over the spindle, because the rocker doesn't flatten very much under your weight

If you have ridden flats for many years you may be able to relate to my obsession with finding the right shoes. Once I source a and begin wearing a pair that meets my criteria, and they are slowly (hopefully) wearing out with every ride, the need to secure the next pair feels mission critical. After enduring mediocre and downright shit shoes for many years, once the holy grail has been located, its source must be secured.

What I'm getting it is that I wanted the summer version of these excellent shoes, and Northwave made a summer Multicross that looks identical to the GTX version. The problem was, Northwave had discontinued them. They had some in stock but were unwilling to send me a pair to test. Northwave wouldn't even let me buy some directly. They were moving on and these shoes were no longer in the plan. I found some online, even on sale, but not in my size. Finally I sleuthed a pair on sale but the sizes were listed differently (because I was in Canada I could only see Canadian/US sizing and I knew my size in Euro sizes, and the conversion can vary) and there was no way to contact a human. I even tried to find some in Italy (where Northwave resides) on a trip with my wife to no avail. Eventually a pair in my size came up on Northwave's e-commerce site and I paid a hefty price and hefty shipping. Then, when they arrived there were duties and taxes added. In the end I paid just shy of 300 CAD to find out if these were the summer version of my Holy Grail winter shoes.

In the meantime the new model arrived, the Crossland Plus, with a different sole and a mid foot arch in the outsole. Normally I would have dismissed these out of hand but these were from the makers of the Multi-Cross GTX! The photos on the Northwave site shoe someone wearing the Crossland Plus while riding an e-gravel bike on the road despite them being listed as mountain bike shoes. I reserved my judgement, twisted their off-brand Boa-style fasteners and went for a ride.

There are a couple of problems with an arch in the sole of a flat pedal shoe. For one, it limits your foot position, particularly for those of us who position the ball of our foot slightly behind the pedal spindle when descending. The other issue is that if your foot slips at all, your pedal no longer has anything to dig into. This can (and did) result in your foot rolling off the front of the pedal. If you have had this happen, you likely know this can result in the pins of your pedal slicing through the soft flesh of your calf. And I experienced this result. Luckily I wasn't riding on 3mm pins or some needlework would have been mandatory.

These aforementioned winter shoes seemed all wrong but managed to be very right, which made me wonder if it was a fluke. Was this was a case of flat shoes being designed by someone who rides only clipped in or, god-forbid, only road? After my experience with the "new" shoes that were completely unredeemable, I began to suspect this was the case, but I was holding out hope for the summer version of the Multicross. If they turned out to be great it would be bitter sweet since they'd been discontinued, and if they weren't great, what the hell is going on here?

I laced them up with equal parts trepidation and optimism and headed out from home. Obviously the benchmark I was hoping to reach was very high, since the Multi-Cross GTX are some of the best performing flat pedal shoes I have ridden, but since the outsoles were identical (both made by Vibram) there was reason to hope.

The outsoles weren't completely identical actually, since these were gum rubber and the winter model came with a black outsole, but otherwise every fin and contour was the same. I'd asked another manufacturer about the impact of dyes on flat pedal soles and they told me it was negligible at most, so the rubber could be trusted. These were lace up shoes, which was absolutely fine and they have some excellent venting for warm weather use. Because of this lateral venting they lack descent protection on the sides but the heel and tow are well protected.

Unlike the Crossland Plus, the summer version of the Multicross works relatively well. They have decent grip and if you are a rider who likes shoes in that range, they might be fine for you. My sweet spot is a nebulous zone between most shoes and the all time, sit-to-reposition tackiness of most Fivetens. The shoes I've found that best reflect my hyper-pickiness are Specialized 2FOs and Fox's Unions. The Crossland Plus are well below that mark in terms of pedal retention. For my standards they are what I'd call serviceable. So what the hell is going on here? Why are the seemingly identical winter soles so good on one shoe and so mediocre (for my taste) on the summer shoes?

The solution seems to have nothing to do with the outsole and everything to do with the shank/mid sole. The winter shoes are very stiff. As mentioned earlier, I assumed they would be shit because of this. The theory I've been percolating is that the combination of a moderately sticky sole and a stiff shoe can hit the sweet spot. Because the sole is stiff each pin gets similar traction and the rubber sole deflects less when a force is exerted either vertically or laterally. The special sauce may be that, because the outsole is only moderately sticky, it's easy to reposition your foot but when you have weight on your foot, rubber deflects less and your weight is more evenly distributed. If you happen work on designing flat pedal shoes, give the Northwave Multicross+ GTX a try. And then make something similar. Or, better yet, make some yourself. Please. This combination delivers many of the power transfer benefits of a stiff shoe designed for clipping in but with the freedom of movement and agility of a flat shoe.

The irony here is that the Crossland Plus are almost as stiff as the winter version of the Multicross, but their sole, in my humble opinion, is garbage. If the Multicross sole had been applied to the Freehand mid sole, this might be a very different story indeed. I think the lesson here is that flat pedal shoe design is very difficult. The process requires riders experienced with riding aggressive terrain riding flats. Without that rider feedback you are likely to end up with shoes like the Crossland Plus. These shoes aren't total garbage, unless you ride aggressive terrain on a mountain bike. They could be just fine on a commuter bike, a recumbent, or for someone on a mountain biking riding flat trails, with no roots or rocks, in a large park. If you are a mountain biker, and you ride trails that involve hills, obstacles and perhaps some mayhem, I advise you to look elsewhere.Northwave Crossland Plus Shoes - 140 EUR

Northwave Multicross (discontinued summer version) 88 EUR