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/2010/02/review-techno-xma-xr2-pants/ http://jumpclothing.net/blog/2010/02/review-techno-xma-xr2-pants/#comments Thu, 11 Feb 2010 22:49:47 +0000 R. Black http://jumpclothing.net/blog/?p=40 Pants are an important clothing item when you decide to go out and pull crazy flips in the middle of a field during a summer day. Also, if you decide you want to spend your days running through a city climbing up walls and balancing on rails all the time, pants are also a very important factor. You have to take into account temperature, freedom of movement, and durability. You don’t want to wear some heavy black pants on a hot summer day, you’ll die, and you’ll want to go home. I had this problem a while back, I tried multiple kinds of pants. APK Cargo pants were so heavy it felt like I was wearing weights around my legs. I needed something lightweight, durable, and comfortable.

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