Has anyone tried em?
I haven’t but plan to. I run in the Sprint on roads and the KSO Trek on trails and the Bikila looks to be the best of both designs.
They’re on backorder at REI. Mine should arrive in two weeks or so. I’ll post here after I’ve tried them a couple of times.
I run exclusively in Vibram KSOs and they have been instrumental in recovery from plantar fasciitis.
Yesterday my local store finally had some Bikilas in stock so I bought my wife a pair (she has been wanting some). I obviously haven’t run in them myself, but I can compare them to my KSOs. The Bikilas are by far the VFFs with the highest level of finish. The interior is very smooth and would be very comfortable (my wife confirms this). From the pics, I thought they might be a lot more built up than the KSOs and other old-style vibrams, but they’re not. I think they look like really fantastic shoes and if there weren’t tons of life left in my current KSOs, I would pick them up now. I wish I had them because the interior seams in the KSOs make wearing (injinji) socks almost a necessity for me. The Bikilas have none of those problems.
The soles are very highly finished and look solidly made.
Here are a few reviews of them that might help:
http://birthdayshoes.com/vibram-five-fingers-bikila-review-part-1
http://runluaurun.com/2010/05/08/vibram-bikila-product-review/
and I’m sure you could find plenty on Runner’s World’s Barefoot Running forum.
Had mine a week
Have been running ff sprints for a year.
Have been racing and fast workouts in Newtons for a year.
The Bikila allows me to generate a leg cycle much closer to the Newton. I don’t spend as much time dissipating impact as I do in the sprints when running on hard surfaces. The shoe is a little stiffer than the sprint with more ground protection. I tend to push back more in the Bikila than the sprint and my cadence is higher. Very cool to run in.
The sprint is still my first pick for trails and relaxed long runs regardless of trails.
The Newtons are just fast.