Salomon XR Crossmax review

Salomons have always boon good to me, as far as trail running shoes go. From an old heavy pair of Gore-tex ones, through a couple pairs of XA Pros, two pairs of Wings, and the Speedcross 2's I still use, I've always had good luck with them. So it was with high hopes that I tried out this pair of XR Crossmax Neutral's.

(These shoes came from a contest over on irunfar.com - Thanks to Bryon and Salomon for providing them.)

Right out of the box, they felt great - just like all the other Salomons I've worn. Almost zero break-in time is a great selling point for the brand. The lacing system was of course familiar - the lace was a bit long on this pair, but it tucked nicely up under the tongue flap. Everything felt fine, and I wore them to work for a day to give my feet a chance to settle into them before running in them. No problems - fit was fine all around.

After a series of runs, both on streets, trails, and combinations of the two, I was left feeling a little non-plussed. They felt a bit clunky on the road, and too squishy on the trail.  it was hard to picture taking these out for a serious road run, or equally a hard trail day.

 I think my reaction to them is a combination of two factors -

First, this shoe is inherently a compromise. Anytime designers try to combine two things into one like this, it's not going to do either quite as well as something purpose-built. Think of an enduro motorcycle - the on/off road kind. It certainly isn't as efficient around town as a road cycle, nor as good in the dirt as a motocross bike. Same idea here.

Second - is my fault. I've been moving toward more minimal shoes in both my road shoes and trail shoes recently. The Saucony Kinvara and the New Balance Minimus are my go-to road shoes these days, and on the trails I really prefer my New Balance MT101s. Even my Salomon Speedcross 2s - which used to be my light, race-only trail shoes - are feeling a little heavy these days (but apparently the lightened it and lowered it in the Speedcross 3 - intriguing...) And of course, I try to get out in Vibram FiveFingers about once a week as well.

So, really, I think the XR Crossmax is just "to much" shoe for me right now. If I wasn't heading in the minimalist direction, these might find more of a place in my shoe line-up. And if I was looking for just one shoe to run both trails and road in, I can see that this would be a good choice. But that's not me. I need to have lots and lots of shoes...