Is boardfeel overrated?

[Will Easley]

Sometimes I wonder how much a shoes boardfeel actually translates to better board control. In the past 3 years I can name all the vulc shoes i skated, 2 pairs of Half-Cabs, Carroll Selects, & Salazar LR's, and while obviously they're going to have more boardfeel than the cupsoles i usually wear, it wasnt like it made that much of a difference with my actual skating. Obviously you need some sense of where your foot is on the board, but i feel like you dont need THAT much of a feel for your board as it really doesnt seem to make much of a difference when it comes down to doing tricks n whatnot. Any thoughts on this?

[Camp Grunge]

It really doesnt matter, you can get used to skating anything. But personally I like being able to sort of feel my toes grip the board on like 360 flips and heelflips

[foureyedjim]

Personal Preference.

[EnjoiSanJose]

Personal Preference.

[MuchasGracias]

Ive become used to feeling every curve of the board, I cant skate if there's a huge piece of padding between my feet and the deck because it feels like im wearing my work boots its like a metal thing. So i usually stick to vulcs, however i would comfortably skate something like the emerica laced. It sort of helps in skating, you can feel everything down to detail like cracks and concrete ledges, but then there's the obvious downside of getting heel bruises more often but you probably already know that Will.

[Morty Seinfeld]

Expand Quote

Personal Preference.

[close]

[Strike A Pose]

Extremely overrated.

Plenty of tech skaters have succeeded in the past with limited boardfeel.

[DeputyDoses]

I think it's overrated to an extent. I love having a balance of boardfeel and protection/comfort, but I place (ever so slightly) more emphasis on adequate boardfeel. However, I do believe that there can be too much boardfeel. For the guys out there saying that they literally can't skate in a cupsole shoe, it's just a matter of adapting and mind over matter.

Expand Quote

Expand Quote

Personal Preference.

[close]

[close]

[Tracer]

Boardfeel is underrated. Look at all the best skaters today, almost all of them wear tiny little vulc shoes. The days of air pockets in the heel are long gone. You need great boardfeel to skate at a high level. See VANS shoes they've made a business out of grip and boardfeel. Their shoes don't last 2 weeks but they're the best performing while they do last. PEACE

[360 frip]

Boardfeel is underrated. Look at all the best skaters today, almost all of them wear tiny little vulc shoes. The days of air pockets in the heel are long gone. You need great boardfeel to skate at a high level. See VANS shoes they've made a business out of grip and boardfeel. Their shoes don't last 2 weeks but they're the best performing while they do last. PEACE

I'd say their business is based more on image now. Before the Rowley era they weren't selling so many vulcs and they spent way, way less on advertising. It seems since they became amalgamated into VF corp they became a lot more image conscious...

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

yeah personal preference; the skate shoe market right now is probably the best it's been in a long time because we at least have a variety of options out there either way. the 1st rowley shoe was a breath of fresh air when it came out because all you could buy at the time was moon boots (not completely dissing tech shoes/ that era because templeton's 1st shoe on emerica is still one of my faves). ironically  i remember kids at the park laughing at me and a mate after i brought back tonnes of skate HIs/ eras/ old skools from japan in early 2002. we didn't care how they "looked"per se, that's just what we skated back in the day because it was easier to learn tricks in them. hell if i could have found some airwalk NTS, i would have rocked them too.

[360 frip]

yeah personal preference; the skate shoe market right now is probably the best it's been in a long time because we at least have a variety of options out there either way. the 1st rowley shoe was a breath of fresh air when it came out because all you could buy at the time was moon boots (not completely dissing tech shoes/ that era because templeton's 1st shoe on emerica is still one of my faves). ironically  i remember kids at the park laughing at me and a mate after i brought back tonnes of skate HIs/ eras/ old skools from japan in early 2002. we didn't care how they "looked"per se, that's just what we skated back in the day because it was easier to learn tricks in them. hell if i could have found some airwalk NTS, i would have rocked them too.

I think Rowley ushered in the Vulc-age. I used to skate Vans quite a bit before that hit. They always had cheap waffle grip cup-soles at ABC Mart, probably just before that time. Airwalk could still be big today...

[Gray Imp Sausage Metal]

I think Rowley ushered in the Vulc-age. I used to skate Vans quite a bit before that hit. They always had cheap waffle grip cup-soles at ABC Mart, probably just before that time. Airwalk could still be big today...

i agree about the rowley thing, defs brought them back into the lime-light in a big way but i don't like extremes either (all vulc vs. all moon boot). having options either way keeps both sides happy. ABC mart has always repped vulcs, the 1st time i lived here i binged HARD (still do)! air walk ... could be yeah? i can't mark the exact point where they lost it but they were still doing good things till 95-96-ish? remember the shoe with the goodyear grip (oyola used to rep them hard)?

http://airwalk.com/thehistoryofairwalk.pdf
k, now i'm getting nostalgic. enigmas, vics, i had all black disasters, the jims, ones, had some desert boots for school too. my mate cut down his (aqua) daggers and rocked them with blind jeans (same mate also repped yellow NTSs), what ones did klein always rock (the velocity)? what that article doesn't include though are those ugly-arse bowling shoe they made though  

[360 frip]

Expand Quote

I think Rowley ushered in the Vulc-age. I used to skate Vans quite a bit before that hit. They always had cheap waffle grip cup-soles at ABC Mart, probably just before that time. Airwalk could still be big today...

[close]

i agree about the rowley thing, defs brought them back into the lime-light in a big way but i don't like extremes either (all vulc vs. all moon boot). having options either way keeps both sides happy. ABC mart has always repped vulcs, the 1st time i lived here i binged HARD (still do)! air walk ... could be yeah? i can't mark the exact point where they lost it but they were still doing good things till 95-96-ish? remember the shoe with the goodyear grip (oyola used to rep them hard)?

Rowley was on Airwalk too before he jumped. There was that Genetic thing too and then...camping goods or some shit?!?
ABC was great back then. Later days, the sales were crap and it only carried DC/Vans/Lakai. Ahhh, miss the days of shoe whoring about Shibuya/Harajuku.

[Ollie Ringwald]

Wearing thin shoes with a lot of feel doesn't really help me skate any better but it definitely makes skating feel better and more fun for me.

[vancanman]

Wearing thin shoes with a lot of feel doesn't really help me skate any better but it definitely makes skating feel better and more fun for me.

Exactly. I can get used to almost any shoe in time but skating is a tactile experience and it just feels better to have good board feel. I never ollie down anything I can't ollie up anymore. I don't really need the protection of cupsoles besides the occasional primo.

[plod]

It's overrated. It's a trend. Skate shoe design has digressed. People skate chuck Taylor's and vans authentic. They probably last 2 sessions.
It's a bit dumb. I'd rather have a shoe that lasted and laces that don't rip. however I do like the way your foot sits in a vulc shoe. Sort of level and lower in the shoe

Was looking at this today, I had the nts2 and they were better than most stuff out today

 http://classicairwalks.blogspot.com.au/

[Firebert]

The opinions expressed on SLAP are definitely overrated.

[The Nose Face]

For me it's a necessity. If you can't feel the surface properly the muscles in your feet will atrophy and then dysfunction sets in. I feel off balance if I'm higher off the ground with a thicker insole or shoe. It's not good to rely on a shoe or insole, even with skateboarding to an extent (Not so sure about jumping down huge shit but that's not for me).

I feel the same way - I couldn't even skate in a pair of blazers because the sole feels too thick, but I see people praise em' all day long on here. I've always thought less is more when it comes to boardfeel - but you'll pay for it (mostly the ball of your foot) if you skate for long periods of time, especially consecutive days in a row.

[I Can't Think]

It's overrated in the sense that companies sell shoes because of their "Incredible Boardfeel" but you need to feel it to some degree. I prefer protection though, its about a balance between the two.

[Jake]

I skated thin vulcs for a good 7 years, and I always loved feeling my board and such as everyone else described. I've been on a cupsole diet for about a year now after having ankle surgery, and I'll never turn back. Nothing beats not having sore feet after skating, and I feel more protected. I wear thinner shoes when I'm not skating.   

Dunk mids and the es accel tt mid were the best two I've skated so far, and that new Reynolds shoe looks great. It's not a bad adjustment going from one to another, and I don't feel like my skating ability as changed at all.

[dillanharp]

I feel like boardfeel was a term created by the shoe industry to get people to buy shitty shoes more often. I did't even here that shit until the mid 00's and I've been skating since '94.

So no, it doesn't matter, but if that's all you're used to, I guess it's just preference.