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New Balance is launching a new cross array of shoes which provides a more in-depth to the barefoot experience. The gathering includes road running, trail running and wellness products.The wellness model is devised for those who want to pursue a more natural stance and gait during the course of the day even when not exercising, and is targeted as an exceptional recovery shoe for post workout or post-race activities. Having developed athletic shoes for over 100 years and having an established background in performance running has allowed New Balance to have a very focused and different procedure to this incredibly enjoyable product. When New Balance attempted to develop this product, it was tested and validated through high performance, ultra marathon runners, common midfoot and forefoot practitioners as well as in their state-of-the-art Sports Lab in which we calculates and test a variety of spots.

The shoes in the NB Minimus collection deliver the potential benefits of barefoot running, married with the modern realities of terrain and feet which can be raised on shoes.In developing this particular product New Balance had four key parts of focus to deliver this “Best in Class” product:

The Minimus Zero Trail is surely an ultra-minimal flyweight model with a new Vibram T-Lite outsole. New Balance took the design to a new level with these new trail runners. These are some futuristic looking kicks! They’re bold,but many runners like the bright orange color. They come across techie looks with the grid pattern and the white contrasting detail and laces. The upper is made of an ultra-thin, laser cut, fully-welded overlay. It’s a more structured materials, but they’re pleasant with no hot-spots. Also, the tongue is soft and almost feels like a second skin on the top of the mid-foot. The only thing that gets me is the toe box. There’s a paper thin see-through “window” on the top through which you can see your toes. It isn’t a forgiving cloth and it folds funny causing it to make a popping sound when I step (you can see it folding in the closeup shot). I also feel this structured material of the window against the top of my my toes while I’m running. It doesn’t do any harm, it’s just a minor annoyance. I don’t feel as if that area of the upper is working in sync with my step since it’s not very forgiving. It’s sort of crinkles instead of flexing with my foot.

The Vibram T-Lite outsole is made utilizing a bubble-like pattern with cushioning pods that are strategically placed based on common points of impact as studied on the previous Minimus trail model. I ran my usual dirt single track trail in them a few times for a couple of miles anytime. You will feel nice and close to the ground with the heel and forefoot stack height of 13mm, and the 0mm drop definitely encourages an all-natural mid-foot strike. The sole has great traction but the pods are very prominent and recognized. It feels a little like wearing some sort of modified cleat. You can feel the raised pod placement on the heel and forefoot with every strike. The heel feels nice and form fitting, but the toes move around quite a bit in the front. This tends to cause your feet to accommodate the shoe on sharp rocky turns. Again, the material of the upper isn’t forgiving so you feel a little as though the shoe has a mind of it’s own and doesn’t “work” especially on steep inclines and sharp turns. You will feel more agile on the downhills if the material on the toe box had a little more flexibility and give to it.

The NB Minimus line has an stimulating, award-winning, closer-to-barefoot experience with a radically lower heel-to-midfoot drop than traditional trainers. In March 2012, at running stores across the country, we will extend the much talked-about NB Minimus line with the arrival of NB Minimus Zero – new road, trail and wellness shoes that nonetheless deliver that minimal, light and right experience, but with a 0mm heel-to-midfoot drop. This is a feature that many of the most vocal members of the NewBalance.com community, many of them experienced natural runners, have asked about. We asked New Balance SBU Manager for Performance Running and Outdoor, Katherine Petrecca, who introduced us to NB Minimus to start with, to help us get up to speed on what we can expect.

New Balance Minimus Zero Trail:

New Balance has eliminated the heel drop over the 2012 Minimus line.

Crucial information regarding the ultra-modern Minimus Zero Trails

- They are zero drop

- Especially light… perhaps less than 6 ounces

- The sole is somewhat similar to the soles of the original Minimus Trails (think pods)

- The position and dimensions the pods were developed based upon data from wear testing- they put material where it was needed most

- For the Trails, other material was eliminated, which is the feather-like weight

- Benefit from Vibram soles, which has become the defacto standard for minimalist shoe sole material.

- These shoes should be not the same as anything else on the market, which adds more potential tools to our toolbox.

This shoe will make a great addition to the Minimalist category!

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