Ride Concepts Mountain Bike Shoes - An Inside Look

Ride Concepts Mountain Bike Shoes

An Inside Look

Our 2019 was one for the books! We spent 120 days away from home, and a large majority of those days were on the road crammed in the Wolf Wagon visiting bike parks for our Bike Park Review Tour. We were able to make the trip a reality thanks to the support of some amazing brands who believed in our vision. One of those brands was Ride Concepts.

It feels like Ride Concepts has been in the shoe game a lot longer than a year, and we’re not just saying that because of the deep lineup of shoes they offer. Since Fall of 2018, Ride Concepts has been hitting the mountain bike shoe market hard and it seems like every other month they’re announcing a new product, athlete signing, giveaway campaign for a good cause or shoe model to keep their name and product in everybody’s face. Then again maybe we’ve seen them more than most since we spent the last six months lacing up various pairs of Ride Concepts shoes before clocking in for work every day. Either way, we were stoked to stop by this new company’s headquarters in Truckee, California while we were in town reviewing the Northstar at Tahoe bike park.

Ride Concepts Mountain Bike Shoes - An Inside Look

Ride Concepts essentially came into existence to fill a void. This rider-owned brand was tired of having bruised, achy feet or shoes that fell apart after just a short time of use. After the founding members decided they’d done enough complaining and were going to do something about it and start their own mountain bike shoe company, Ride Concepts was born.

From the get-go Ride Concepts made no apologies about their fun, party-loving vibe and dedication to keep riders living their slogan, “Ride Every Day.”

During our visit we were able to meet the people we’d exchanged emails with all summer and learned about their day to day operations and what it was like to work at Ride Concepts. Although they’re a small company the passion inside the walls is big. A showroom, conference rooms, cubicle farm and the Hall of Dead Soles were part of the nickel tour. We especially liked seeing the differences in all the shoes as we’d had very different experiences on different models throughout the year. Some great, some that could have used some improvement.

Ride Concepts Mountain Bike Shoes - An Inside Look

Over the last year we’ve reviewed quite a few shoes for our site, many of which came from our long days riding bike parks. In the last decade of reviewing products we’ve learned there are two kinds of companies: Those who think you’re dead wrong and take offense to differing opinions and brands who receive feedback openly, accept their products aren’t perfect and inform you that they’re working to make improvements. Ride Concepts has been so great to work with because they are always looking to improve.

While all our reviews featuring their shoes have had lots of good things to say, we’ve also had some notable points of concern and critiques. We’ve never gotten an angry email in response; in fact, most replies from Ride Concepts have been to thank us for the feedback or inform us that they’ve already heard similar feedback and are making a change to improve future product. And after visiting their HQ to see the brand’s workflow, how they take notes, draw on shoes and make changes to continually chase their dream of making the best shoes they can, we get it.

Ride Concepts Mountain Bike Shoes - An Inside Look

During our visit we learned a lot about how shoes come to be, where inspiration comes from and ultimately what kind of people work in this industry to make the sport we love so much fun. The crew at Ride Concepts know they’re on a mission and they’re excited about it. So if you’re looking to support a rad brand that supports mountain bikers and mountain biking, we’d suggest giving these guys a look. They’ve got charitable elements, support lots of athletes and are committed to keeping it rad as they keep improving their shoes to meet the demands of fellow mountain bikers.

To learn more visit Rideconcepts.com