-Or are they just for style? I did see a guy at a race with a pair, but I think he was watching.
Anyone try them?
Hey Tom,
I’ve tried them and they felt really good at the store running around in them.
After one month, they were the shoes from hell.
Do not even think about it. Piece of marketing crap.
ymmv,
Spencer
bout a year ago a fella came in wearing a pair in 9.5, my size. I was like, “Say, may I try those?”
i ran 1/2 a block. They felt rather odd- as though the width of the heel section under the springs forced my foot into an unnatural angle. Very strange.
Interesting concept though.
Yes, I have the Shox FSM, the one that’s supposed to be a “runners” shoe. It’s really comfortable to wear around, but I don’t really like running in it (heel height, little heavy). It’s not that it’s a bad shoe at all, for me it’s just not as good as my Mizuno’s and Asics for training. It’s been relegated to being my gym/workout/casual shoe.
I have the Shox TL. They weigh 16.3 oz in size 12! They are HUGE and not as comfortable as advertised. They certainly aren’t worth the $150 I’ve seen them advertised for. I got mine cheap, cheap, cheap so I thought I’d try them. If anyone wants mine, send me $75 and they are yours. 
I’m going back to Asics Nimbus.
-Robert
My wife has had about 10 pair by now, the Shox TL with the little bumpers front and back. She loves them, runs about 6 miles per day plus teaches kickboxing with them. I tried a pair, they were not bad…not as soft as a pure EVA midsole but did seem to last a little longer. I went back to my Mizuno Wave Creations though. I’m about 195 and need a pretty durable midsole.
Every brand has their “gimmick”.
I tried running in them twice. I did a 25k in the first generation shox that came out, the black and gray ones. They were heavy. I bought another pair a year later and didn’t like those as well. They are now for show, my GF owns lots of pairs of them, but they are all for show, she doesn’t run in any of them. I don’t like the feel of them or the high profile. I feel better closer to the ground.
LOL…those are the shoes that the “weightlifters” wear at the club to pretend they are runners.
I wore a pair of Kukinis at the club and 85% of the people asked where they could get a pair…
I did try a pair on and felt pretty good, although they are VERY heavy shoes.
As an injury prone runner I gave the Shox TLs a shot. They did ok for about 150 miles but the rear piller on my right outside side is already starting to be compressed. I’m not a really big guy either. I’d expect a lot better for the $150 I paid for them.
I won’t buy another pair.
use em…love em…and bought 4 more pairs when they went on sale here a little while ago.
i started off with the original r4’s when they first came out…my ex worked @ a running store so got me 40% off, and they looked cool…fit well…and i’m heavy, so cusioned well.
after that, bought the r4+ then the NZ’s for racing. they discontinued the r4, so i bought the turbo, which i liked so much i stocked up for the next couple seasons, and then kept the NZ’s for racing.
i weigh in @ 215 right now, and have had minimal joint issues with them…they last longer, and if you buy them on sale, cost about the same (or less) than most other shoes…that and they look pretty cool if you ask me. (esp. my silver metallic and dark blue racing ones…or the metallic silver/red ones that i just got 
)
I do.
I train in them and I race in them. The “NZ” model is rather flat, there are lots of them on ebay rather cheap.
regards,
Frank
I’m a mid to fore foot striker so I find all that shock crap just so much superfluous weight. The best thing that can be said about these shoes is that they are durable. But so is a dump truck.
I’d avoid buying them from Ebay. Nike shoes are widely copied in China. Sometimes they are actually made from the same molds as the legitimate Nikes, but even then they use inferior adhesives. They are built for looks, not for runners. I’ve heard they can have a copy of any shoe within a week and sell them for $5/pair. Even if you could tell me they were 100% the same, I wouldn’t buy them…bottom line is it’s theft. Many of the Ebay shoes coming from China have $35 shipping fees, and there are many reports of then taking money and not shipping anything.
Same thing applies to buying them on travel to Asia. Unless you are buying from a high end department store, chances are you are getting fakes.
I’ve trained in them and liked them. While I’me not currently using them, I will use them again probably. They seem to last quite a bit longer then EVA midsoles. The feel is very different than normal running shoes. Once I got past the goofy appearance and feeling that I was part of a fad, I found them to be very durable and the difference from normal running shoes was fine.
Tom,
I am pretty convinced that really expensive running shoes (the $150 Nike shox, for example) are fashion and boutique shoes and a money maker, but not the best running shoes. Maybe geared toward kids and young adults who covet fancy trainers, but don’t use them.
Of all my running friends, many much faster than me (former NCAA Div. 1 guys, Oly trials qualifiers) I don’t know of any who use super expensive shoes. They are much more likely to use $70 to $100 adidas, asics, Nikes, NB etc. Never $150 shoes. Plus they burn through a pair a month.
But it got me thinking, do some of those guys have shoes so special, they are specially made and not sold mass market? I know alpine race skis are that way. -TB
If you make it past the cover of the October Runners World, there’s a picture on the last page of Michael Waltrip (the NASCAR driver) wearing them. He’s the “I’m a Runner” interviewee. I wonder if they’re fireproof.
Those Shox shoes always make me think of the Seinfeld episode where George has to sell those funky basketball shoes.
instead of buying them on Ebay, you can visit a nike outlet if you have one close by and find shox along with all nike shoes at 50%. I mean all shoes, not old shoes. If you live close to a Nike outlet, you have a goldmine close by.
I’ve been using the NZ for awhile as a trainer, and I like it. I mostly like the fit (I have a narrow foot and like a shoe that fits snugly around my arches, so my foot doesn’t slide around), and not being much of a heel striker the funny shape of the rear sole doesn’t come into play. At around 145 and a neutral runner, I like a well cushioned, fairly lightweight trainer for putting in the long miles. The Shox NZ just seems to work for me. I wouldn’t race in it…I prefer my Mizuno Phantoms for all distances, but it’s a decent trainer, especially if it’s on sale.
Never tried them, but have tried several other Nike models and been so extremely unimpressed. Shoddy workmanship, poor materials, useless design gimmicks. It’s not just the “some shoes just don’t work for some people” thing…IMO Nike has become a hugely diversified marketing-driven company with no true interest in the sport of running or the needs of more-than-casual runners. They use the latest NBA star to sell crappy b-ball shoes to the kids and they use guys like Lance to sell crappy shoes to the mall crowd (however, I am impressed that they figured out how to use a bicyclist to sell non-bike footwear). Too bad for a company which started as a running shoe company, manufacturing Bill Bowerman’s novel shoe designs. At any serious 10k or Oly in my neighborhood, less than 5% of the shoes in the field are Nikes.
tb is right…with careful research, almost anybody can come up with their own great training or racing shoe for $70.