Friday 9 November 2012

Update on the New Balance Minimus MT00

A very light trail shoe, but lacking in grip on wet mud
UPDATE ON THE MT00's:

It's good to know how people get on with a pair of bareform shoes after they have had plenty of time to put them through their paces. After owning a pair of NB Minimus MT00 for a fair few months now I feel I am able to comment well on whether this is a good trail shoe or not. So here it goes:

1) Great for dry compact trails such as found in the US or summer months in the UK

2) Very light and fast, and a very flexible shoe; allows natural toe splay and biomechanics



3) Great for sprints and shorter tempo runs

4) Can cause blisters on the upper part of the toes where the thin rough material rubs when the shoe bends; it always bends from one point as the sole and material is so thin

5) Absolutely useless on muddy trails in the colder and wetter months in the UK. Mud sticks, grip slides all over the place; wouldn't even consider taking them out in the serious mud and wet

6) Durability not great on technical trail

To conclude, this is a great training tool for fast, short and dry/compacted trail running. For everything else I would use another trail shoe such as the Inov-8 Trailroc 235 or Vibram FiveFinger Spyridon LS.

Let me know what you have found...



Happy Running
CavemanClarke






3 comments:

  1. I have to agree with your conclusions about the MT00, and add that for me durability was a real concern. It took me only a little more than 2 months of not very technical running to destroy my pair; the upper material may be light and wondrous in many ways, but it isn't really tough enough.

    I also remember bleeding from several spots on both my feet every time I went for a run, but despite that I still returned with a smile across my face! Yes, I really loved the feeling of running light in these shoes, but they never quite agreed with my wide feet, so after returning them for a refund I got a pair of MT10's instead. A lot heavier, but soooooo much comfier!

    I now look forward to the MT10v2 due out this spring, as they promise to be both lighter and somewhat improved over the originals, but unfortunately still with a 4mm drop.

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  2. I had trouble with the MT10s - my second toe (marginally mortons toe-ish) would hit the end, so I needed size 10.5 where 10 was fine with the MT00. The weight alone has me going back to wear these whenever I can.

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    Replies
    1. The weight is incredible, I agree. Sadly for me though the grip is not adequate for English weather and the durability is not good enough for serious trail abuse. As a training tool for the odd session they are fantastic though.

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