

Review: Vibram Five Fingers Classic - edw519
http://www.crunchgear.com/2009/08/10/review-vibram-five-fingers-classic/

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crass
I completely adore these shoes, which allowed me to take my barefoot running
off of the rubber track and onto any surface I desired. Fantastic sensitivity,
forced my running technique into shape, and they disturbed anyone who saw
them.

Unfortunately, they also provide little to no toe protection, so when I
smacked my 2nd toe against a wooden ridge, the nifty independent-toe design
happily allowed that one toe to hyperflex, which chipped my metatarsal and
ruined the joint space permanently.

Great shoes, but make sure to have a little more vigilance than usual. To be
honest, I can't wait to get back into them once my surgeried joint heals up.

~~~
asmithmd1
Blisters, knee and ankle pain, and now surgery inducing injuries. I think I
will stick with my over-padded, waffle sole Nikes

I guess I am lucky and never have had running injuries, but why are people
giving these things such good reviews?

~~~
kareemm
> why are people giving these things such good reviews?

because they're comfortable! try running barefoot in a grassy field vs.
running w/ shoes. no contest which feels better.

with the 5 Fingers you get the same barefoot feeling while running on asphalt,
concrete, whatever.

i love my five fingers KSOs!

------
sh1mmer
After I'd seen a bunch of people with these who wholly recommended them I kept
meaning to buy some. Last week I did.

One thing I think is interesting, is that Vibram seem to be getting a lot of
grass-roots evangelism but the company itself has done a terrible job of
encouraging that. Someone I know who's had Vibram's for way over least a year
(to my knowledge) asked them repeatedly if he could sell them somehow, since
everyone always asks about his shoes. Vibram said that unless he wanted really
large distributor amounts, then no.

It seems to me like they could make a great story by enabling people wearing
the shoes to refer people to their online store with a small discount in
return for a buck or two. If you wear these shoes people will stop and ask you
about them, and this would be a great model to encourage Vibram owners to
upsell them.

~~~
lsc
Also, vibram is an established brand; I have horribly flat feet and prefer
large and heavy boots with industrial-strength arch supports over running
flats, but when I go to buy boots, I look for the yellow vibram logo. I don't
think I've bought a pair of boots without vibram soles in the last 10 years.
The idea is that they don't need to use shady marketing practices; they have a
good reputation and innovative products.

~~~
sh1mmer
I don't see how this is shady.

If I like the product and people ask me about it I don't mind evangelizing it.
However if so many people ask me about it that it becomes a burden I can see
why people want a little love back.

~~~
lsc
do you think Herbalife is not shady? I think the shady part of herbalife is
the MLM, not the placebo they are selling. GNC sells plenty of placebos, and
they don't seem to be shady.

I guess it's a matter of opinion, but it seems to me that if you have to pay
for good word of mouth, then maybe your product isn't so great after all.

------
anulman
I own a pair of these, and I can attest to what the author wrote: when you run
in Vibrams (I own the KSOs), you can run faster and longer than in anything
else.

He doesn't mention, though, that your muscles will (initially) hate you for it
the day after a run. I'm in my early 20s, and for the couple of days following
my first "long" run in my Vibrams, I was walking like I was in my late 60s or
70s.

That said, the pain is worth it -- I'm now walking with a better posture and
with more natural-feeling movements, even in my socially accepted shoes.

~~~
spydez
If you want some socially acceptable looking shoes that aren't padded, I have
some Vivo Barefoot shoes and they are expensive and lovely. All they have is a
few millimeters of puncture-resistant rubber between your foot and the ground.

All I wear now is Vibrams and Vivos, and I don't even run... >.> I used to
hate shoes and wear flip-flops at every opportunity, but now even flip-flops
feel clunky.

<http://www.terraplana.com/vivobarefoot.php>

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icey
Proponents of these shoes love to make the argument that we were made to run
without shoes... but they never seem to mention that we weren't made to run on
asphalt and pavement either.

~~~
bretthoerner
The Tarahumara tribe runs on rocky terrain, not cushy grass.

[http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-...](http://www.dailymail.co.uk/home/moslive/article-1170253/The-
painful-truth-trainers-Are-expensive-running-shoes-waste-money.html)

~~~
Daemmerung
"Strips of old tire" (from your cited article) would be thicker than the soles
of my Fivefinger Sprints. All of my running surfaces are rocky or gravelly,
and the Sprints do not provide enough protection for me against stone
bruising. Perhaps my feet will toughen, with more miles in these shoes... I
don't know.

They're great fun as river shoes, though I have to guard my toes with greater
care than I did with worn-out trail runners (my previous river shoe of
choice).

------
wehriam
Performance aside, you'll feel some interesting sensations while wearing them.
Surfaces that you cannot walk over barefoot - for example loose gravel - are
remarkable experiences.

(I've had a pair of classics for a few weeks now. I like to run in them.
Sadly, the appearance is somewhere between gorilla feet and ballet slippers.)

~~~
silencio
Agree wholeheartedly - I went jogging up in the santa monica mountains in
brentwood (near la) yesterday morning with my fivefingers (sprint), on a trail
with lots of loose stones and gravel. The feeling of walking on gravel and
stones was incredible, as long as I didn't step on anything sharp directly
(but that'd be enough for it to hurt in any shoe). I liked it even more
because it's something I enjoy doing barefoot but usually don't because it's
harsh on my feet :)

~~~
le_dominator
What's up fellow Angelino! I've been thinking about these things for surfing
since there are so many damn rocks everywhere. I don't recall a time whenever
I've gone into the ankle snapping, toe jamming continental shelf and felt
anything incredible about it (other than on the pain scale) :D, so the more I
read, the more interesting these look. How do they hold up against sweat /
moisture?

~~~
silencio
Yay another LA person!

Anyway...I honestly couldn't say. I don't surf, I only swim, and I've never
gone swimming with mine. Other than that, I don't think I've noticed anything
weird about how they handle sweat or moisture compared to other shoes...they
get wet when you're wearing them somewhere wet, although I find myself
sweating less on my feet with these because I'm not wearing socks with them
(although you can wear toe socks) and they don't smell yet (they're only about
a month old). The upside is tossing them into the washer to clean them.

I have the sprint version though, vibram makes a "flow" version made of
neoprene that might be more appealing to you if you surf.

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Periodic
These shoes were the ones that informed me that I am disabled. I never
considered my mutation to be a deformity because it really didn't impact me
until now. It is only after seeing these shoes a while back that I wasn't able
to do something I wanted to do thanks to my malformation.

My second and third toe are fused together at the skin and vascular level.
They have independent bone structure and ligaments, but they never fully
separated in the womb. I could theoretically have surgery to make them
"normal", but I always felt I should be proud of who I was and not have
mutilate my body to make it like everyone else.

For now I'll continue to have to go barefoot.

~~~
kfranken
I have the same thing with my toes. It's genetic -- my father and grandmother
both have fused 2nd and 3rd toes.

I've been told that it's not uncommon in Ireland.

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wizawuza
as a 27-year old with incredibly flat & wide feet, relatively good shape (170
lbs at 5'10" and pretty strong), I always had some flab cause I couldn't
really run due to my bad knees/feet/ankles.

While these shoes aren't saviours, they are easily worth it IMO. First couple
of weeks made my ankles and calves hate me, but afterwards I've always felt
great.

~~~
le_dominator
When you say they aren't saviours, what are the drawbacks you experience? I'm
curious to try them since I'm pretty athletic but they seem kind of Skymall-
ish, you know? :D I have yet to meet anyone who's actually worn them and had
informed criticism. Do you use them all the time now or just here and there?

~~~
catch23
Some drawbacks:

running on hot pavement - the thin soles enable you to feel the temperature of
whatever surface you're on. It never gets unbearable, but you'll definitely
know when you're standing on a hot surface.

stepping on a single small rock - wearing normal shoes, the soles don't bend
much if you step on a rock, but the vibrams flex around the rock so you'll
definitely feel the pain.

stubbing your toes - the vibrams make it feel like you're barefoot, but the
shoes make your foot slightly larger so sometimes you might trip on yourself
walking normally because your body assumes you're barefoot.

not good on small clipless pedals on bikes - I bike a lot and sometimes I'll
jump on my bike without my shoes with cleats. Normally it's not a problem with
normal shoes since the rigidity of the soles protect me from the small surface
area of the clipless pedals, but the vibrams make me feel like pedaling on
tightrope.

getting sand in shoes - I have the KSOs, but sometimes a small sand particle
will still make it in. Once in, the sand particle will make it down to the
sole area and you'll definitely feel it since you don't wear socks to wear
vibrams.

You'll get over most of these drawbacks after a few months though. The shoes
are definitely worth it over the small drawbacks. If you're not sure, you
should try them out in a running store first, you don't have to order them
over the net.

------
Derrek
I'll do 5-mile runs through the city (on sidewalks, streets, grass, whatever)
without injury. Sure, it took me a while to get to this distance, but running
in these is a true pleasure.

I also do my gym workouts in them too.

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endlessvoid94
I have a pair of the KSOs.

I haven't run in them, but I've hiked significant distances in them. First
time was in the smokey mountains in Tennessee, along a portion of the
appalachian trail. I brought along a pair of hiking boots in case my feet got
sore. They didn't.

The sheer amount of texture you feel is incredible. I wear them constantly
now. It's tough to describe without experiencing it, but the shoes give you an
awareness of your environment that can't be felt any other way. It's not
enormous, but its enough for me to pay for the shoes.

i guess they got me. i love them.

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ChrisXYZ
I feel like there's money to be made if someone can make the exact same
product, but with a covering for the toes, so they look like regular shoes and
don't stand out so much.

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lux
I bought a pair of their Flow shoes and they really seem to work well. I'm
barefoot as much as possible anyway, and these give me as close to that
experience as I can have when I'm out and could be faced with a "no shirt, no
shoes, no service" scenario.

Unfortunately, I only bought one pair of the toe socks for use with them and
going barefoot in them makes for a sweaty experience. So I ordered another 6
pairs of socks so I could use them all the time, but UPS wants $48 for customs
into Canada (but mostly for their brokerage fee) which is ludicrous so I
refused the shipment. Now I'm waiting to reorder them but this time using the
USPS which seemed to work fine the last time when I ordered the shoes
themselves.

Once that's sorted out, I'll be wearing these things until it's just too cold
to do so up here!

~~~
lux
The back-story to me buying these was that I developed really bad shin splints
a few years back and had to stop running, tennis, basketball, ultimate, or
pretty much anything with an impact on my feet/legs. I was able to keep
mountain biking and kickboxing, but I wanted to get into running and couldn't.

Doctors and shoe specialists all told me I needed better support. The supports
and insoles only ever made it MUCH MUCH worse. I have one flat foot, so that
was the focal point of all their recommendations... But the only thing that
seemed to help, which was a fluke discovery and not recommended by any
"professional", was being barefoot.

In these shoes, I can run around and play any sport I want with zero problems
so far.

~~~
oconnor0
Was it just shin splints that you had issues with? Have you had any
feet,knee,or ankle problems since going barefoot?

~~~
lux
Technically because of my one flat foot, I believe I still have a bit of
metatarsal stress in that foot. People often complain that it feels worse
without support (ie. barefoot) but I find it to be the opposite in my case,
although after walking for an hour or more either way I do start to feel it
pretty good.

What I'm hoping and seems to be working a bit is that walking barefoot more
helps strengthen my arch and other less-used muscles in my foot and that helps
eliminate this too. But I expect that's not a 100% solution and long-term I'll
probably need some sort of treatment to correct the underlying cause, which is
the fallen arch.

The shin splints were really painful though, and those are completely gone. If
I put any downward pressure on my legs (sharp stops/turns, jump shots, etc) it
used to feel like my legs could snap in half. Not fun :)

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commiebob
Amazing shoes, however I would recommend buying either the sprint or the KSO
if you will be doing any running in them, the addition of a strap across the
top of your foot helps a lot with keeping them on well when running.

~~~
kudzoo
I bought a pair of the sprints and ended up returning them because the strap
was irritating and uncomfortable. I don't have any problem running in the
classics, and I also like simplicity. The best advice is try on both styles
before you purchase.

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diN0bot
i made my own "barefoot" shoes by sawing off the heels of old runners, cutting
out all the material above the soles, and then drilling three holes in the
soles: one between my big and second toes, and one each next to my ankle. this
left me with a shoe very much like the Tarahumara tire shoes, although i lace
it (with the runner's shoe laces) a bit different.

you can also make tire shoes yourself quite easily.

you don't need $80 shoes for awesome sandals.

that said, i have 5-finger shoes as a bday gift. they are excellent boat
shoes. pretty good in rivers, but as stated before, rock bruising is very
real. maybe that's something that has to be developed over time like any
muscle.

------
oconnor0
Has anyone had bad longer term experiences with these or other "barefoot"
shoes?

~~~
jplewicke
My girlfriend had some significant issues with an attempted transition towards
Nike Frees. The higher impact on the foot gave her sesamoiditis and a stress
fracture near the big toe. If you have a foot structure that's not the norm,
it's worth thinking twice about these.

Rotating your shoes is one of the best ways to prevent injuries if you're
trying to move towards more lightweight shoes. I try to use a combination of
racing flats, Nike Free 3.0s, and trail flats, and variety really does help
cut overuse injuries. If you intend to run fast on trails, you can get many of
the benefits(e.g. low weight, flexibility, and a more responsive foot feel)
with a trail flat like the inov-8 X-Talon 212, while avoiding a lot of the
catastrophic injury possibilities.

One final note: although I love my pair of Five Fingers KSO, they smell really
bad very quickly. If you get a slightly larger size, some people have luck
using the Injinji toe socks with them.

~~~
oconnor0
Did the sesamoiditis & stress fracture heal and does she still wear Frees or
did she give up on the transition?

Did you have any problems?

~~~
jplewicke
She has bipartite sesamoids, which happens when they don't fuse together
correctly. That unfortunately means that it's highly likely to happen again.
On the positive side, it's something that proper orthotics or padding should
let her fix.

I started to get a little plantar fasciitis from too much mileage in my racing
flats and excessive downhill running, but was able to fix that by rotating my
shoes more and sticking to the flats.

