Mad Rock Men’s Con-Flict High-Performance Velcro Shoe
You are currently browsing comments. If you would like to return to the full story, you can read the full entry here: “Mad Rock Men’s Con-Flict High-Performance Velcro Shoe”.
Posted by admin Date: Thursday, March 11, 2010
Categories: Rock Climbing Shoes
Tags: ConFlict, HighPerformance, Men's, Rock, Shoe, Velcro
These shoes were designed with the best intent but aren’t as great as Mad Rock believes them to be. First the shoe size does not fit what you wear in street shoes. I wear a men’s 10 in street shoes and bought a 10 in these shoes, having read they fit small and I currently wear a 9.5 comfortably with a pair of La Sportiva Katanas. It was super painful to put them on and take off so I decided to return them for a half size bigger, 10.5 but i’m still having trouble getting the shoes to fit. I’m hoping there will be some stretching over time.
The new rubber (Science Friction) that Mad Rock has designed is super sticky like they advertise but it’s SOOO soft and malleable that after one short day or bouldering on granite, the shoe no longer has a sharp toe edge for getting footing on little crimpers or flakes on the wall. The rubber designed for these shoes is best fit for smearing on faces, the shoe won’t last long with trying to lay some precision foot placements on crimpers as the sharp edge deforms quickly and easily.
Rating: 2 / 5
I was really psyched when I first read about this shoe. I’ve had my MadRock Flash for years and they still hold up pretty well so I decided to remain loyal. Like other Mad Rock shoes I’ve tried these are comfortable once you break em in, and the rubber sticks like glue. The problem I have with these shoes is the quantity of rubber slapped on them. There is so much rubber at the toes you cant feel the holds, which is causing me to slip and I’m using my arms a lot more. There are definitely better shoes out there when you take the price into consideration. I don’t know how competitive a really fat shoe can be. Its kind of a Catch-22, I’m hoping a lot of the rubber wears away so I can stick my toes where I want, but that pretty much defeats the purpose of a new shoe.
Rating: 3 / 5
These are wickedly downturned for vertical to overhanging routes. As with other Mad Rocks, these basically fit to street shoe size. I tried half a size down and that’s as tight as I could stand. A full size down was just horribly uncomfortable for me, but someone whose foot fits well to this particular shoe might be able to go tighter. These fit a little different than any shoe I’ve every tried. Street show size was very tight, but my toes weren’t really curled together, rather they were bent downward with the shape of the shoe. Even though this is unlined leather, the front part of the upper is covered with rubber so I don’t expect it to stretch much. As with any climbing shoe, it’s hard to buy online unless you’ve tried it before. This shoe is especially difficult because if its radically downturned shape. Toe rubber is great for toe hooks, but upper straps are thin so won’t stand up to any full foot hooking. For the price, 4.5 stars.
Rating: 4 / 5