I buy Merrell Moccasins, which I find very good for casual wear
Trouble is, when it's wet, they are lethal
On holiday in Rome the other week, it was rainy, I nearly fell over about 10 times, once someone had to catch me as I nearly fell down stairs. Everyone around me had no trouble
Basically on some stone, all tiles and all metal hatch covers in the street, they have the same grip as if walking on ice
My kids had no trouble on the same surfaces with various cheap and expensive trainers, I had no trouble with my normal Clarks boots
Why are these viibram soles so poor at gripping? I assume they are a hard compound that has a shiny surface
Can I improve them by using sandpaper on them?
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I stopped buying Merrels a while ago though, as they wear out stupidly quick considering the price tag.
My main approach shoes are Berghaus Hedgehogs now and they're great.
For actual mountains / scrambling / climbing I have North Face boots and a pair of Scarpa B3 boots for when it gets sketchy enough to need crampons or actual climbing on near vertical rock.
Genuinely don't know why you'd buy trekking footwear for casual wear though. The compounds used wear very quickly on pavement. They're designed for a mix of wet and dry uneven ground.
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Just because you're paranoid, don't mean they're not after youI tried the sandpaper thing and it made no difference. I would imagine there's something that companies used to add to rubber to make it grip, which has now been banned?
Having said that I have some Merrell "barefoot" Vibram trainers and I don't seem to have any problem with those. Maybe the thinner sole gives your brain more info to make adjustments.
*(attempt badly)
Redwing have recently switched from an excellent completely flat rubber nitrile and cork compound sole to a vibram sole and when I was buying a pair recently I deliberately sought out a shop that still had the old flat sole varieties and they are great in town - plenty grip even on the wet leaves on paving slabs I walk through every morning.
From this
to this
The first sole is better for concrete, slabs, tarmac etc, the second will be better on grass, mud, etc.
In other words you are wearing a countryside sole in an urban environment that it is not designed for.
Up until a few years ago, I did pretty full on white water kayaking - that means you need a shoe you can swim in, rock climb in and has a low profile so you don't get trapped in your boat with it.
From that time, Merrells were always meh - Tevas are expensive but just work. Merrells have always had that problem - the sole is hardwearing but as others have said you end up with a small surface area which is like walking on an icerink.
One of my first pairs of shoes, binned them - a fundamental function of any shoe is that it allows you to be upright.
You can decide if you want to put them out before the rest of the shoe catches fire afterwards .
I had something similar a few years ago - can't remember the make. They were great on soft ground or in snow, but absolutely lethal on wet smooth surfaces. To my shame I gave them to a charity shop instead of binning them, so I'm probably responsible for some other poor sod breaking his neck.
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I'm on my fourth pair of Merrel walking boots - the waterproofing generally fails at about 10-11 months old, so I return them and get another pair. That makes the price per pair about £25 - pay for the first ones, the rest are free. If they start making them last longer then that's still fine.
As others have said, Vibrams are best on soft stuff. My work shoes have them too and are fine except on really smooth wet surfaces.
Absolutely agree, these are shoes that are made for specific purpose - grassy, rocky, mossy, uneven stuff and vibram is mega tough and grippy on that. For tarmac they wear fast and for smooth surfaces they slip.
Lovely well made shoes though.
The work ones have slippery toes for some reason - just the very tip, the rest of the sole grips pretty well.
Most of my Merrels are brown, but that's just the mud.
I like hotter shoes, they're comfy and pretty well made, but the mens range is a bit small.
I'm 28 and my mates think it's hilarious, but they only know they're Hotter when I tell them...
My girlfriend got a complement on her shoes at work and told her colleague they were Hotters and they winced! Mad what a brand means to some folk ..
Fuck me, those shoes are vile, do you have to wear them with beige cargo trousers? Think I'll be contacting Dignitas if I ever end wearing them
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