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Parkour And Freerunning / Re: Opinions on traditionalist vs minimalist shoes
« on: June 03, 2012, 01:57:42 AM »The grip on the minimus is ok. I have the trail version which has a pebbled outsole which is dumb and messed up the grip for good month for me before it wore off. It grips real well on rails, and the wood in our gym and smoother concrete more porous concrete and rock is not very good, the suck in the wet. Overall I would probably give them a 3 out of 5 on grip maybe 3.5 when I really want grip I use my 5.10 daescents but I have adapted to the lower grip for the most part.
Thanks. I'm the same way with my Daescents. I pull them out for special occasions, but I almost feel like I'm cheating when I do.
I think I'm going to put together a comprehensive video shoe review of all the shoes I've ever worn for parkour.
Long story short:
1) I conditionally recommend Vivos for running and ground feel, but they have horrible grip.
2) I conditionally recommend Daescents but their grip is horrible on metal, and too good on concrete/rock/brick for some things like cats.
3) The best all-around shoe I have found for parkour/freerunning are the Asics Tigers. Their grip is good to above average and consistent across most surfaces. They are not a minimalist shoe, but they do not have excessive heel drop or extraneous padding. If you spend a lot of time wearing quality true minimalist shoes and some time barefoot, you won't be completely destroying your biomechanics by wearing these for some sessions. While they are heavier than some shoes like Vivos, they are fairly light. On top of all that there are even vegan versions if that matters to you.
I do not recommend any other shoe. Feiyues are expensive because they fall apart too fast and they have an extremely narrow toe box which severely reduces their value as a "barefoot" shoe. Ariakes, Nike Frees, KOs, the 3Run shoe, the PK Gens shoe, Kalenjis, and anything else with traditional thick heel pads are no bueno. 5.10 Freerunners are among the worst shoes I've used for parkour: huge heel pads, very heavy, poor breathability, and expensive.