Nike have taken their skate shoes and added tech twists to make them popular with flat pedal users. The Oncore has a stiffer-than-a-skate-shoe mid-sole and a herringbone and inverted dimple tread pattern that are ideal for meshing with long-pin flat pedals. We could sense the grip was there but it was never the locked-in feeling achieved with FiveTen's Impact shoe, for example.
It might be a dirt shoe but it still carries Nike’s core feature – a Zoom Air pocket inside the mid-sole. If you wear it casually as well as on the trail you’ll welcome the extra comfort. The Oncore echoes the popular Nike Dunk street shoes in layout with a reasonably supportive synthetic and suede upper.
A highly padded tongue helps cosset feet and provides reasonable protection from high-speed impact with debris Many will be drawn to the look and accept a performance hit. There’s a lot of suede in this shoe so it will look scruffy after a good mudding and rainproof it most certainly isn’t.