Adidas Extrano £89.99

Weight 371g
Evaluation Sometimes the only way to find out whether an offbeat idea works is to try it. Credit to Adidas, then, for mating a trail shoe with a cross-country spike to see if they could make a shoe that’s equally at home on easy trails and in knee-deep mud.
The result – a well-cushioned, fairly stable shoe with deep rubber lugs and three removable spikes – admittedly isn’t the most practical shoe we’ve ever seen. With the spikes in place, the soft-surface grip is excellent: better than a good trail shoe. But you can’t leave the spikes in for hard surfaces, which means that it’s no good for runs which combine the two.
Still, if you can divide your off-road runs into those that need a normal trail shoe (ie the Extrano with its spikes removed) and those that are spike-friendly – or if you’re a big guy who needs a sturdy but very grippy shoe for cross-country races – the Extrano could work for you.
Even without the spike feature, the Extrano is a decent – if slightly heavy – trail shoe. Its rubber lugs are excellent, it fits nicely, and its upper is more rugged than it looks. Its only drawback is that it’s expensive.
In short With its removable spikes, the Extrano is a unique trail shoe. But you need to run purely on soft surfaces – or be happy to keep taking the spikes in and out – to get the most from it.
Try it if you liked Adidas Restless (£60); Adidas Proviso (spike, £75); Adidas Incision (discontinued, £70)