Totally agree with you on the Inov8s and the Superior. I also find Inov8’s anatomical last a tad to narrow. In particular around the toes. According to many others on the web we’re apparently not alone. I do not have particulary wide feet either.

I only use the Superior for fire roads and roads running. Not really a versatile trail running shoe. I find it to loose around the heel.

I’d recommend contacting Inov-8 customer service as most shoe companies are good about providing replacements if a shoe falls apart prematurely. If nothing e lose, it also helps the to know of the issue so it can be fixed in future iterations.
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I’m in Concord. Haven’t run RTB yet, but would love to!

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Stefan, that makes me a bit sad as the Trailroc 235 is on top of my wish list right now. I would like to know how Inov-8 is handling this issue – did they replace any of your models, or were you left with nothing but ripped shoes?

This problem has been (or is rather) prevalent in certain New Balance models, but at least they are replacing or refunding broken shoes (as far as I know).

I suppose that Pete hasn’t had any similar problems with his 235’s or he would have said so.

How many miles have you run in the Trailrocs you photographed, Stefan? Those tears certainly look bad.

I have a question about which shoes you would recommend for ‘walking around town’ in wet conditions. I was thinking that trail shoes might fit this need, but they don’t appear to be waterproof.

I have some old Altra Instincts (1.0) that I use now, but they (and my feet) get very wet sometimes (breathable isn’t always a trait to be desired!).

I can’t wear my old ‘day job’ shoes anymore (with the high arches and the elevated heels). I want something with zero drop and mostly flat on the inside….(I do have some vivobarefoot shoes from over a year ago, but they are very hard and inflexible).

Regards and happy new year!

Pure speculation, but since You seemingly have so many pairs of shoes in rotation, this might (luckily) never be a problem for You :)

And, we are still eagerly awaiting your review of the 235’s!

The uppers on my Trailroc 245’s are starting to wear through in a similar pattern, but so far only have a couple of small holes. I’ve put on 405 miles and 30,000ft of ascent/descent on them so far. I didn’t see much wear on the upper till about 300 miles when I started running in crusty snow which looks to have pulled at the threads of the mesh and accelerated the wear. The upper is significantly less robust than my Roclite 295’s that seem to come with 600+miles without too many issues.

Given the midsole and the sole still seem to be holding up I’d like to get a few more hundred miles on them before I need to replace them, so it’d be frustrating to have to do this prematurely due to the upper falling apart. I’m planning to patch the upper to prevent them degrading too much further, but will need to find a decent glue.

For those that live in wet/humid climates (such as Hong Kong or the Eastern US), lack of traction on wet rocks is basically a dealbreaker.

http://www.trail-forum.de/t785…

Apparently the black rubber patch cuts into the mesh and creates those tears. What a pity, the outsole is first in its class.

And of course, happy new year.