The K-Swiss Ariake is considered the standard for Parkour shoes.  It is usually synonymous with Parkour gear and accessories. You can get a hold of a pair of these shoes for about $90.00 from the American Parkour store. The product description says this:

I have used the Ariakes for at least a 6 month period of time, and I can tell you exactly how good they are for running, jumping, climbing, and landing. This review is coming from a faithful wearer of the Five-Ten Alien Glow. So this review could probably be considered slightly biased.

The minute you take these out of the box, you will be amazed at how ‘grippy’ they are on everything you touch. From hardwood floors, to concrete, and even playground plastic and metal. During my first week or so of wearing these shoes, I would sometimes skim the bottom of the shoe to the ground while walking, causing the shoe to grip to the floor and trip me. It was both frustrating and exciting, because I was excited to use these for training in the city. However, after you begin to break in the shoes, and use them for daily training, the grip starts to go away. You start sliding on things that you used to not slide on, and wishing you could get them back the way they used to be.

The other big problem with these shoes is durability of the shoe itself. The front of the shoe is the problem that makes most of these shoes fall apart in a few months. (See pic)

See that little area on the toe that has a red circle around it? Instead of being straight rubber or anything else that would allow them to last longer, K-Swiss decided to put some kind of mesh fiber-type material around the top. This wouldn’t normally be a problem, but as Traceurs we like to climb things. Most of the time using our feet (duh). From time to time, the toes of the shoes we’re wearing tend to become subject to sharp edges, rocky concrete, and good old fashion friction. A few scrapes on rough concrete and that mesh will start to tear apart, piece by piece. Eventually getting through that and destroying the creases around it. After that the creases of the shoes will lose the support they once had, and form holes at the toes.

In conclusion, I think that these are a great pair of shoes for a beginning Traceur (or Tracuese), who’s learning the basics. Anything above that, and you’re wasting your money. Go with the Five-Tens instead.

cash on these pants.

So here’s a quick recap of the scores:

• Grip: 8
• Look: 8
• Durability: 6

]]> http://jumpclothing.net/blog/2010/04/review-orig-ariakes/feed/ 1 http://jumpclothing.net/blog/2010/04/up-next-traceur-shirts/ http://jumpclothing.net/blog/2010/04/up-next-traceur-shirts/#comments Sat, 03 Apr 2010 01:59:45 +0000 R. Black http://jumpclothing.net/blog/?p=79 Over the next few weeks we will be rolling out a few more additions to our clothing lines. Equally spread among the Tricking and Parkour categories. The success of our “Jump. Defy. Trick. v2.0″ shirts has lead us into our next batch of shirts. As you might have guessed from the title of this post, the “Traceur Arrows” design will be released next. Expect it to go on pre-order in about a week. I hope you guys are as excited as we are!

Other updates:

Unfortunately, we cannot be there to explain this message of Parkour to anyone who happens to catch a glimpse of it on T.V while eating their dinner. They will see it as people jumping off stuff and doing crazy flips. It’s human nature to be competitive, so someone who decides to start Parkour from what they saw on T.V, who doesn’t read more about it first could hurt themselves, and in the long run give a bad name to the discipline in general. The media will see it as an opportunity to have a good story. They will throw the book at Parkour, and we will, in turn, receive bad publicity. When an ‘extreme sport’ get bad attention,  this will lead to the banning of Parkour with signs and city regulations. It’s bound to happen, and that’s why we have to make sure MTV doesn’t screw over everything, like they did with various other things.

You know when you’re fairly immersed in your training, headphones in, and body moving with the music, and some bystander chooses to interrupt you and ask you to do ‘that’ again. At first this might be an exciting experience, but others it makes you want to just ignore anyone who tries to talk to you. Try not to ignore, or act spiteful to anyone who may be inquisitive to what you’re doing, as this could be an opportunity to share your view of the world with someone. Always be open to curious bystanders.

In conclusion, be careful when you train. Don’t do anything that could potentially break something. Always be nice to people who ask about Parkour, and never do something that you know with 100% of yourself that you can do. You start hurting yourself when you start assuming you abilities, not knowing them.

My problem ended up being solved when I bought some Techno XMA XR2 pants. These were Recommended by Epic. They weren’t all that cheap, but I figured I should give them a try anyway. When I first tried them on I was surprised by how they felt. It felt almost like I wasn’t wearing anything. I could kick as high as I wanted, and they wouldn’t get in the way. I could work on my flexibility and not worry about ripping them.  So they passed the tricking test, but what about Parkour?

I really thought that these things would rip the minute I tried to run up any kind of wall, or fell on my knees. This is what blew my mind: I have had these pants for over a year, I use them mainly for PK training in the city, and tricking in the gym and at the park literally all the time . I have not had one single tear in them since I got them. The only problem I have experienced with these is that after countless hours of stretching on my floor, and getting better at kicks and such, the stitches in the center where the legs split has begun to pull apart. There isn’t a hole or anything, but you can see the stitches. This happened over the past few months, but other than that the pants worked well for a lot longer than I expected.

You would think that black nylon pants aren’t a good thing in the summer, but these pants are extremely cool, even in direct sunlight in the middle of a field. Seriously, these are some comfortable pants. I would recommend them for sure. Spend $40.00 of your hard earned cash on these pants.

So here’s a quick recap of the scores:

• Comfort: 9
• Look: 8
• Durability: 6
• Freedom of Movement: 10

I have compiled a list of ways that I think are best at getting past security. Some of them are clever, some are practical. Take them as you will.

Explain What You’re Doing

This is the most popular one. Security asks you to leave and you explain to them what Parkour is and its purpose. At this point, their either going to threaten to call the police, or walk away and let you do your thing. Since their only original reason of approaching you was to get you off the property, and that’s what their going to do. That’s the problem with this method. It’s almost never successful. Not to mention, if you come back, they’ll remember you as “that kid that was jumping off stuff a week ago” and they’ll call the police instantly instead of talking to you first.

Talk in French

This is one that I have had a lot of success with. Obviously you don’t have to use French, but it sounds more legit. Even if you don’t know French (I don’t) just speak in gibberish with some kind of an accent. Now a security guard who has had to deal with a lot of stupid people would know how to handle this. But some store owner? They’re probably just going to walk back inside, confused.

Be A Ninja Traceur

The basic rule of thumb is, if you don’t know who owns it, or you’re scared of getting caught, don’t stay in the same spot for more than 15 minutes. Do some training, and leave. By the time they come over to ask you to leave, you’ll be gone. Come back later, but move on to a different spot for a little bit. Trust me, you’ll find yourself getting caught a lot less.

Also, for an added bonus, hide from all cops you see, don’t hide, but stay away from them. The less interaction you  have with any kind of authority figures, the less likely you are to get in trouble.

Cameras Are Bad

Never ever, ever go near a camera and start climbing up their walls. One time I was climbing through parking garages and accidentally ended up on the inside of a police garage. Cameras all around me. I didn’t get caught, but I got out of there as fast as I could. Also, I ended up getting searched for drugs once at a mall, because I was climbing up a wall outside a security door with a camera over it.

What about you guys? How do you avoid getting caught? Or getting out of it when you get in trouble?