Has your favorite running shoe been discontinued or changed so much that you had to go find a new shoe?
What Brand Model Version was your favorite shoe.
What happened Discontinued or Changed too much. If Changed too much what was it that really changed that turned you away?
What Brand Model Version did you finally replace it with and why.
There are more shoes on the market today than ever before. There are more theories on what is the best shoe than ever before. But I don’t believe any of them have solved this basic problem. Am I right or is finding your next running shoe easy?
The OLD vintage Nike Equinox. I wanted the Nike Yankee run shoes but they cost too much at the time–the Equinox were less. I had a pair of Kangaroo running shoes but the Nike was a little more comfortable.
As for newer shoes…I’d have to say the Adidas Adios Boost 2 are pretty stellar. It just needs a seamless upper to make it better.
Nike Streak LT 2 and Asics Hyperspeed. Used to be the saucony type A, but something has changed in them and I don’t like them anymore.
I sometimes really like the lunaracer and sometimes not at all.
former discontinued, latter changed (way too much to even be considered to be the same shoe)
in both cases: no replacement. The Brooks PureProject line has some OK shoes - but none that last as long as the GS (1000+ miles) nor are they as comfortable. Also not liking the fact that Brooks won’t allow their sellers to discount. The New Balance MT110 was a simple trail shoe that many people had some issues with…the v2 has changed in every aspect, most notably the last. Not happy with NB.
And yes, I agree: there are plenty of shoes out there. Finding one that just works is never easy. Many are fine…but I’ve been SOL as far as finding true replacements for my top two choices is concerned.
You got 1,000+ miles on the GS??? I went through a number of pairs of those and they were all gone by 400-450 miles, so essentially replacing them every 6 weeks!
Yea, the shoe just seems to last and last (don’t see a reason to retire it yet). Actually found a report somewhere where somebody had taken the shoe to several 1000 miles
It’s interesting that the first few posts are on racing flats. While the shoe industry went through the minimalist phase most brands created new shoes and left the racing flats alone. In my recent research there are very few true racing flats that are alike. Meaning if you find one you really like, stock up. You know the brand will change it and like I said it would be difficult to find that same shoe in a different brand.
My two shoes if I had to buy my own shoes would be the early Pegasus. When that got dropped I struggled to find a replacement go to shoe. Then Mizuno introduced the Wave Rider 2 and i found my new Pegasus. The Wave Rider was outstanding. Because of the influence on minimalism The wave rider got light and skinny and now it’s a completely different shoe.
It gets annoying. If a run shoe company would make something that works for me, and commit to not changing it for say, 5-7 years, I’d be all over it. It’s hard for a brand to retain loyalty since they keep changing so often. #brooks#saucony#nike
Adidas had a shoe called Supernova Classic. The original shoe came out in 1998 and it never changed. For 10 years it stayed the same. For runners and retailers who loved it this was a dream shoe. But slowly things changed. First outside the USA the shoe went away. Inside the USA the sales started to shrink. Better shoes came out, loyal fans stopped running etc. The Volume was still big enough that adidas kept it going. In 2008 the lead developer on this shoe at adidas and told me the midsole mold was done. We (I was the product guy in charge of Supernova) had a choice. Spend $100,000 on new molds of an old shoe that was slowly shrinking in volume or spend the money on a new shoe. I made the decision to build a new shoe. I can tell you that this decision sat in my gut for months, I was the guy who killed the Supernova Classic. I laugh now because it’s just a running shoe and people moved on.
There have been a few shoes over the years I like that were discontinued. One of the current ones is / was the Mizuno Wave Precision. I replaced it with the Saucony Cortana although I didn’t like it that much. Good thing though, they are discontinuing that one as well from what I read.
Nike Zoom Elite and Elite II were the first real running shoe I feel in love with. Amazing feeling and response and at the time was the lightest shoe I had ever run in. This was years and years ago but I was a relatively new serious runner.
It was discontinued before being reborn in a bastardized way that was too late and too much change to bring me back. Basically the name was the same but nothing else was.
I went to Asics. Then to Mizuno where I was very happy for several pairs and then a whim brought me to my Adidas Adios Boost2s which are incredible and the greatest most responsive shoes I have ever had the pleasure of pounding the pavement in. I HOPE this shoe doesn’t change!
I think it’s easy to find a shoe that SHOULD match the shopper’s criteria but there are so many that I feel like I don’t really look around completely because there are too many. I tend to stick with what I know and look within that category.
Has your favorite running shoe been discontinued or changed so much that you had to go find a new shoe?
What Brand Model Version was your favorite shoe.
What happened Discontinued or Changed too much. If Changed too much what was it that really changed that turned you away?
What Brand Model Version did you finally replace it with and why.
There are more shoes on the market today than ever before. There are more theories on what is the best shoe than ever before. But I don’t believe any of them have solved this basic problem. Am I right or is finding your next running shoe easy?
This has happened to me several times in roughly 33 years of running. One example:
Nike Air Triax TC(+) (circa 2001-2002)
“Improved” (Read: “ruined”). Then discontinued the next year
I never really “replaced” it. Nothing ever compared. I did go out and buy 14 more pairs online and have been slowly working my way through them ever since. (Managed to get 2000 miles on one pair!) I do mostly use other shoes, some of them fantastic, but not nearly the same shoe.
Throughout college the Asics Gel-Lyte III was my shoe. I had several pairs in black and orange. I think it was was discontinued in the early ninties. Shockingly, it’s available again though it’s probably not the same. It looks suspiciously like an overpriced “retro/hipster reboot” to me, but I can’t be sure.
I’ve moved on the Nimbus which may be the most indestructible and comfortable shoe I’ve ever used. The Nimbus 16s are simply awesome traditional cushoined running shoes.
