IGX

You may recall I reviewed the newest Adidas Adistars a few months ago. They were essentially $200 pieces of shit and I sent them back twice and finally said forget it. The folks at Adidas were great insofar as customer service was concerned though.

I have been using some cheaper Do Wins which are ok but still they really seem to throw my balance. I am not quite sure why. Anyway I saw these Nike Romaleos which just came out for the 08 Olympics. I found a pair for a good price on ebay (they have quite a few pairs left) I paid about $130. MSRP is 180 so they are cheaper than the Adistars and having tried them out I will say the quality is significantly better. They are heavier and the comfort is great. It seems like there is total solid contact and no energy leak. Nice red and silver color and they say 888 on the back for the olympics. So far I am pretty happy. I can't find any flaws in the construction. Very solid. Quality proportional to the price for once. http://www.nike.com/index.jhtml?cp=usns ... o=US&la=EN

How does the heal height compare to the Adidas and the Do Win? I have been using a pair of Addistars for about ten years, but was thinking about looking for something with slightly lower heal. Over all are they pretty true to size? width?

Thanks.

TX KB Lifter wrote:How does the heal height compare to the Adidas and the Do Win? I have been using a pair of Addistars for about ten years, but was thinking about looking for something with slightly lower heal. Over all are they pretty true to size? width?

Thanks.

Interesting that the heel height at first glance appears slightly higher in the Nike but in reality it is slightly lower as the heel is cupped a bit thus sitting lower. This may partly explain the better stability compared to the Do Wins. Also the treads on the bottom give superb grip. Best I've seen thus far. I don't know about the older adistars. Everyone who had them liked them but the new ones aren't too good IMO. I do know the heels were higher on the older models.

As far as size, the nikes run true. I am a size 10, so I wear a 10 in the nike and a 9.5 in the Do Win. Width seems typical.

Thank you.

Very helpful, now to convince myself to cough up the cash. I checked eBay, only a pair of 6.5 left. I'm small. but not that small.

Sandman,
Thank you very much for the review. Out of curiosity, what size Adidas shoe did you wear and how does the sizing compare with the Nikes? I usually wear an 8.5 shoe, but had to go 9 with the Ironworks due to the narrow fit.

Thanks in advance.

Fuck, I need some OLY shoes. Not for kbs, for actual oly.

Shaf wrote:Fuck, I need some OLY shoes. Not for kbs, for actual oly.

I'm gonna use them for both.

Shaf wrote:Fuck, I need some OLY shoes. Not for kbs, for actual oly.

That's crazy talk, Shafman.

oskars_left_nut wrote:Sandman,
Thank you very much for the review. Out of curiosity, what size Adidas shoe did you wear and how does the sizing compare with the Nikes? I usually wear an 8.5 shoe, but had to go 9 with the Ironworks due to the narrow fit.

Thanks in advance.

The adidas were 10s and the Nikes are too. The nikes seem to run a little bit narrower. I the play in the laces and the velcro will allow accommodation though so I didn't need to go with a larger size on the nikes.

Jack wrote:Sandy,

How is the heel in regards to give? An Oly shoe should have zero give in the heel as a rule and it would seem anything short of a block of oak in that heel (or iron) seems a waste. If it's gonna compress over time, that's pointless.

Anyway, can you comment on that?

P.S. The ad copy talks about deadlifting, so I guess the folks at Nike aren't up on OLY or PL differences.

There is zero give in the heel. I took a close look at the shoes now that I have been using them daily for a few weeks. Absolutely no sign of shoddy workmanship. They seem to be holding up quite well.

Jack, from what I can tell by looking at them, they have some fancy high impact plastic in the heels. That won't give either.

Sandman wrote: The adidas were 10s and the Nikes are too. The nikes seem to run a little bit narrower. I the play in the laces and the velcro will allow accommodation though so I didn't need to go with a larger size on the nikes.

Thanks! Pretty much what I thought, but just wanted to make sure.

I actually managed to obtain a pair in a size 9. I might have even gotten away with an 8.5, but decided to err on the side of caution.

If anyone's interested, here are some comparison shots to the Ironworks II. Overall, the Romaleos feel a tiny bit heavier than the Adidas shoes (mostly towards the front), but not too much. The Nikes also have significantly more padding on the inside of the shoe, which is probably why they appear so much bigger than the Adidas. Construction/Quality, as said, seems impressive. I've only had time for one workout with them (snatches and c&js), but am quite happy with them so far.

Keep waiting for these to pop up on ebay in my size (8.5 or 9) but no luck so far. Hate to think I might have to drop 180 bones on these bitches.

Mickey, you can pull a JV Askem and add a heel to some bowling shoes.

Shaf wrote:Mickey, you can pull a JV Askem and add a heel to some bowling shoes.

I had a lead on getting a pair of the Nikes but no luck. I may have to go with the bowling shoe. Won't look as cool as the Nikes or Adidas. Maybe I'll wait and see what turns up. May give the Adidas a try. Ken seems to like them.

Mickey O'neil wrote:

Shaf wrote:Mickey, you can pull a JV Askem and add a heel to some bowling shoes.

I had a lead on getting a pair of the Nikes but no luck. I may have to go with the bowling shoe. Won't look as cool as the Nikes or Adidas. Maybe I'll wait and see what turns up. May give the Adidas a try. Ken seems to like them.

I've got a pair of Do-win Rogues waiting for me at home. I'll post a review when I get home in January. It will be my first pair of lifting shoes so I don't have anything else to compare them to.