Review: Drift ARC Mountain Bike Shoes
- kelly jorgensen
- 7 hours ago
- 2 min read
The Drift ARC Mountain Bike Shoes Are Some Of The Coolest Clipless Shoes I've Tried;
The Drift ARC Mountain Bike Shoes are an all-season low-top cycling sneaker, engineered for power and lasting stability. A stiff composite shank delivers efficient power transfer to the pedals, while a reinforced toe box protects the foot and maintains structure and control. The full rubber outsole supports movement beyond the bike. Prepared for any day and any weather — never mind the rain. Drift makes these small-batch, hand-crafted waterproof shoes from the finest leather, designed to clip into two-bolt, SPD-compatible pedals. I've been riding these for a couple weeks and here are my thoughts.
When I first saw these they reminded me of an old pair of Globe skate shoes I had back in 2001. Whether you are a fan of how they look or not, they are definitely breaking the mold of your typical clipless mtb shoes. Personally, I am a fan of the looks. Apart from styling the ARC are not really like a skate shoe at all. Although they are super comfortable they were designed to meet the demands of mountain biking. The composite shank in the sole is quite stiff and transfers power down to the pedals super well. These shoes offer up a lot of protection, especially in the toe box area. I smashed the front of my foot into some decently sized rocks at speed on more than one occasion without really feeling anything at all. They are also waterproof. I crossed a couple small streams and got caught in a sizable thunder storm as well and my feet stayed nice and dry. The ARC shoes seem to breathe pretty well also. It's been hitting the 100° mark a lot recently and my feet have not been getting overly swampy in these at all. These would work well in the hot deserts as well as the wet PNW.
The ARC's are full of well thought out features too. The leather lace protector is awesome and buttons down to the tongue of the shoe. Under that lace cover is a stretchy little strap that the laces tuck under before folding the leather protector over them.
The fit and sizing is spot on. I typically wear a size 12 shoe in almost everything except my Hoka trail running and hiking shoes. There is plenty of room in the toe box and the heel area is dialed. My heels don't want to lift up at all or do any kind of weird sloshing around. There was never a break in period with these and I never had any kind of hot-spots or anything,
Off the bike the ARC's feel fine during hike a bike sections and could even be worn into a cafe or something without looking like you just got off a stage of the tour de france.
The ARC shoes are also very well crafted and I can see these lasting a long time. If you are a mountain biker with an "I'm a skateboarder" persona the Drift ARC could be the shoe for you. From, trail to full on downhill riding these would be sick. You could ride some XC in these too but they might look a bit funny with lycra.
