I’m a big fan of the New Balance MT10 and New Balance MT00 trail shoes (I’m also currently testing out the NB MT20v2, and like it a lot), but have found that they lack protection necessary for running on some of the chunky gravel trails near my house. The MT110 was a potential solution, but the medially slanted sole made that shoe a no-go for me. Thus, I’m happy to see that New Balance will be releasing a more protective Minimus trail shoe – the MO80 for men and the WO80 for women.
Running Warehouse just put up a blog post about the shoe, with some images and specs. The shoe is 4mm drop like the MT10, and has a full length sticky rubber Vibram outsole. RW reports that “the 80 is designed to offer a lot of protection for a Minimus shoe.” Launch date for the MO80/WO80 is January 2013.
Here are a few photos from the Running Warehouse post:
About Peter Larson
Nice more of this! Low drop doesn’t have to mean no cushion!
Looks promising but will it have a rock plate like the MT101’s?
Don’t know, was wondering that myself.
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Pete Larson’s Web Links:
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Apparently there is “rock protection” but no actual rock plate. If this is the case then I’m not impressed. For serious trail running I personally prefer / demand a rock plate.
The MT110 has a full rock plate and they are about to come out with an update that fixes that slant. Personally I don’t always like having a rock plate, unless I’m running on the rockiest of terrain it makes the shoes too stiff. This looks like a shoe in between the 10 and the 110.
did you mean to say the MT110? “The MT101 was a potential solution, but the medially slanted sole made that shoe a no-go for me.”
yes, thanks for the catch!
—-
Pete Larson’s Web Links:
My book: Tread Lightly – link to ow.ly
Blog: https://runblogger.com
Twitter: link to twitter.com
Facebook: link to facebook.com…
Looks interesting. One question: if “T” means trail and “R” means road, what does the “O” in MO denote?
I think it means “outdoors”
Would this be the successor to the MO10 then? New Balance just dropped the prices on the MO10 on their site but is this new one as water resistant and good for winter running?
Don’t think so, the MT10v2 is coming soon so we may see MO10v2 I suppose.
—-
Pete Larson’s Web Links:
-My book: Tread Lightly: link to ow.ly
-Blog: https://runblogger.com
-Twitter: link to twitter.com
-Facebook Page: link to facebook.com…
-Discussion Forum: https://runblogger.com/forum
Any idea about the weight?
i contacted RW and they said the men’s would be 7.8 ounces and the women’s would be 6.1.
This shoe’s color pattern looks almost identical to my first pair of “minimalist shoes” the NB MT100, which was the precursor to the NB MT101.
How the heck do you keep all of these NB shoes straight? It seems like they are dumping shoes on the market like crazy and all have similar features and names.
The name codes are a bit of a blur, but the shoes are all quite different. I appreciate the diversity = choices, just wish they used a last that was shaped like MY foot ;)
How is this different than the MT1010? Just wore those for my first 50 miler, and I had no foot issues at all. Huge toe box, even looks baggy, but it feels great and looks tough.
These appear to be lower profile and less cushioned