| dlwsrider |
05-15-2009 11:45 AM |
I'll go ahead and give a detailed review. I've gotta kill some time till Prom anyways. <BR> <BR>I'll start off with some background. I've been wakeskating for four years now, and my problems have never come from finding a skate to fit my style, but a shoe to flick it around with. I have been through about every major brand, Including the Mesh DVS Volari, and most recently, the UGP Doyle 2's, which I skated on all last season up until my last tournament at the INT nationals. <BR> <BR>I was very pleased with the performance of the UGP Doyles, but was repeatedly dismayed by how much water they absorbed. It was almost to the point of annoying, and made it harder to time the proper release on tricks like Kickflips and Big spins. Although they were comfortable, I wanted to start out on a different foot (No pun intended) this year. The shop I ide for picked up Fox, and so it was the perfect time to try out the new kicks. <BR> <BR>After recieving my pair, my eyes were first drawn to the grip and thickness of the sole. It has to be 3/4's of an inch thick of rubber. This made me nervous, as they seemed unusually tall, but the tread had a nice, almost perfect width, which put me at ease. Also, the colors are quite nice, and the shoe is extremely comfortable, and very breathable. It was lightweight, and felt like an old worn in pair after only a few minutes of walking around. The next week, we broke out the boat, and I picked up my 09' Zariel, and hopped in the water. Immediatly, all my doubts about the sole being to thick to feel the skate were pushed away. I had a very good sense of where my feet were, and had a good connection with the skate itself. I popped off the inside out roller, and braced my feet for the landed, but it was abnormally comfortable. Obviously Fox did some fantastic work with the footbed, because it cushioned landings like pillows, while providing an excellent feel to the board. As I started warming up and doing some wake to wake spins and grabs, I noticed how well the shoes gripped the board. Landings were incredibly stable, and felt just as if not more stable than my wider based UGP's. <BR> <BR>Then came the next test of these shoes. They had proven to have a very solid grip, but could they have a quick, weightless release as well? expecting the best, I pulled out into the flats, stomped, and caught one of the nicest 3 shuvs I have felt in a long time. the shoes felt weightless on my feet despite having been in the water for over 20 minutes at this point, and the release off the board was superb. I was also quite impressed by how tacky the shoes became once it was time to catch the skate, and they hooked it almost as if it were covered in velcro. I did a few more re-entry shuvs and three shuvs before calling it a day, very pleased with the overall performance of the shoe. The next week, i'd be heading to the cable park, and looked quite forward to seeing how it would perform there. <BR> <BR>After arriving at the newly opened MAWI cable park in Oklahoma City, I was immediatly greeted by the owner and his staff (All of which are awesome). I immidietly saw a wakeskaters paradise. Long flat boxes, up to flats, and smaller kickers. I knew this was the perfect place to check the rail performance of the shoes. I tooke off the dock and slashed around for a bit, and then immediatly charged the flat box. I hopped on, and slide it for a bit, and then immidietly started doing 180's and attempting 270's out. The shoes continued to impress me, giving not only an excellent feel of the skate, but how it was responding to the rails. it was that "soul feeling" that skateboarders always talk about, where a good shoe gives you an excellent feel to the board, and you almost feel attatched to it. Through out the rest of the weekend, the shoes continued to impress me. Shuv-outs of rails came with ease, and the landings were soft and stable. I took these home knowing I had found the perfect shoes my my riding. <BR> <BR>All in all, I give these shoes a 9 out of 10. My only gripe would have to be the colorways, or lack there of, but I can forgive that, as you have to establish sight recognition of the shoe before offering it in different colors. <BR> <BR>Feel of the skate: 10/10 <BR>Grip: 9.5/10 <BR>weight: 8.75/10 <BR>release off the skate: 10/10 <BR>attractiveness: 10/10 <BR> <BR>Fox has outdone themselves, and after this shoe, I look forward to them pumping more wake specific products out into the market.
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