Some quick initial thoughts on Salomon Sense Ride 5:
- In a roundabout way I got them for a fiver which is why I went for them (wouldn’t normally consider Salomon just as a way to cheap the options down).
- They are a great road/trail/dog-walking shoe.
- The tread pattern reminds me of the old Vittoria cyclo-cross tyres I had - i.e there is an even enough surface for road use and enough tread for off-road.
- Since they are a road to trail shoe they are “good enough” on the road and “good enough” off-road. But not great on either. That is just the compromise you have to make.
- I have of course christened them through lots of mud, but I was “cautious” in them in the really slippery bits because they don’t instantly “bite”.
- The fairly tight tread pattern also means they don’t shed mud that well once it’s dry.
- They have a semi-collapsible and nice soft heel counter which I like.
- They look pretty good.
- They do take a bit of breaking in. I was not a fan of walking in them when I first put them on, but I’ve done almost 100km of running in them now (and more walking) and they are fine now; And were fine some point before this.
- The laces aren’t normal laces, but they are mostly set and forget.
- The absolutely worst thing about them is they have a really shallow toe box. A size UK 10 feels too small, but actually isn’t length wise. I replaced the insoles with some old Nike ones which are a bit thinner and that helped. I still thought I was going to end up with badly bruised toenails, but actually they are no worse than usual.