Hey guys,
It's been a while since I've posted here, a long...time.
Anyways, I have gone through a good dozen+ shoes in the time I've been training so far, and I'd like to share with you guys the features I have found that makes a shoe great for parkour.
1. One piece rubber: This is something most of you guys know about, but I have also seen too many people fall for the gimmicks of "popular" parkour shoes. If there is a shoe that you are interested in, if I has one big piece of rubber (not a sole with many parts pieced together) with tread that is not very prominent, like big ridges and fancy patterns and such. The reason for this is, if there are many parts or big ridges, landing on rails will feel extremely awkward and may make your landing uneven.
2. Insole Padding: This one is harder to judge when you're buying online. Most of us know that thick soles are not beneficial traits to a parkour shoe. We may say that it makes the shoes heavier or you won't feel your landings as much. I agree to some degree, I prefer thin padding, but not super thin. The reason for this is I wore feiyues for a good 2 years of my training, and up till recently they've been fine. But as I got to doing bigger and bigger drops, just soft landings didn't suffice anymore. There was this one instance where I landed quietly, but bruised the balls of my feet. So my suggestion is to get shoes with thin soles, but also a soft insole. The insole will make you much bouncier (I don't know why, it just happens), make you landings quieter (I also don't know why), and allow you to take bigger drops without sacrificing feel of the ground.
3. Light weight: Ususally a shoe between the weight of 7-9.5oz.
4. Suede material: I have found that shoes made with suede last forever. I have destroy every other part of my shoes (soles, padding, insole, heel, etc), but the suede upper always stay intact. The way they are created allows them to not rip, which translates to the age of the shoe = the amount of beating the rubber can take
5. Flexibility: Usually comes with a shoe with soles on the thin side.
With all these criterion, I've found a general shoe category that matches my needs: Vintage Running shoes
I have owned several pairs of vintage running shoes, from many different companies, and they have all served my very well.
Here are some that I've owned or suspect to be very good for parkour
New Balance 373: My favorite so far, not much sex appeal, but great parkour shoe
http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-m373-grey-silverNew Balance 420: Better color scheme, great overall, but had a thin and concrete-hard sole. Problem quickly solved with an athletic insole
http://www.zappos.com/new-balance-classics-u420-blackOnitsuka Tigers Ultimate 81's: A community favorite. But I've found that this also had a very hard shoe, and also super hard rubber. Inserted an insole, but the rubber was too hard for my tastes.
http://www.zappos.com/onitsuka-tiger-by-asics-ultimate-81-zappos-exclusive-white-brown?zlfid=111&recoName=zap_pdp_crossAsics Gel-Holland: My current shoe. I bought this shoe because I suspected that softer sole is the key to landing comfort. Quickly realized that it was actually the insole that did the job. Overall a good shoe, but the sole is too thick, which makes for less feel of the enviroment. Gets much better as you wear it in.
http://www.zappos.com/asics-gel-holland-white-orangeAsics Corrido: Haven't tried this but I think it'd be a great shoe for smaller impact movement (or with an insole with bigger stuff). I suspect the rubber may wear out fast.
http://www.zappos.com/asics-corrido-white-black?zlfid=111&recoName=zap_no_resAdidas Originals Sl 72: Haven't tried this. Looks like a great overall shoe but the rubber looks a bit plastic-y.
http://www.zappos.com/adidas-originals-sl-72-fresh-blue-black-fresh-lemonGola Firefly: Haven't tried this. Everything looks very good, may be my next shoe
http://www.zappos.com/gola-firefly-reflex-blue-whiteFive Ten Five Tennie: Looks goods good overall, but I've always been distrustful of the Stealth Rubber. If you've experience with Five ten shoe, I would highly recommend these in comparison to the Freerunners, Daescents, Warhawk, and Chase.
http://www.campsaver.com/five-tennie-approach-shoe-men-s
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