Our colleagues over at iRunFar have done it again! Bryon has managed to get his hands on something very few of us have seen yet. Yep thats right, the worlds best trail runner Kilian Jornet is making his winning shoe available to us mortals ! And Bryon can’t contain himself!
First worn when he romped to victory at The North Face 100 in the Blue Mountains in May and then subsequent victories on every continent in 2011.
I was lucky enough to get my hands on an early version of this shoe back in July and even then I was blown away by the weight, shape and most importantly the amount of technology stuffed into this shoe. How can a shoe weighing 185 grams perform so well over 100 miles ? New technology coupled with a 4mm heel to toe drop tested by the worlds most advanced R&D team brings us to this point.
We will let iRunFar explain.
So please enjoy Bryon’s gushing praise to what is undoubtedly going to the the shoe of 2012 !
Start praying the Salomon Gods are kind to Australia and we get our fair share of the allocation into our local stores.
iRunFar’s early review of Salomon S-LAB Sense
This may sound totally weird, but I’m going to say it anyway.
I’m in training just to be able to wear this shoe.
I am purposely running in lower heel toe drop shoes just so that when this shoe comes out I can wear it and not get injured.
I sure hope to get my hands on a pair next year! Fingers crossed they are here before TNF.
looks like a good addition to the collection. a nice go-between when not using my NB Minimus
I remember the Salomon shoe designers at Northside runners in May of this year.
They were very interested in Marcus’ Innov8 talon 190’s.
The way they picked it up, looked at all the critical features, twisted it, turned it almost inside out and then just handed it back to Marcus.
Made you realise they already were way in front of this shoe.
Nice looking shoe and seems to tick all the boxes. I will likely pick up a pair. Pricing is interesting.
Very interesting depending on how long they last. Could make Hoka’s look cheap.
Salomon are pushing the boundaries in terms of manufacturing and materials though – just look at the S-LAB Advanced skin packs – they would not be easy or cheap to make.
I’m sure some of the materials in this shoe are also tricky to work with and will lead to higher manufacturing costs.
4mm is an interesting heel to toe drop. It will take some work for those to become mainstream because that’s pretty low in shoe world and will take some time for people used to bigger drops to get used to. I would have thought they my have gone for 6mm as that’s a good halfway house for most, and would reach a bigger audience in that theyre good for everything from 50-160kms. The lower heel drop makes it a great 50km and below shoe i reckon. Still very exciting to see this shoe and can’t wait to have a play around with a pair.
You hear it here first, this shoe will be the best selling trail shoe of 2012 IMO The North Face have something similar coming out, Andrew and I have tried it on and it seems that technology is advancing the use of these new materials at such a rate that the latest Cascadia 7 and the new Inov8 range seem out of date already. The same challenge can be thrown at Hoka, obsolete technology in their 2012 range when you stack it up against this shoe. How can you have cushiony softness in a 180g shoe that gets you through 100 miles. S-LAB some have the secret sauce!
Just for the record, the shoe Kilian wears is a whole heap lighter than 185 g, closer to 150g but he has uber talent and is only out there for 15 hrs compared to us chasing a silver buckle. I remember we were discussing it in France earlier this year and they were making some compromises to ensure it was appealing to a wider audience.
I am hoping we get our hands on this shoe soon to give it the kicking it deserves. I am like a kid in a candy store right now.
To give inov8 some credit, they do make very light shoes that are very protective, i love them, which is more than i can say for their ability to respond to requests on email and twitter….
Funny you should be mentioning INOV-8 boys, I just got my hands on a sample of the soon to be released zero drop Trail Roc 235s. This shoe looks very similar to the Salamon shoe, but will no doubt be far superior 😉 Sorry to hear about your problems getting in contact with them Dan, contact me and I’ll put you in touch with someone who will look after you.
Sounds interesting Brendan, what are a couple of its new features?
Zero drop is playing in the Merrill trail glove territory. Thanks Brendan, I’ll drop you a note, although im having no trouble getting in touch with them, it’s the lack of response that I find a little surprising, some basic customer service wouldnt go amiss. Just to note though, I haven’t been in touch with the local guys, just the UK team.
Got 7 pairs of brand spanking new Inov-8’s sitting at home Dan. Santa has come early!
Maybe they think ive been a good boy then 🙂
Brendan – the term “Zero Drop” is actually owned by Altra Running company and Trademarked. All other shoes claiming to have a zero drop are actually to be referred to as having a 0mm differential between the heel area and the toe area. Altra have some very interesting shoes, but give me a 9-14mm heel drop any day of the week and keep my physio’s kids out of private schools.
Haha that’s golden Vizey! Wasn’t aware of the zero drop terminology, just checked the shoes, no mention of ‘drop’ although does have zero splattered on the heel. Must have been a subliminal reference by me after reading too many of your gear reviews!
Gave them a good working over on the Solitary Half today. It’s probably not the best course to trial them with all the up and down but they handled very well. They gave enough grip on the ups and down, didn’t handle the scree on the Eastern Col particularly well on the way down but what shoe would! Didn’t really get a chance to test them in water thoroughly but I made sure I crossed the creek on the way back instead of going over the log…while they drained well, the uppers held the water a bit more than I like.
On the flatish firetrail (was there any on that course?) I found the zero heel to toe actually encouraged me to get up on my toes, and as you said today mate, that surely is a good thing. My calves don’t hurt, just that nice ‘they’ve been worked hard’ feeling. Good news is I won’t be funding any private school (and I have had some calf issues lately so have done my fair share of that already!)
So to sum up they would be perfect for a short, flattish, perhaps cross country type course around 10-15km or an up and or down mountain running course.especially if you are already a forefoot type runner. Not really suited for a long ultra where a bit of support is relieving. Give me my X-Talons for that anyday!
Nice one Brendan, and thanks for the mini-review on these. Like you say, I think they would be great for anything up to half marathon distance where youre moving faster and will be up on your toes much more. Would be keen to try them out on something like the Great Nosh.
The X-Talon is the shoe though I reckon for something like 6ft and B2H. I wore the Roclite 295s for the GNW 100 miler. Great shoe for that type of run I think. Good luck with Bogong and no I’m not taking you off the podium you sandbagger 🙂
Agree Dan, MrD was cruising and writing his own form guide whilst running today. Made it look easy.
Hi, the shoe looks great and it seems that the toebox will come in a perfect width.
Do you know if this shoe can be used for those who over-pronate? I think there are a lot of us out there that over-pronate and it should be great if it will come an alternative model with some support or guidance.
The Sense is available for online purchase from Running Warehouse at the expected RRP of $200. This makes it available to those who know how to get around the “U.S. sales only” issue. Anyone made an order yet?
Luckily for me they are already sold out of size 9.5 or I’d be very tempted. This, and the fact I’d be a bit self-concious I don’t have the talent to back up wearing this shoe…..
Either way I’m going to wait for the soon to be released NB Minimus Amp. At 1/2 the price and knowing how comfy the last is, I think it will be my trail shoe of choice.