Hopey, they offer little support. The sole is very thin-inov8 fell shoes rely upon the sole to provide most of the support.. The sole on the 270 is reasonably thick, and this is the area where the shoes support is. If you have a look at the heel of the x-talons, there is two 'arrows', this indicates the cushioning within the shoes. A shoe such as the Roclite 305 has four of these 'arrows', ie. There is twice as much cusioning.
I'd stick with the 270's if i were you, especially if you are doing out and out fell races. The X talons are ideal for trail and fairly moderate/dry fell, but i don't think they are up to the extremities the fells throw at you which the 270's can endure. Hope this helps
Up the mighty Wharfedale 'arriers!
Cheers Daz and Will, yes think I'm best sticking with what I know.
Cheers
A question to Inov-insider.
Yesterday, i took part in the darwen gala fell race.
This is a mostly tracky/gravely terrain race with a few long fast decents.
When i crossed the line, i noticed a lad from Warrington was lying on the floor, at first he looked like he had cramp, but a closer look showed both his heels where hanging off!!!
He had blisters the size of his whole heel on both heels, and they had popped and ripped off showing bare flesh. The poor lad was in horrendous pain and i cant help but thinking how the hell his going to cope with day-to-day life without any flesh on his heels. It was quite destressing for a few people that where around him.
He was wearing x-talons, as was I.
I experienced servere pain in my heels during and after the race but they havent blistered luckily.
I just wondered if you knew why the talons create such immence pain/heat in heels from decending over loose stoney/gravel? and is there anything i can add/do to stop this other than just taping my heels up?
Last edited by Al Fowler; 23-08-2009 at 03:11 PM.
Im sorry to hear that the guy from Warringtons plight.
As you will notice the heel on the X-Talon is very soft and flexible, this is a result of feedback from our testers & customers who commented that some of our earlier models had heel counters that were too stiff and unyielding.
Did the guy have socks on?
Did he have the correct size?
Its a difficult one & I dont have a magical answer.
The X-Talon is one of our top selling shoes.
Ian Holmes won the senior race at Burnsall yesterday as did Scott Baistow in the U16 both wearing X-Talons.
i,ve worn my talons for most races i,ve done this year, not one blister.
straight out the box not a problem.
i think there great for my feet.
were all different.
I run and race in X-talons without socks... never a problem. Then again, the inov8 shoes suit my feet, as I have never had a problem with any of them, apart from the fact that the uppers seem to fall apart rather quickly...
My X-talons started coming apart after only about 200 kms of racing and running in them... and the Mudclaw 270s the same thing... the others are lasting a bit longer, but still...
Anyways, I do find them a brilliant shoe so well worth putting up with the crumbling uppers for the grip and comfort... I have got 10 pairs...
“the cause of my pain, was the cause of my cure” Rumi