Cleat Attachment System
The cleat attachment system on mountain bike shoes hasn’t really changed since the early 90’s. Working within the confines of the well-established 2-bolt pattern, the Pivot employs what Teva calls the PedalLINK system—basically, you can bolt up Shimano and Crank Brothers cleats from the inside of the shoe.
There’s two benefits of this: first, there’s no bolt heads hanging off the bottom of your shoe and getting subjected to everything you decide to step in. Second, you can adjust the cleat position while the shoe is clipped into the pedal. The Pivot even has a little tool port in the tongue so that you can access the bolt heads on the inside of the shoe without having to pull out all of the laces. Sort of like the shortened shank that allows for improved walking, this falls squarely into the “why didn’t I think of that?” category – it works well, and I can’t think of another shoe that has something like this.
The PedalLINK system only works with cleats that have a recessed bolt area. I use Time pedals, and the Time cleats unfortunately don’t have that recessed area. This just means that I have to bolt up the Pivots in the old-fashioned way: bolt heads on the bottom of the shoe. Kind of a bummer, but I like my Time pedals.
Here’s a picture of my Time cleats bolted up the old fashioned way (on the left), and a Shimano cleat bolted up with the PedalLink system (on the right):
Recessed Cleats
As I mentioned above, the Pivot has a deeply recessed area that the cleats sit in. This is great for walking, but can potentially lead to the pedal interfering with the shoe’s sole. The recessed area is pretty big (there’s ample room on all sides of the cleat) and I found my cleat placement to be slightly limited. I couldn’t put the cleat too far back in the adjustment range, because the sole would get in the way of the pedal.
That said, I still had a decent range of adjustability that was interference-free, and I didn’t end up having any trouble getting a cleat position where I wanted it.
It’s also worth noting that I was using these with the Time MX6 and Z Strong pedals, both of which have a substantial cage around the pedal body. I imagine that pedals without a cage around them would have less interference issues.
The Soles
The Pivot has a “Spider Rubber” sole that is essentially divided into two parts: the area on either side of and behind the cleat is a waffle pattern that sticks to pedals well, while the toe and heel have deep chevron shaped grooves that give a bit more bite for walking.
In those inevitable instances where I want to be on the gas but can’t quite get clipped in, the soles provided good purchase on my pedals. The Pivot’s rubber might not be quite as grippy as 5.10’s stealth rubber, but I didn’t notice any night-and-day differences, either.
Breathability
The Pivot doesn’t breathe as well as some of the super airy XC shoes, but it’s definitely not as hot as most skate-style shoes. I’ve gone on several warm rides with them, and I’ve never found them to be uncomfortably hot. There’s a pretty big mesh panel directly above the toes that lets heat out, but (other than some minor perforations around the sides and heel) it doesn’t have the side-venting panels that you’ll find on shoes that prioritize breathability, like (for example) Northwave shoes with their “Airflow” system.
Padding
The Pivots offer a more rigid structure around the heel, but unlike a lot of the more DH-oriented shoes, they don’t have a whole lot of padding in them. For pedaling and normal trail riding, this is great—the lack of padding helps get a better fit because the shoe isn’t “squishy.”
That said, occasionally extra padding is nice when I want to keep my ankle bones a bit more protected in a crash, so the Pivot loses a little ground in that regard.
It should be noted that the padding in the Pivot is closed cell foam, which means that it doesn’t absorb water. This is nice when you’re riding through a stream crossing and your foot gets wet. The Pivot won’t absorb a ton of that water, so it dries out relatively quickly.
Weight
The Pivot is pretty light by skate-style standards. With my Time cleat attached, a single Pivot shoe weighed about the same as the 5.10 Maltese Falcon (about 490 grams for the Pivot, 500 grams for the Maltese Falcon). Those weights are in the same ballpark as my Shimano XC shoes, but still heavier than some of the super-lightweight XC options).
Durability
I don’t have enough time in the Pivots to give an informed assessment of their durability, but in the time I’ve had them, no glaring deficiencies have popped up. They appear to be well made, and I haven’t heard of other Teva shoes being prone to wearing out fast.
Fit / Comparisons
My foot is pretty narrow with a fairly high arch. Generally, more XC-oriented shoes fit me better than skate-style shoes, because XC shoes tend to be a bit narrower, while skate shoes tend to run wider. The Pivot falls somewhere in the middle. They’re narrow-ish in the back half of the shoe, but they still have a reasonably wide toe box. There’s not a ton of arch support in them, but I didn’t find this to bother me.
Compared to the 5.10 Maltese Falcon, the Pivot is almost the polar opposite. The Maltese Falcon is narrow in the toe box and medium-wide through the mid-foot and heel.
The Pivot is medium-narrow through the mid-foot and heel, but has a roomy toe box.
And compared to my Sidi Dominators, the Pivots are a little bit wider in the mid-foot and heel, and quite a bit wider in the toe box.
Length-wise, my size 10s felt true to size.
Styling
As far as bike shoes go, these are pretty subdued. You could wear them to the bar with minimal odd stares (depending on the bar, of course). But I’m hardly the arbiter of style and a picture is worth a thousand words, so I’ll just let you make that call yourself.
Other Notes
It should be very clear by now that I really like these shoes. That said, there are a couple things worth pointing out. First, there are no metal grommets on the lace holes. Especially once the laces are caked in dirt and mud, metal grommets help the laces tighten up easily. I haven’t had any problems with this so far, but it’s a problem I’ve had on other shoes that lack metal grommets, so we’ll see.
Second, the pinky toe area is fairly wide. I occasionally clip my feet on the insides of corners and on protruding obstacles that get in the way of my pedaling. Shoes like the 5.10s have squeezed in the outside corners of the shoe to gain as much clearance as possible, but the Pivot is relatively bulky in that area. This potentially makes the shoes a bit more comfortable, especially for people with wide toes, but it gives up a little room in the clearance department.
Bottom Line
The Teva Pivot is pretty much my favorite shoe ever. It’s comfortable to walk in, but it still pedals really well.
If I was trying to race XC competitively, I’d probably stick with the high end, super stiff XC shoes out there. And if I was only riding downhill, I’d probably go with something that had a bit more padding and a narrower toe box.
But for pretty much everything in between, the Pivot is an awesome choice.