Wes Kremer

Dude is ridiculous! Amazing.
Switch game... check.
Speed... check.
Style... check.
Tranny skills... check.
Lines... check.

Nice looking shoe too.

Running Shoes

Being a statistician by day, I find it interesting that all of Vans' LXVI running shoes have math jargon names. Also, LXVI is the roman numeral for 66, which, of course, is the birth year of Vans. Also, lots of photos are popping up of the New Balance NB# skate shoes, which, IMO, look similarly synthetic to the LXVI line. Image from Ripped Laces' Instagram.

Walker Ryan's Driver

I've always been stoked on Walker Ryan's skating and I'm not posting this because it's a sneak peek at his new shoe. I'm more concerned about what driver he plays.

Gino and Challenge Court SB

Any new Gino footage is good footage. Not really feeling the shoes though. Maybe they will grow on me. Image from Jody Morris.

Josh Kalis: Free Lunch and more

A few Josh Kalis bits popped up the past few weeks. Above is his Free Lunch and here's his Chrome Ball interview. He's asked about Dyrdek buying DNA in both of them. Also, his new shoe is coming out with this video below containing a crazy fakie 5-0 front foot impossible out.

eS clearance ebay store

Last Fall, eS announced that they were going on hiatus in Spring 2012. Now that it's spring, looks like they are clearing out their inventory and they opened up an ebay store solely for that purpose. May as well stock up on cheap skate shoes.

Nike Air Anthem

My Kikkors had started leaking in the fall of 2011 so I needed a new pair of golf shoes. I thought I made my decision for what shoes I wanted but kept changing my mind: Samba, Adicross Street, Cardiff, Tenny. It turns out some of these aren't waterproof. After some browsing, I ended up grabbing a pair of these Nike Anthems from Golfio for $45 shipped. It's a nice comfy shoe with removable spikes and a 2-year waterproof warranty. I wore them on my Phoenix golf vacation (which I'll write about in the coming weeks) and they were solid.

Rose wins BMW in Adidas Streets

Justin Rose won last weeks BMW Championship wearing the new Adidas Street golf shoes. Pretty cool. I like the black/white ones he's wearing. Images from here and here.

Adidas Samba and Street golf shoes

Adidas hasn't had a street silhouette golf shoe in a few seasons. For 2012, looks like they're bringing it back with two models... a Samba golf shoe and an Ecco Street styled golf shoe. So many companies are starting to jump on the bandwagon and I'm happy to see so many options. Just a few weeks ago, I saw the Ashworth Cardiffs in person for the first time and thought they looked solid and figured they would be my next golf shoes. With Nike and Adidas' lines for 2012 revealed, I'm not so sure about that anymore. I definitely like the black Samba and black Streets as well as Kikkors black Tennys.

Images from here, here and Kikkors facebook.

Vans Wafflecup

Really diggin' the mascot. I'd like to try their wafflecup sole. I'm not a big fan of vulc shoes. In the past 5 years, I've probably skated 75/25 in favour of cup. I saw the above photo on a blog somewhere but forgot where so I did a google image search to try and find it and found this awesome Vans edible waffle promotion. Looks tasty.

Images from here and here.

Nike Dunk NG Golf Shoe

Several years ago, Nike did a limited run of golf Dunk SB's at a golf tournament during the Tampa pro contest. They had a Dunk SB upper with a golf sole. In Spring 2012, it looks like Nike is going to do a wide release of a Dunk golf shoe. Looks good to me... although none of the colorways are particularly to my liking. Image from here.

Nike prototype golf shoe

These looks pretty good to me. Reminds me of eS Koston 2's, which were one of my favourite shoes back in the day.

Here's a description:

The shoes are based on FREE technology, which Nike has implemented in their training shoes but yet to implement in their golf line. The technology which debuted in 2004 is highlighted by an outsole designed to mimic the natural movements of the foot while being lightweight and responsive.

This prototype features an upper part of the shoe made with polyurethane coated stretch fabric, found in Nike’s basketball shoes, and the outsole is geared to provide stability through Woods’ torque-filled swing.

“This will help give Tiger greater stability as he addresses the ball. The freedom of movement that natural motion technology delivers will also allow more power to be released through the swing rather than through the body – which can happen when your feet are too static.” said Tobie Hatfield of Nike.

Text and photo from here.

Eric Koston SB

I think his pro shoe looks really nice and clean. These two Footnote segments at the Berrics here and here are pretty cool. One of the Nike commercials at the start of Part One has Koston at the Oven, which is Nike's golf research facility. That would be a trip to go there and test out all the different shaft/head combos and getting fitted for clubs. Images from here and Koston's twitter.

Ashworth Cardiff

Another street style shoe for the links. Ashworth, which is under the Taylor Made/Adidas umbrella, is entering the shoe market and the Cardiff model is their answer to Ecco's Street Premier. I like the 2-year waterproof warranty and the nubby spikes. I think the overall shoe look better than the Street Premiers. I'd put them ahead of the FJ Street as well. Hopefully they'll be using Adidas' facilities. Adidas made some super comfortable golf shoes in the past. Images from here and here.

FJ Street

With the popularity of the street style golf shoe last season, FootJoy has jumped on the bandwangon and released their version called the FJ Street, which looks like it was inspired by a Jack Purcell or Chuck Taylor.

I like em. Compared to the Ecco Street Premier, IMO they look better, they're cheaper ($90 retail price) and they look more waterproof (1-year warranty for leakage). Not sure if the spikes are removable. I will say the newer version of the Ecco Streets with the Stan Smith toe look better than the Freddie ones.

Speaking of the Ecco Street, when I was in Phoenix, I got to see and try them on for the first time and they were super comfortable. The sizing was rather crazy... I wear a 10 in everything else and I fit into a 42, which is an 8-8.5.

Supra 3 Amigos Pack

Three Supra riders get a signature colorway of the Amigo model. Not particularly psyched on any of the colors but I am super stoked on Spencer Hamilton's usage of the Ottawa Senators on the insole. T-Ferg used it, Wade used it and now Spencer. Great job representing Ottawa. Images from here.

Kikkor Golf - A day at the office

Here's a fun video by Vancouver-based Kikkor Golf - "A Day at the Office". There's even a skateboard in there! Looks like the warehouse also houses Ogio, Travis Mathews and Westbeach. Full new line of shoes for 2011. It's warming up in Vancouver and we're getting an extra hour of day light soon so, if you haven't already, dig your clubs out and get them ready!

Insoles 101

I don't know how many people out there are like me but I just don't find vulcanized shoes to be very comfortable. Some of the cup soles from years past were okay but most vulc shoes have no support or arch support. Even the shoes that do come with an insole, they're terrible. The one issue I have the most is the insole flattens and compresses at the ball of my feet.

I ended up finding these sof sole athlete insoles and gave them a go. The soles are a bit thicker than most stock insoles and they're also soft feeling. The blue part of the sole at the forefoot is nothing short of amazing. The sole does not flatten at the balls of my feet. I've been cycling them in all my shoes for 18 months and they are still going strong. Highly recommended!

Kikkor @ PGA Show

Annual PGA Merchandise Show is this weekend and Kikkors booth looks awesome! Keep an eye on equip2golf for updates of the show. Image from Kikkors facebook.

Kikkor 2011

Kikkor has recently released photos of their new models for 2011. The Retro WP is a retro running shoe style. I like the black/orange but wouldn't put orange laces in them. I also think the patent leather side piece is a bad idea. The Tenny is a boat/skate shoe hybrid. The white/black colorway is a skate shoe classic from the mid 90's. The gray/white is also a nice combo. The Dress Sneaker has a smooth one-piece toe that is reminisce of an Era. Good looking clean shoe... at least in the black/white.

I'm a little weary about the waterproofness of suede. I've never had good luck with suede and rain.