Inov8 Trailroc 235s

[Amy Tobalske]

Anyone currently wearing these?

I am thinking of trying this shoe even though I am loyal to NB. I
understand these have no rock plate and a zero drop- both are things I
am looking for.
The rock plate in my NB 110s bother me a bit. Maybe time to try a new brand.

These are a bit pricey, need to make a good decision. Appreciate any thoughts.

Sent from my iPhone

[pathfinder]

Probably Ian has the best insight on Inov-8 as he sold them for a
while. But my two cents for what its worth.......I have three pair of
Inov-8, 212s,295s and (233 a road racing shoe), the 212 and 295 are
designed well and so far they have been great trail shoes (unless I am
running on hard packed sand surface because of the large lugs) I also
have Brooks Cascadias, New balance 572s and 621s, North face ...all
are very good trail running shoes. I also have a pair of New Balance
Minimus which I like fairly well as long as I don't need a lot of
traction.

I have tried various other models and brands that I didin't like also,
one being NB MT800, Nike ( I have not found anything Nike that I like
on trails, though I have heard others that like them)

I guess my point here is that all the major brands seem to be stepping
up to the plate and creating some decent specific terrain shoes. I
think it all boils down to personal fit and preference. The draw back
is you do not know how well a specific shoe will relate with your own
foot style, gate and terrain until you actually buy them and wear
them.

I have purchased many expensive shoes through the years and there
were many that just didn't work for me.

The thing I like about Inov-8 over the others is they explain the
reason and design for each shoe much better which helps in decision
making (and when Ian was selling them, you could actually try a trail
run in them before buying). I went to the New Balance store in Oxford
and they had so many choices but no personal that really knew the
reason and application for most of their designs

[gIANt]

The TrailRoc 235 are a new shoe so not too many people have tried them. I talked to Kevin Tilton (Inov-8 sponsored runner) earlier this year when I saw him wearing them (or the TrailRoc 245?) at the Merrimack 10 miler. He really likes them, but my only concern would be durability. I have noticed with some of Inov-8's lighter shoes that my little toe starts to wear a hole in the side. This happened in both my X-Talon 190 and TerraFly 303, although other people I know who have the same shoes didn't have the same problems. Jeremy seemed to have good luck with his 303's at VT whereas I got blisters on both my little toes and ended up changing shoes at 62 miles.

 

gIANt