Biggest Running Shoe technology flubs of all time

Any Brooks that was made in Puerto Rico in the 80s. We sent almost every single one back due to factory defects, plastic eyelets issues, stitching issues, rubber cement issues...you name it they had it wrong. Runner's World used to rank the shoes(big mistake) and I can't remember if it was the Vantage, but the cantilever on the heel was so far forward that your heel strike actually hit the very end of the heel. NIKE LD1000-just took the idea a little too far. NIKE Terra-I still have a pair that I use for demo that midsole shrunk in half due to heat. NB700-wear tested and got over 2k in mileage. It had black carbon rubber outersole, good thermoplastic heelcounter, dual density midsole--when it came to market it was with their Vibram outersole and single density midsole and shorter heel counter--sent them back. Adidas Falcon(for running in the snow), Adidas LA Trainers with the plugs in the heel, Any Kangaroos,Kahru,Prokeds,Skechers(really?),Spira,Turntec, Avia,Converse with the toe box cut out? Any old guys out there remember these?

Had the first Puma Cell running shoes, or at least close to first. Squishy, all leather upper, terrible all around.

Worth noting I don't think Saucony has appeared anywhere on this list.

I'm usually not one to hate on any particular brand, but Spira was the only time I literally had to pull the shoes off mid-run and trot home barefoot.

The shoes are fantastically light and actually feel pretty nice when you step into them and even run in them. However, the midsole is so airy that the midsole collapsed in around the metal springs. So the metal began digging into the bottom of my foot. I was taking them out for a test run and halfway out it simply was too painful to continue, so I had to ditch them and huff it home.

It was only a couple miles, but I was in Denver in the winter, so I had to run barefoot across town in the snow and ice. Chilliest run through Wash Park ever.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/27/fashion/24644149.JPG

The Spasmotica

These shoes were the ultimate flub!

http://www.verticaljumping.com/images/flubber.jpg

In the mid-sixties, Converse marketed a black canvas shoe called the "Cross-County," or perhaps that was just our nickname for it. A popular campus fashion alternative to low-cut Chucks, they were black canvas with a gum rubber sole, ans a profile that looked a lot like a sprint spike. Sole was thicker under forefoot than the heel, and convex, rounded underneath. In the 70s Bata had a canvas cycling shoe called the Bullet that resembled it a lot. Anyway, we cross-country runners wore them until we inevitably rolled out ankles. Then we returned to low-cut basketball shoes.

Anybody remember the Converse Cross-Country?"

The first pair of real running shoes were from Blue Ribbon Sports (now Nike) in 1969.Tiger Marathons. Look them up if you think shoes are going minimal now.

michael t. smith wrote:

In the mid-sixties, Converse marketed a black canvas shoe called the "Cross-County," or perhaps that was just our nickname for it. A popular campus fashion alternative to low-cut Chucks, they were black canvas with a gum rubber sole, ans a profile that looked a lot like a sprint spike. Sole was thicker under forefoot than the heel, and convex, rounded underneath.

Yes I had a pair of those and they hurt my arches underneath. The soles were curved up in the middle, so they'd press up into the arches every step. I've always had high arches but they hurt my feet and caused a sharp pain in the arches. The mass of rubber under the forefeet was also kind of strange, and there was hardly anything under the heels. I don't know how I ever managed to run in them, but it wasn't very long.

[quote]michael t. smith wrote:

In the mid-sixties, Converse marketed a black canvas shoe called the "Cross-County," or perhaps that was just our nickname for it. A popular campus fashion alternative to low-cut Chucks, they were black canvas with a gum rubber sole, ans a profile that looked a lot like a sprint spike. Sole was thicker under forefoot than the heel, and convex, rounded underneath. In the 70s Bata had a canvas cycling shoe called the Bullet that resembled it a lot. Anyway, we cross-country runners wore them until we inevitably rolled out ankles. Then we returned to low-cut basketball shoes.

Anybody remember the Converse Cross-Country?"

The shoe, which was thicker under the forefoot than the heel & a gum rubber sole, was used primarily for indoor racing on the wooden boards. I thought they were made by Keds, but more likely Converse.

Remember the P.F.Flyers? "They make you run faster and jump higher!" I remember those in the 60s.

Steve curran wrote:

Tiger Pintos

I'm pretty sure the Pinto was some marketing idiot's re-naming of the Tiger Marathon.

Anyone remember when Kangaroos made running shoes?

Sam in Berkeley wrote:

I'm usually not one to hate on any particular brand, but Spira was the only time I literally had to pull the shoes off mid-run and trot home barefoot.

The shoes are fantastically light and actually feel pretty nice when you step into them and even run in them. However, the midsole is so airy that the midsole collapsed in around the metal springs. So the metal began digging into the bottom of my foot. I was taking them out for a test run and halfway out it simply was too painful to continue, so I had to ditch them and huff it home.

It was only a couple miles, but I was in Denver in the winter, so I had to run barefoot across town in the snow and ice. Chilliest run through Wash Park ever.

http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/2008/08/27/fashion/24644149.JPG

You would think that the company would have at least a dozen of their employees take a few strides around the block to test their product. How on earth does some of this shit get made?

The shoe that surprised me the most in it's complete awfulness is the first Nike Lunar Elite. I figured I couldn't really go wrong with them - I had wear-tested the LunarGlide and the Lunaracer 1 & 2, and liked both of those. I planned a 10-miler in them last year and was walking home 40 minutes into the run. They gave me the worst case of posterior-tib I had ever experienced. I was convinced the lunar "foam" was actually plastic.

adidas Runner. I had a pair in H. School. Even with thick socks, the sandpaper-like mesh upper rubbed my feet raw and the sole was the same soft material as the midsole. Lasted about three weeks. The adidas Web lasted 200 miles.

The Puma Easy Rider was one of the heaviest shoes ever-about 16 ounces each!

The only tech. selling point of the Kangaroos (Roos) was the little zipper key pocket on the side of the shoe.

The N.B 305 had a gum rubber sole that wore thru or blew out in no time.

What about the New Balance Zip line of shoes, those were hard as rocks totally and completely inflexible and only a few years ago!

Reebok with the DMX and I think the flex line won't be around long.

Nike Shox for running??!! seriously, not a good running shoe idea.

What about Avia with the "Cantilever" system?

And laughing about the Adidas "web" design, SOMNIO's whole business model is based off of that model that failed. And that Adidas "smart shoe" that would change the cushioning while you ran, that thing was 200 dollars and weighed 14 oz.!!!

In 1979, I was sent a shoe to test called the Bermuda (Nike). It's heel was flared ala' the LDVs and Daybreaks, shoes I loved, but with octopus-like suction-looking pods on the sole. Nothing obviously wrong with them, but after a three-mile loop (my standard run in those days was more like 11) I returned home with just about everything in my feet, ankles and lower legs hurting like hell. Sent them back as "unrunnable, at least for me," but with little other insight to offer as to why. The next summer,President Jimmy Carter, who had run X-C at the Naval Academy, famously crashed and burned in some hilly, humid 10km in Maryland, and the press siezed upon the occasion, as was their wont, to sneer both at him, and "joggers" in general. A news magazine published a photo of the distressed Carter, haggard, being supported at each elbow by Secret Service agents who had been running at his side. (Can you imagine a scenario today in which a sitting President might participate in such a public event?) Anyway, looking at the photo closely, I noticed Carter was wearing a pair of Bermudas, a shoe that never caught on. It dawned on me right then:Phil is a Republican.Perhaps I had unwittingly tested a secret weapon. I, the Manchurian candidate.

Dellinger developed the web idea and tried to get Nike to buy it, but they weren't interested so he tried it out on adidas, and they bit,signing him to a personal services contract, which caused a problem since his program at the time had a deal with Nike. Bowerman was pissed, and I was called to recommend a close-to-the freeway restaurant in Salem where Dellinger could come up, and Nike execs could come down, meet in the middle and hash things out. Bill forgot to have a pistol stashed in the bathroom.

Anybody remember Ron Hill running shoes? I imagine they were only available in the UK, but they used to cost only around £10 a pair. They were pushing the minimalist theme to the limit well before it became fashionable. I had the red white and blue racing flat which was just tremendous (so maybe not relevant to the original theme of this thread)

LD 1000 otherwise known on our college cross country team as "tractor trainers". They were so wide that the insides of my calves were constantly tore up. Thank goodness the LDV came out shortly thereafter.