The Crankbrothers Mallet Trail Boa shoe is a solid all-rounder that borrows all of the features found on the Stamp Trail Boa but adds clipless pedal functionality. It’s stiff, comfortable and supportive, earning a rightful place as one of the best mountain bike shoes.
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Crankbrothers Mallet Trail Boa shoe - Technical details
Introduced in 2024 alongside the Stamp Trail Boa and the Lace counterparts, the Mallet Trail Boa is a clipless shoe aimed at enduro riding. It attempts to blend race-level performance with the comfort to match, using a remarkably similar blueprint to the flat-pedal Stamp shoe. You’d be forgiven for mistaking this shoe for the same thing, but you would be right for the most part.
It uses the same rip-stop upper reinforced with a TPU toe box and a neoprene-like flexible ankle cuff. It has the same Boa Li2 dial and Velcro strap closure, with the latter placed asymmetrically to apply uniform pressure across the top of the foot. The tongue is gusseted to keep grit out of the shoe, and the heel cup is padded to aid foot retention and comfort.
But that’s where the similarities end – well, kind of... The shoe has been reworked and refined everywhere else to suit the unique demands expected when riding clipless pedals. As such, the Mallet Trail Boa benefits from a stiff fibre-reinforced nylon shank to boost power transfer. It uses the Match outsole and rubber compound designed to mesh with Crankbrothers’ pedals, and there’s a mid-friction MC1 rubber compound formulated to balance traction, entry and exit from the pedal mechanism.
There’s also the Matchbox cleat track, which has an increased length of 35mm to provide a very rearward cleat position — something that’s increasingly common on clipless shoes designed for aggressive riding.
The shoe’s midsole gets a low-rebound EVA midsole that’s added to damp vibration.
These shoes come pre-fitted with standard cleats out of the box. The folk at Extra (Crankbro’s UK distributor) kindly set my sample shoes up with the grey spacers — ideal for Cranlbrothers pedals. That said, the shoes can and will work with pedal systems.
Crankbrothers Mallet Trail Boa shoe - Performance
The fit is very true to the claimed size. I went for a size EU44, which was snug enough while still having some breathing room.
The goal of achieving even pressure over the foot with the closures cinched down is evident. Despite being built with a single Boa, it applies pressure evenly over the foot, further boosting comfort. The Velcro strap comes into play in keeping the shoe super secure. I have noticed that the Boa can loosen marginally throughout a descent but never to a point where it’ll loosen completely and affect stability. Moreover, it complies with the movement and flex of a foot inside the shoe.
The Mallet Trail Boa is a good all-round shoe in terms of weather protection. On hotter days, I have found the shoe to get particularly warm but this can be amended through good sock choice.
During my time with these shoes, I used the Crankbrothers Mallet E LS pedals and Hope Union TC pedals – and performance translates very well across the platforms.
Clipping in is easy, and that’s another area that I found to be impressive. Not just because clipping in is straightforward, but the shoe does a great job guiding the foot and the cleat towards a pedal’s mechanism through its deep cleat channel. That also opens the shoe up to great performance when not clipped in but standing on the pedal. I’ve been pleasantly surprised with how well these shoes can grasp a pedal, even when the mechanism isn’t engaged.
The Mallet Trail Boa does an excellent job of balancing stiffness with vibration absorption. Not XC levels of stiffness but rigid enough to transfer power efficiently. Usually, that would transmit vibrations to the feet, but this is not the case, thanks to the addition of the low-rebound EVA midsole.
Off the bike, there’s little to complain about. It’s clear that the shoe is a little stiffer, especially compared to the Stamp Trail Boa and other flat pedal shoes but it’s by no means intrusive or restrictive.
Crankbrothers Mallet Trail Boa shoe - Verdict
At £220, these shoes sit at the premium end of the scale and, compared to the others at the price point, the Mallet Trail Boa shoes are up there with the best. Fox’s Union Clip Boa shoes are the same price. They get double the Boas and adjustable footbeds. Having tested and enjoyed Fox’s Union shoes before, I didn’t find the adjustability useful but it’s an appealing feature.
Shimano’s GE9 is also a £220 shoe with similar features. It gets a single Boa L6 dial but it turns the stiffness up a notch with a carbon shank as opposed to the nylon shank on the Mallet Trail Boas. It does get a torsional midsole.
The Crankbrothers Mallet Boa Trail shoes have become a personal favourite because of how they perform in all conditions. It’s comfortable, reliable and provides a great stiffness-to-vibration reduction ratio.