Asics Gel Kayano 14 (Read 859 times)

Just ordered a pair. Had a gait analysis and tried them on the treadmill. They are billed as the ultimate high mileage shoe... Anyone had any good/bad experiences with them?

I was looking at getting them, but ended up with the New Balance 1223. I seem to recall the toe box being small with the kayanos.

been wearing kayanos since they had no number. my first pair were purple. wish i still had them to compare to the latest models. its fun to wear the really old models to a running store: "Hi! Looking for some shoes!?" after about 300 miles, i start to think they are ready to retire. i used to buy them 1/2 size larger than my street shoes, and i only ran maybe 3 miles at a time. once i started running longer distances, my little toenails started to suffer. i solved that by buying them 1 full size larger than my street shoes. i have always been able to put on a brand new pair of kayanos and run without feeling i needed a break in period. with the 14's however, both pairs i own felt stiff at the inside left ankle and left a sore spot until they had about 50 miles on them. another shoe that i've tried is the mizuno wave nirvana. there is no reason i should like them, but they continue to be very kind to my feet.

But if the GT-2xxx series is like a mid-range car, then the Kayanos are a Cadillac. Very luxurious feel.

If the Kayanos are Cadilac The Asics Kinsei's are Rolls Royce . Haven't tried the Kinsei 2's, but we may need a new car to compare them to.

Have started training for the Melbourne since February and have been wearing Kayano's since and are a fantastic shoe. Are expensive compared to other shoes, but your body will thank you for it.

I have a pair of 13s with about 400 on them. They had no signs of wear until 350, and didn't start getting comfortable until 300. I prefer my old gt's, mostly because of flexibility--my old gt's were really fine until 650 or so (admittedly, I'm pretty soft on shoes).

What do you not like about them?

That sounds similar to my experience with the 13s before I spent several hundred miles breaking them in--the lack of flexibility caused arch blisters and all sorts of problems. I probably would have switched to a new shoe, but I couldn't bring myself to fork out the cash after spending that much on the Kayanos.