Pricepoint Skate Shoe Review Feedback:
I was glad to see the price point update. I am pretty picky about shoes, but I'm cheap too. When it's close to the time I am going to need some shoes, I start shopping online. I usually look for close-out, name-brand skate shoes [that] average under 40 bucks shipped. This can take a bit of searching, so I have to start before the shoes I am wearing turn to total shit.
I have been pretty hesitant to buy some of these shoes that you have tested. Not knowing if the shoes will last, and some of the styles and colors are horrible. The only shoes of this sort that I have tried are NSS. The fabric and padding around heel cup totally went to shit fast and I have never tried another price point again.
I am glad to see the shoes have lasted for you, and I am looking forward to trying a pair of Air Speeds. I am no fan of Walmart myself, but I want to try a pair.
I actually had been in contact with Nate Sherwood earlier this year. Longish story, but basically I wanted him to sign something for me. The guy is known for being a total kook, a poster child for how the industry ostracizes guys who are different. This guy was about as cool to me as you can be. So right about that time, he was getting a shoe on Airspeed. I thought the least I could do would be to go and buy a pair of his shoes.
Since they have your blessing I think a pair of Airspeed Sherwoods are in my future.
Keep on keeping on.......... Don
The Editor Responds:
You might want to hold off on that for a second, Don. Here's why:
I'm actually preparing to post an update on my Airspeeds... which are the "Official 2" model. In the heel, there's what looks like an "air pocket" (presumably, for heel cushion on hard landings). Inside, there's some sort of red rubber webbing... I'm assuming, to stabilize the heel cup inside the air pocket.
In reality, this "red rubber" stuff is actually a very hard, brittle plastic. Being hard and brittle, and enduring a lot of impacts (from my overly-fat ass)... it began to break up and fall out of the shoes just last week. I wasn't even skating at the time; I was just walking around the warehouse at the day job. The "air pockets" actually opened up, and began to let this broken-up plastic crap fall out right of the shoes....! Boo...
Here's why we do thorough, long-term testing on everything that we review here at The Solitary Life. These are the Airspeed "Official II" shoes that we introduced here at TSL a few weeks back, as part of our ongoing "Pricepoint Skate Shoes" feature. In the photo on the left, I'm holding open the "air chamber" in the sole, exposing the "red plastic shit" inside; on the right, is some of (but, not all of!) the "red shit" that fell out of the sole while I was at work last week. If these red pieces had been made of some sort of rubber, the shoes would have worked much better, and this might never have happened. Oh, well. Live and learn, I guess.
Having started the breaking-up-and-falling-out process, I ultimately had to pull the soles apart, and pull the rest of the shit out, too. Because it kept getting twisted all around, and poking my feet through the insoles. Definitely, not comfortable at all.
The weird thing was... once I removed this stuff (whatever it is), the shoes actually went right back to feeling just fine. I wore them skating today, actually! Still, it's kind of a bummer. Not exactly what I was expecting...
My advice? Go ahead and try Airspeeds, but definitely not the ones with the "air cushion" heel cup. Everything else is proving to be just fine, except for that. Minus the "heel air pocket" bummer, they're still pretty good shoes overall. -B.
