New Balance Minimus Trail

Your score:

There are 4 reader reviews

Martin Griffiths 3
Reviewed: 15 September 2012

Slip sliding away!

Great fit on this shoe, extremely lightweight and short runs fine without socks. Drain really quickly and thus dry quick. Love the low profile and they are the bees knees on dry trail!

Here's the rub! I tested these out on treadmill for few miles to soften them up and was well impressed. A few days later I wore them for a muddy run with the Durty Girls and spent most of the run skating down muddy hills or sliding on my backside! Zero drop is cool but zero traction is not! These shoes are not up to the job of a muddy trail run on the hills of wet Glozzer. I read several reviews before buying and checked a few runners testimonials on you tube but I guess I like my runs a little muddier. This shoe wont be racing with me in a mud runner event so back to the drawing board :(

Great minimal shoe for dry trails that are not too rocky but the Vibram sole on these do not give any traction in the wet mud and underperformed where my trusty Asics Trabuco's coped ok. Was hoping to wear this shoe in some obstacle races but it's not really up to the job despite being marketed as a trail shoe.

Score breakdown

Fit:

5.0

Responsiveness:

5.0

Comfort:

4.0

Grip:

1.0

Durability:

3.0

Value:

3.0

Martin Griffiths 3 would not recommend this product

Grozzlybear
Reviewed: 28 May 2012

Not as radical as a Vibram but not far short.

Flexible, light, responsive and designed for midfoot/forefoot striking. Certainly lets your feet feel every nuance of the trail, which is the whole idea of minimalist.

Didn't find them as comfortable as their road oriented alternative and they had surprisingly poor grip in mud.

Arguably a decent minimalist shoe for light dry trails. I doubt they would cope well with anything overly technical in trail terms and they suck in the wet, so for me a bit of a disappointment, especially as I loved their road going version of the minimus.