The Kinsei is a really, really interesting shoe. It definetly is not for everyone. As Shawn says, its stability lies somewhere between the Cumulus and the 2100, which is an awfully large range. But that’s exactly what we’ve seen – whether the shoe provides the right level of stability and cushioning is VERY dependent on who’s wearing it.
I tried a pair when they first came out. They are VERY cushioned, which I liked because I’m on my feet 12 hours a day in the store. But when running in them the gel that they use in the back (which we’ve nicknamed sushi because it looks like tuna sushi) rebounds VERY well. Kind of like what Shox were supposed to do but didn’t.
The Kinsei is also the only shoe I’ve found that completely neutralizes my left foot without a superfeet orthotic. This is coming from someone who has been running in Kayanos and Adrenalines with green superfeet without being completely neutral. Pretty amazing.
But unfortunately for me the Kinsei’s cushioning made it a bad shoe for me. Because the heel is SO cushioned, there’s a lot more vertical movement on impact, which has aggravated my achilles tendonitis. I’m back to Adrenalines with superfeet, which are nowhere near as cushioned but are helping my AT get back to normal, or at least reasonable.
So here’s the net: you have to try it on and see how much support it gives you. And you have to take a bit of a risk to see if the shoe is going to aggravate something else that you thought you had under control, because by the time you find out the shoe will generally be too run-in to be returnable. But that’s a risk you take with every shoe, and with the Kinsei I think it’s worth it. I’d still be running in them if my AT hadn’t acted up.
Lee Silverman
JackRabbit Sports
New York City