Biggest Running Shoe technology flubs of all time

I can't remember what company made it (Avia?) but there was a shoe with changeable outsoles in the 80's - a "road" outsole and a more rugged one and it was like a rubber sheet held on with velcro.

I think it was Etonic that came out with a shoe in the mid 80's that had a heel with the outside already worn down. Funny as hell and people actually bought them. they were on the market for about 3 months. The Nike LDV was like running with snowshoes on.

Brian wrote:

I can't remember what company made it (Avia?) but there was a shoe with changeable outsoles in the 80's - a "road" outsole and a more rugged one and it was like a rubber sheet held on with velcro.

AVIA was best known for its "cantilever" sole, which had big rubber lugs that splayed out from the shoe. The idea was to provide a lot of cushion; however, they were fairly heavy and made a lot of noise every time the shoe hit the road. A guy I used to run with liked them, but you could hear him a block away. Avias never sold well in our store. Another brand that tried to make it into the market was TURNTEC. Their shoes were alright, but their main pitch was to store employees who could earn points for every pair sold and convert into prizes like boom-boxes (Remember it was the '80s!)

1) air in the soles

2) eva foam

3) soft soles

4) soles too thick

5) rigid heel backs

6) high heel backs

7) heel lifts

8) hard material around toes

9) narrow forefeet

10) rigid uppers

11) flares

12) arch supports

13) excess material

14) excess weight

Ethylene-vinyl acetate is good stuff

J.R. wrote:

1) air in the soles

2) eva foam

3) soft soles

4) soles too thick

5) rigid heel backs

6) high heel backs

7) heel lifts

8) hard material around toes

9) narrow forefeet

10) rigid uppers

11) flares

12) arch supports

13) excess material

14) excess weight

Wal wrote:

wccelder wrote:

that shoe with the 'catapult' built into the heel. Seriously I thought in 4th grade I would be able to dunk. Thank god my parents didn't waste money on them

My neighbor had these shoes when we were kids. When the shoes were completely trashed and unusable, we took a hacksaw to the heel and cut it in half. It was nothing but hard plastic. You could have put gravel in the heel and had better cushioning.

Hah! I actually would have liked to do that back then. We literally thought there was a little springboard in there.

ashley madison wrote:

Nike LDV 1000

Nike waffle racers (I know, started the craze, but the little waffle nubs fell-off/didn't last).

Nike Cortez (Made hamburger out of the big toe).

Addias SL 72s and SL 76s (rock hard).

You youngsters don't know truly bad shoes . . .

Ah yes, the LDV 1000. A relic from the late 70's (I think), I ran in those back in HS. You're right, these kiddies don't know anything.

Actually kind of loved these at the time, but I was a teenager so what the heck did I know.

Iza gon has tuh go wit da Reebok Zig an dem toe shoes.

I think Turntec was the one with the changeable outsole with velcro or somesuch.

In the "too much" category, the aforementioned Nike LDV1000 with the huge flair, and didn't Adidas make something called the Formula One with a "spoiler" on the back of the heel?

Steve mentioned the Adidas with the colored rods stuck into the insole for changing firmness.

The Nike goat hoof shoes circa 2001ish. Wow, what a gimmick.

old school steve wrote:

Come to think of it, all companies had some bad ideas, except possibly ASICS/TIGER which didn't see the need for marketing gimmicks as much as the others, imo.

10 years after one of the best running shoes ever, the Asics' Epirus, the exhumed the same colors and called them FREAKS. They sucked ass.

Adidas did the same with the Marathon Trainer, bringing back the Marathon Trainer II, which sucked equally as the first.

The Etonic was called the Allegro. They also had one with a big piece of fiberglass in the heel called the Quasar. It was before Mizuno introduced the Wave, but pretty much the same thing, only without the wavy pattern.

Brooks had this really dumb one called the Graphlex with a wad of graphite in the heel that did absolutely nothing.

ashley madison wrote:

Nike LDV 1000

Nike waffle racers (I know, started the craze, but the little waffle nubs fell-off/didn't last).

Nike Cortez (Made hamburger out of the big toe).

Addias SL 72s and SL 76s (rock hard).

You youngsters don't know truly bad shoes . . .

I LOVED my Waffle Racers!!!!!

I trained in Turntecs when I busted two 4:30 miles at the same relay meet in high school. I have nostalgic feelings towards them for that reason but I do remember that the heel counter came apart from the rest of the shoe.

Adidas Country hard leather upper, harder gum sole. Lasted long, though.

shotinthedark wrote:

The Nike goat hoof shoes circa 2001ish. Wow, what a gimmick.

They got some complaints about the ads for that one-

Anything Lunar after the Lunartrainer by Nike. Those shoes were fantastic, but Nike doesn't give a damn about customer feedback. So they went forward with Lunarglide (crap), Lunarpenisface (standard), and the absolute joke Lunareclipse.

Good thread.

Anything with the original Brooks Hydroflow. Apparently there was an issue with air pressure during shipping and an oily mess leaked into all of the boxes.

Reebok has had some real losers... original DMX, Pump,ERS, etc.

Any of the "toning" garbage. Not really running but trash nonetheless.

Worst shoe name of all time: adidas Incision