This past Friday, New Balance released high resolution photos of the NB Minimus Trail, NB Minimus Road, and NB Minimus Wellness — three minimalist-minded shoes to be released in Spring 2011. This is the latest in New Balance’s “controlled leak” trickle of marketing information designed to build up interest in the line. Apple Computer has used this technique with much success and it seems to be working for New Balance. We’ve got the high-res photos as well as all the information about the upcoming 2011 New Balance NB Minimus line here. Check it out!
And just as a recap for those just now checking in on this emerging line of minimalist footwear, here’s what’s happened so far. Back in August, we caught an initial glimpse of an orange version of the Minimus Trail. Later in August, two videos mysteriously appeared on youtube. One featured Anton Krupicka and the Minimus Trail. Another featured Grant Robison (2004 olympics medalist 1500m) with the running version of Minimus. The last bit of information New Balance shared was an interview with Anton Krupicka. He discussed his involvement in the design of the Minimus and New Balance gave us glimpses of the Minimus Trail in various stages of the design process.
So go and see the latest photos and all of our coverage of the New Balance Minimus here! … and then come back here and let us know what you think in the comments below.
6 replies on “New Balance Releases High Res Photos of Minimus”
I can’t wait to give these a shot. The VFF’s have been a bit to minimal for my feet given that I’m still getting lighter and my feet get hot on the bottom in them. Now that I’m training for an Ironman 70.3 I’d love to try the running shoe out to see how it works in training. I’ve been a New Balance fan for many many years given them being one of the few companies that actually makes wide shoes.
On the expo of the Amsterdam Marathon this weekend they had them on display. The trail version was my size, and I was allowed to try it on.
Unfortunately they only had the left one (the other one was in Brussels), so I had a KSO on my right foot.
They’re comfortable but I could feel right away that they have more sole/are higher than the KSO’s. It also felt a little bit narrow around the toes.
According to one of the sales guys they are supposed to come out January/February.
The other sales guy was not very positive about the whole minimalistic shoe thing and could not understand why people would run without cushoning/padding.
from the pics the sole still seems fairly thick for a minimalist shoe – I’m guessing it’ll be more along the lines of the nike free.
The minimus trail looks great. A little padding on a trail ultra is OK as long as it not a squishy mess.
The road version looks very unappealing, I think it should have a thinner sole (3-5mm) and more sock like upper. The sole IS thinner than the pictures let on because your foot actually looks to sit below the soles side line. But from what I have read of initial reviews is there is more foam padding than the MT100/101 which I would consider to be the absolute max you would want in a road shoe (the MT100/101 is actually an trail shoe)
The minimus wellness actually looks better to me as a running shoe. Make this with a stretch mesh upper and thinner sole (3-5mm) and it would be a killer marathon shoe/racing flat. Kind of like a Zoot but with a better sole.
Looks good, but it’s not true barefoot.
Has to be zero drop. I’ll stick to VFF’s and Vivo Barefoot.
WANT.
Been running in the MT100’s for about 6 months now. While I have run in VFF’s and completely nude for the last 6 years. I find that running with something underfoot is better for my enjoyment of the run. Granted 4mm seams like a big drop but if you bevel the heel to me it becomes almost unoticible mostly because I don’t do alot of road running anyway and my foot never hits the ground the same way twice.
I will take extra thickness for the occasional rock that I find in a pile of leaves in the New England trails anyday, to keep fascia bruises at bay.