New Saucony Kinvara? (Read 4691 times)

I love to know why they called them after the Irish town - or was it the Allston Pub? I get sidetracked by those questions.

This might be the new shoe I'm looking for  based on the reviews.

I'm going with the dearly departed Allston pub.  It's a good, lightweight, flexible trainer but it's no miracle.

I plan to treat mine badly tomorrow morning.

Or update his privacy settings.

After going through three pairs of Kinvaras, I've switched shoes. My new daily trainers are Fastwitch 4s. Yeah, technically they're flats, but I race in the Type As, which are similar but lighter. The Fastwitch 4 is just a tad heavier than the Kinvara. And hey, it's screaming Maniac yellow! It doesn't have the Kinvaras' super flexibility, but it still falls on the minimalist side. Certainly, I'm never going back to a "normal" training shoe, like the Ride; those feel like tanks now when I put them on.

Why the switch? Hard to pin it on one thing. Maybe the biggest problem was that the internal spider construction kept giving me corns on my right little toe. Three pairs, all the same problem. Also, I think the super-low heel was just too low for me. It gave me Achilles problems, and for the past couple of months I've been using Spenco heel inserts to correct. Which are really too squishy. Ideally I'd stretch/strengthen my calves/Achilles to where this wasn't a problem. But it is what it is. Finally, I wasn't getting a lot of miles out of the Kinvaras. (But then, I guess I likely won't out of the Fastwitches, either.)

How are others making out with the Kinvara after a few months' use?

Still love the Kinvara, it's my regular trainer these days.  We had some delightful freezing rain in the Boston area yesterday, so I pulled out my original pair with 515 miles on them, and did a nice soggy 15 miles.  The soles have held up much better than I thought they would, it looks like the black lugs in the high wear area of the forefoot are just about to wear away.  There is one flex-point on the upper that is showing some significant wear, it might give up before the sole.

My other pair currently in rotation got up to 250+ miles pretty quickly, so I'll have another pair on the way soon.  Bought some 20% off runningwarehouse.com gift certificates pretty much because of these shoes, I can get the price down to around $50.00 for a pair.  I like 'em so much that I'm surprised Saucony hasn't discontinued them yet.

I like them, too. They seem to be good for the achilles that kinda always nags at me.

+1

I find it interesting that a minimalist shoe does this.  Much like my prior observation that my PF got better when I took my shoes off.

After going through three pairs of Kinvaras, I've switched shoes. My new daily trainers are Fastwitch 4s. Yeah, technically they're flats, but I race in the Type As, which are similar but lighter. The Fastwitch 4 is just a tad heavier than the Kinvara. And hey, it's screaming Maniac yellow! It doesn't have the Kinvaras' super flexibility, but it still falls on the minimalist side. Certainly, I'm never going back to a "normal" training shoe, like the Ride; those feel like tanks now when I put them on.

 

I love the Fastwitch 4, but when I recently tried to buy I was under the impression they are being discontinued.  Maybe that is erroneous. 

 

No, it was the running that did that.

 

(Jeff, I am just messing with you, so here is the obligate winkie: )

Actually, you are right! But they do seem to kind of force your heels outwards, the kinvaras, so something to consider.