A few years ago I went to the gadget show (was a birthday gift) and had a great time. Not only that I bought me some awesomez! *Disclaimer if required* I have serious trouble walking even short distances owing to arthritic joints in feet – and I got to try some of these:

It *was* awesome!!!! Ten minutes boinging around the NEC stand was of ten minutes of virtually pain-free panther-like stealth and bounding – hadn’t moved so fast and free since 1996 (pre-injury).

The sad thing is if I’m really honest they make me feel a little self-conscious, even if they do normally attract smiles and ‘I’d like a go on your space boots!’ type comments but you do get some snorting derision/unkind laughter. I know for sure in my twenties and thirties I would have just gone for it and if anyone gave me shit I’d have lamped the Vs as I cruised past. Have hardly used them as intended/hoped for (ie daily) and I’m also wondering whether wearing bib-shorts with them would be a no-no? What say other middle-aged men? How do you get over creeping self-consciousness in these fashion-obsessed times?

‘Cos you don’t look a tit in your fluoro pyjamas/spiderman outfit, do you?

(bibs would be trifle sinister though)

What type of pedals are you using with these??

^ ‘flouro-pajamas’

Yes! That could be it, with hi-viz strips as these work best on tarmac. Thinking might be jailed as some kind of pervert tho.

I had some roller-skate shoes with springs instead of rollers in the 70s. They were ankle-breakingly unstable.

well wear the bib shorts with them for a week and hey presto, the next week (sans bibs) you will get significantly less grief.

the other plus is that the more you do it, the less daft cyclists will look, even tri-athletes will benefit.

Can you hide them inside hollowed out Goth boots?

I’m worried if that woman up there bounds any more then her waistband’s going to give up completely and her yoga pants fall down. It might look OK from that angle, but through a new 3D computer imaging and tracking software i’m working on (a bit like Hawkeye, but not) I’ve extrapolated the data to give the rear view image and it’s not edifying

My kids go everywhere in their Heelys. So whilst my first impression of the top boots is horror, are they really any more ridiculous?

Although it must be noted the my girls are 5 and 9…

If you partook in the boinging with the young lady on the left in your photo I seriously doubt anyone would even notice you were there let alone what you were wearing.

I was thinking similar to convert tbh going on what you can see of her!

I reckon they could come in useful at Glastonbury.

The boots that is.

What would you do in them? Just walking about? Shopping? Running? Whatever it is I’d just get on with it and let people interrupt their banal life for a split second to comment before returning to whatever carp they were talking about before.

If you partook in the boinging with the young lady

I’d take them boots off first though.

I thought I’d seen them somewhere before

Did they have rocket powered roller skates as well. I’ve always really fancied a pair of those

Man I would love to have a go on some. I bet they are brill!!!!

zippykona – Member
Can you hide them inside hollowed out Goth boots?

Thanks. I just sprayed coffee on my keyboard.

Although it does suggest a good idea for a halloween costume

The sad thing is if I’m really honest they make me feel a little self-conscious, even if they do normally attract smiles and ‘I’d like a go on your space boots!’ type comments but you do get some snorting derision/unkind laughter. I know for sure in my twenties and thirties I would have just gone for it and if anyone gave me shit I’d have lamped the Vs as I cruised past. Have hardly used them as intended/hoped for (ie daily) and I’m also wondering whether wearing bib-shorts with them would be a no-no? What say other middle-aged men? How do you get over creeping self-consciousness in these fashion-obsessed times?

Sorry to hear that. People can be such shits. I think if I had a problem with my feet and they solved them, I’d go for it. The extreme ends of fashion, off of catwalks, seem to be about bottling up high enough levels of “I don’t give a ****” to set off in public in something people are likely to stare or laugh at. On that basis I’d suggest not adding anything in attempts to appease onlookers.

I grew up in a city where anyone dressing unconventionally gets heckled or laughed at, and I’ve since lived places where people don’t seem to care. Much prefer the latter, and if I see or hear the former, just remind myself those people are publicly broadcasting the fact that they’re petty, insecure arseholes (Edit: if you tell them you have arthritic feet and the shoes help, some at least will die a little inside).

It’s impossible to not get comments if you stick out. Some will be friendly, others not. You’re probably better off building resilience to the latter by wearing them in contexts where you’re likely to get more support and understanding first.

I think you have to accept that those are not normal everyday attire. If you are going to wear them, you’ll have to accept the attention that goes with them. People aren’t going to ignore them, especially as they don’t look like items you’d wear for medical reasons. If that bothers you more than pain free walking, then that is the choice you make.

What would you do in them? Just walking about? Shopping? Running?

Running, hopefully to do local errands once I can get that far. I didn’t particularly like running before disability precluded it, but ironically loved walking long distance. Now, walking in these Kangoo-jumps is not possible, you have to be in a jogging motion as soon as you set off, and require somewhere to sit to stop and take them off. My fitness levels have suffered dramatically over the years, even cycling is difficult as I have to use the rear part of my feet on the pedals as soon as terrain requires I put any torque down – mangled metatarsals, capsulitis and neuromas make it feel like having marbles sewn in my forefoot. The spring/cushion in these means that weight-bearing exercise is within reach again, so primarily exercising, getting places by foot as I love moving about outdoors, a gymn holds no attraction for me at all.

Those shoes look fun … ya, you wear them coz I don’t like running. 😆

What would you do in them? Just walking about? Shopping? Running?

Surely the answer is jump over buildings in a single bound?

I grew up in a city where anyone dressing unconventionally gets heckled or laughed at, and I’ve since lived places where people don’t seem to care.

It’s a weird one it seems, as said – they don’t look ‘medical’, and my useage falls square on the fence between ‘having fun/exercising’ and ‘exercising with mobility aids’. Now – simply ‘having fun’ wearing sports garb deemed unfashionable/horror-inducing may be borderline OK (as someone stated) for 8-9 yr olds, but as an adult not so much. I’ve heard the same argument levelled at cyclists ie ‘bikes belong in the park/are ok for kids, when you going to grow up?’

I’m sure the experience/response would be very different on Miami Beach (do have experience of this) or L.A. etc – than it would be in, say, Worcester. Don’t get me wrong – I’m sucking it up and using them whatever, but it is curious to feel a little more self-conscious as I age. Living in the increasingly stuffy and judgemental UK doesn’t help – so if nothing else I owe it to compatriots to get boinging!

Would love to hear tales of how any of you conquer the creeping self-consciousness of middle-age/UK life, or wearing/doing ‘abnormal’ clothes/pursuits, or do you just blend and to hell with it? Of course many of you might wear Lycra/shave legs/ride bikes with tractor wheels on …

Onwards and upwards! I like Spring-Heeled Jack idea, need to talk to a seamstress 8)

There’s me thinking middle-age is where you start to not-give-a-shit what people think?? Certainly is for me, going round on my skateboard (albeit, with my kid)!

Do what you bloody want.

There’s me thinking middle-age is where you start to not-give-a-shit what people think?? Certainly is for me, going round on my skateboard (albeit, with my kid)!

Do what you bloody want.

Yeah you’re using the kid to divert judgment 8)

Would you jog around town on jumping boots on your (spring-heel) Jack Jones? 😉

Malvern Rider – Member
Now – simply ‘having fun’ wearing sports garb deemed unfashionable/horror-inducing may be borderline OK (as someone stated) for 8-9 yr olds, but as an adult not so much. I’ve heard the same argument levelled at cyclists ie ‘bikes belong in the park/are ok for kids, when you going to grow up?’

Yes, it took a while to root that thinking out of myself due to where I grew up. Expressions like “Too much time on your hands” are similar; pissy ways of venting negativity at someone doing a thing they care about. As you say, the UK feels increasingly judgemental and stuffy, and **** that.

Have you tried rollerblading as an alternative, potentially less ‘weird looking’ activity?

Not sure of the specific pain/injury problem that is preventing you from exercising ‘normally’, but if it is alleviated by the stiff boots of those jumping shoes holding your feet/ankle rigidly, then would roller blades do a similar job?

Not sure of the specific pain/injury problem that is preventing you from exercising ‘normally’, but if it is alleviated by the stiff boots of those jumping shoes holding your feet/ankle rigidly, then would roller blades do a similar job?

Appreciate that, thanks. I have tried rollerblades but it’s still weight-bearing so the metatarsals still get mashed as most (all?) blades have no compression/shock-absorbers built-in so hurt way more than sproinging around on either squidgy MBT type shoes or to the nth degree with these bad boys. My ankles are good, just the problems I mentioned above ie forefoot/metatarsals – dropped toe joints, capsulitis, neuromas etc.

tbh I find the reactions way weirder than the things themselves, I sometimes think I must have aspergers or something, then I go to other places and see adults rollerblading, Kangoo Jumping, skating, roller-derbying, having fun on bouncy things etc … then think it must be a provincial UK thing, probably just lived among dour-faced snorty-scoffers for too long, or am even going through the warning stages of becoming one myself 😯

Those are awesome. Anyone who looks down on them is either a) jealous, and faking or b) bitter that they lack the elan to wear awesome jumping shoes. And either way all it takes is a bigger boing and you can look down on them!

Can you not limit the impact of the scoffers and looky-loo’s by going somewhere that other people go to exercise? Surely the context of where you bounce is important?
If I bounced out of my front door wearing those bad boys and bounded down the Main Street and round past Tesco and up the hiil past the Job Centre and Cash Convertors and various pubs and chemists, I’d expect to arrive back home with my dignity and clothing in shreds.
However, if I jumped in the car and drove twenty minutes to the local Country Park and boinged the 4 miles round the loch in the company of runners, dog walkers, roller bladers and bimbling cyclists then I suspect that the results would be substantially different and more supportive than abusive.

or, alternatively, get yersel one of these and ye’ll be grand :

Screw everyone else Malvern Rider. Just enjoy getting out more!

Were you to wear them to Hyde Park on a Sunday morning no one would give you a second glance—well the penny farthing riders might look down on you but then they look down on everyone 🙂
Wear the magic shoes—they’re brilliant

Don’t get to Hyde Park much of late but when I do must make an effort to being the boots and Tigger onesie. Sorted

Thanks all, raised a smile or three. 😀

Have hardly used them as intended/hoped for (ie daily) and I’m also wondering whether wearing bib-shorts with them would be a no-no? What say other middle-aged men? How do you get over creeping self-consciousness in these fashion-obsessed times?

Well, I’d certainly avoid bib-shorts for one particular reason, but that depends on personal control over body functions.
As to the latter, as I couldn’t give a flying **** about fashion, let alone be obsessed with it, I’m hardly self-conscious about what I could care less* about.
*I could care less, but the amount is insignificant. 😉