Asics are ridiculously expensive

The Japs are sticking it to you, my friend; but they do make a good shoe. I will now only buy shoes from US manufacturers and only those actually made in the US. You have to do a little research to find out which models of New Balance, Nike and others are actually built in the USA and not some 20 cents an hour sweat shop.

sorry flags, in no way did i really mean to complain...i was more just astonished when opened that little catalog. like i said i'm quite happy with the supernova cushion and don't plan on changing anytime soon.

buy american USA USA USA wrote:

The Japs are sticking it to you, my friend; but they do make a good shoe. I will now only buy shoes from US manufacturers and only those actually made in the US. You have to do a little research to find out which models of New Balance, Nike and others are actually built in the USA and not some 20 cents an hour sweat shop.

New Balance makes Grandma shoes.

I would think that most people on this board belong to a running club, organization, know the guy at the running store,etc...to the point where they get a discount off shoes. I haven't paid the full price for shoes in a long time.

Sweet Lou/ Dicks has Nimbus 9 for 89.99/ if your local one doesnt have your size, they can locate a store that does and transfer them to your local one. FWIW

I'm wearing 1120's, cost me 29.97 :) '07 clearance sale plus I wear 12 soooo

rodrigo said what I was going to say.

The people who buy the more expensive shoes are probably not designed to run and they require some features many runners don't need. Even with the added features, they may be more injury prone. If the same people tried to run in a basic cushion shoe they might have far more incidents of injuries than they do with the more expensive shoe.

Honestly.. wrote:

They don't just randomly decide they are going to jack up the price of a pair of shoes. It's because the shoes they are making are lasting longer and are made better with more sophisticated materials.

100% wrong. They charge what the market will bear and they market certain shoes to specific demographics. The 3000 is not really that much better than the 2130. Baldini trains in the 1130, so your contention that "elites benefit more from a more expensive shoe" is wrong. The only thing you can count on from more expensive shoes is that they tend to be overbuilt to accommodate a demographic of less efficient runners with poorer biomechanics who don't want to put in the work to alter either for the better.

rodrigo wrote:

Isn't it also possible that runners already more prone to injury bought the more expensive shoes in an attempt to prevent injury? The conclusion he made seems to confuse correlation with causation. This being said just because a shoe is more expensive doesn't mean it is the proper shoe for a person.

It's possible. But Robbins didn't just correlate injuries with shoe purchases. He attached impact sensors to people's feet bottoms to measure impact while running. What he found was that more cushioning resulted in GREATER shock and impact rather than less. So if you're paying for a lot of sophisticated cushioning in your shoes you're paying to increase the force with which you'll hit the ground.

rodrigo wrote:

Isn't it also possible that runners already more prone to injury bought the more expensive shoes in an attempt to prevent injury? The conclusion he made seems to confuse correlation with causation. This being said just because a shoe is more expensive doesn't mean it is the proper shoe for a person.

It's possible. But Robbins didn't just correlate injuries with shoe purchases. He attached impact sensors to people's feet bottoms to measure impact while running. What he found was that more cushioning resulted in GREATER shock and impact rather than less. So if you're paying for a lot of sophisticated cushioning in your shoes you're paying to increase the force with which you'll hit the ground.

At least you don't have to pay £130 (~$240) for the Kinsei 2, or £100 (~$185) for the Nimbus 10 etc etc. Count yourselves lucky!!

buy american USA USA USA wrote:

The Japs are sticking it to you, my friend; but they do make a good shoe. I will now only buy shoes from US manufacturers and only those actually made in the US. You have to do a little research to find out which models of New Balance, Nike and others are actually built in the USA and not some 20 cents an hour sweat shop.

Guess where every part of that shoe is made buddy? Overseas in sweat shops. New Balance's "Made in the USA" claim is a gimmick. Sure certain (just a few) styles are actually put together in the US, but made from all foreign materials. What a joke!

barefoot running

saving a buck on your shoes is yet another reason specialty shops struggle and your pro runners dont get paid enough.

the correlation to people who wear cheap shoes dont get injured as much....possibly because the person who buys a 30$ shoe at target runs once a week while the 90$+ crowd trains 5-7 times a week thus increasing chance for injury.

Runners are the cheapest consumers out in the marketplace.

Also, the prices of new models going up is due to the price of oil and shipping of product from retail shops.

andre dawson wrote:

a 30$ shoe

"$30"

while the 90$+

"$90+"

Adizero line. RCs- find them from $70 or less. Mayflys= 45. less is more.

I paid $35 per pair for GT-2120s from Sierra Trading Post.

[quote]andre dawson wrote:

the correlation to people who wear cheap shoes dont get injured as much....possibly because the person who buys a 30$ shoe at target runs once a week while the 90$+ crowd trains 5-7 times a week thus increasing chance for injury.

quote]

That's definitely NOT what Robbins' research found. He was testing people who were fairly serious and who ran pretty regularly.

petroleum is involved in making the shoes, therefore shoe prices (like everything else) are going up. I work at a specialty shop and they've told us to expect prices to go up soon from what they already are.

recycle!

Footwear will all go up 5-10 dollars within the next 12 months. Most manufacturers have anounced it for fall 08 or spring 09.

I have visited several US factories in the sporting goods industries. Do you think the american born citizens work in them? Have you ever aspired to have a job on a footwear assembly line?

Chaco is moving to china. NB is the only shoe ASSEMBLED in the USA all the parts are fabricated in China. Only a percentage of NB is assembled in the US. Few of which are suitable for high mileage training and racing.