Anyone wear either of these shoes and can comment? Use Trail Gloves at the mo, but I like to run along the singletrack and it’s just been like slop for months so am sliding all over the place. Apparently both these shoes are very grippy. The only thing that puts me off a bit is that they are both supposed to be on the narrow side with a small toe-box (i.e. the opposite of the Trail Gloves).

Of the two probably the X-Talon would be more suitable for me as my regular 8 mile off road run is probably half pavement, quarter gravelly/dirt trail and quarter (muddy) singletrack. Apparently the Bare Grip are not great if you need to do pavement miles to get to the off-road section!

Open to suggestions for other trail shoes suitable for really muddy conditions, prefer lightweight and minimal (ideally zero) drop.

Christ on a bike, I wouldn’t use either of those on a half pavement run.

Of the two, the Talon would be better. Go anywhere near pavement with the bare grip and the studs would wear down super sharpish.

Go anywhere near pavement with the bare grip and the studs would wear down super sharpish.

Yeah, I gathered that might be a problem from the reviews I read! Any ideas about a shoe that might be more suited to a half-and-half run? Especially one that has a fit like the Trail Gloves?

Down the Inov8 route, the Trailrocs

There’s also the New Balance offerings.

ah, nice one! Just found the Trailroc 235 on their website, which is quite lightweight and zero-drop so could fit the bill perfectly. **** expensive at Wiggle though (who are my preferred retailer for shoes cos of their returns policy). No local shops near me stock Inov8 AFAIK unfortunately.

Do you wear these? Any idea how the fit compares to Trail Gloves?

If you’d normally runn in in trail gloves then surely you’ll want the baregrips?

I have both the inov8 shoes you mention. If I had only one set of them I’d have got the X-Talon, but neither are fun on Tarmac. If I were you I’d look at the New Balance Minimus Trail.

If you’d normally runn in in trail gloves then surely you’ll want the baregrips?

yep they’d be ideal if I were running purely on mud but unfortunately my regular run includes about 4 miles of pavement as well, and as piemonster and shaggy say they’d be a nightmare.

If I were you I’d look at the New Balance Minimus Trail.

Yeah I did look at them briefly online and fit-wise they’d probably be good but wasn’t that impressed by the tread. Are they good on really sloppy mud?

You’re looking for a ‘do it all’ shoe and there’s nothing that will do pavements and slop without some sort of compromise.

Best for mud is things like Walshes or the inov8s you mention. The inov8s have two types of sole – the marketing boys call them sticky or endurance – the sticky is grippy as hell but soft and doesnt last long. The endurance is harder, so isn’t as grippy, but lasts longer.

I have x-Talons, Roclites, Walsh PB trainers and Wave Harriers. My race shoes are the x-Talons, fell training in Walshes, trail stuff in Roclites. I reckon Roclites are the best compromise.

Bear in mind though that if you’re heavy or have an awkward running styles, you may go through inov8s in a matter of weeks.

The Minimus Trail doesn’t have the most amazing tread but I can’t really think of a minimal shoe that I’d rather use for mixed road/deep mud. As others have said RocLite (or XA pros) would be a more conventional choice.

Cool thanks for that guys. My local running shop actually stocks Minimus Trails so I’ll go and have a look at the weekend.

Got the Trailroc 245 (which is the 3mm drop) and have found them to be a very good, but not perfect, compromise for multi terrain, i.e. tarmac, firm/gravel and loose/claggy/muddy stuff. The sole compound is quite sticky – noticeable on tarmac – but unlike a shoe with a more studded sole you won’t notice each individual lug digging in to the sole of your foot. On the firm/gravelly stuff they’re brilliant. In “intermediate” clag and loose stuff like loose, damp woodland loam they’re brilliant. My regular (8 mile trail) route is 1/8 tarmac, the rest 50/50 between mud covered with wet, slimy leaf mulch and loose, loamy woodland singletrack. In some of the stuff where it’s muddy with a layer of wet, slimy leaf mulch over the top then they can slip and slide a little but only a studded shoe would cope with that kind of stuff.

For the kind of trail running you’re doing the Bare Grip or X-Talon probably wouldn’t suit – the sole patterns are more of an open fell kind of tread (I use La Sportiva Crosslites at the moment for fell running); after 4 miles on tarmac the Roclite might also begin to bug a bit with a studded pattern (albeit lower profile than the other 2) but would suit really muddy stuff.

Horses for courses and depends how much of a compromise one way or the other you’re prepared to make…

thanks for that. Yeah, that all makes sense. There is another long trail run I do sometimes which is 100% singletrack (and also really boggy at the moment) but I only do that occasionally as I have to drive there rather than being able to run from my door which I prefer. I will probably have a look at the Bare Grip/X-Talon but wait till they are on sale as they won’t see that much use.

I’ve just got a pair vivobarefoot breatho trail, they are great off road (good enough for the several inches of mud at my first fell race last weekend – shame my legs weren’t), on road they’re ok but not sure how quick the studs will ware down.

Yeah, I’ve seen those, apparently they dry really well so I would definitely consider them for 100% off road shoes but as you say I can’t see those directional studs standing up to pavement for very long!

Plus, you’ve got to think about how often/long your routes will be really claggy enough to justify a proper loose-conditions studded shoe – you never know, we might be in for a brilliant summer! (Probably cursed it now…) That’s why I went for a Trailroc, because I couldn’t justify fell running shoes, summer trail shoes AND winter trail shoes, so the Trailroc is the compromise for the year round trail shoe. Only used them so far in the winter and they’ve perfomred as described above, come summer there’ll be absolutely no issues once the ground’s dried up and the leaf mulch is gone, I’d expect them to be perfect for my routes then.

you’ve got to think about how often/long your routes will be really claggy enough to justify a proper loose-conditions studded shoe

love your optimism, but every off-road run for the past 3-4 months they would have come in handy round here, and I reckon there’s a good 2-3 months of proper clag left at the very least!! My Trail Gloves are absolutely perfect when the ground is dry though (can just about remember what that’s like)

I have the New Balance Minimus MT101 i think, rubbish grip tbh.

That said I’ve heard people say the grip is great.

Defo try these on first as I found they sized up small

And they don’t retain my heel at all. Definitely try first.

Fwiw I use inov8 290s for everything. The best answer is to avoid roads 😉

Then it must be pretty soggy where you are! Due to my current post I trail run in woodland in and around the Trent near Nottingham (work) and in woodland in and around Elgin (wife and son) in the Highlands – despite the prodigous rain over the last months and the Trent bursting its banks regularly none of my routes have stayed water logged long enough to get so churned up I could justify a studded shoe. When I’m fell running in the Peak or the Lakes (parents’ home) I only ever wear the Crosslites anyway so the ground conditions there are a moot point.

Gotta be optimistic – it can’t rain this much all the time!

I hardly run on the roads at all and, yes, it’s just about returned to ‘absolutely sodden’ from ‘sea bed’! But also I mean I find 290s fine for small road sections and, from memory, when the trails are dry they’re fine. I’m definitely heading towards the minimalist philosophy though 🙂

The Baregrips uppers will eat themselves long before you need to worry about the cleats wearing down, my last pair didn’t get 70 miles. Hope #2 fair better.

I havn’t tried the 190’s but the 212’s are my go-to shoe for everything. Such a robust shoe.

I’ve actually got a pair of UK10.5 here, 8 .2 miles old that you can have for £40 + postage. Like I said, don’t expect too many miles from them unless you smear some black whitch on select areas, but the performance of the sole is like nothing else.