Since purchasing the Hoka One One Stinson Evo almost three months ago and using them as my primary shoe for both training and racing, I have been thoroughly impressed with their performance and durability. When the offer of a pair of first generation Hoka Mafate in my size came my way, I jumped at the chance to try the shoe that raised eyebrows over three years ago and began turning skeptics into believers...
The Hoka One One Mafate is the shoe that launched the popularity for the Hoka brand almost 3 years ago. From the Mafate came the slightly trimmed down versions that have become the Stinson Evo, Stinson Evo Tarmac, Bondi B and Bondi Speed models. The three latter of which are designated as road shoes but have proven equally successful on forest service roads and smooth non-technical trails.
The cushion and “fat tire full suspension” like ride of the
Stinson Evo was impressive and greatly appreciated by my feet and lower legs. From
the first stride it was clearly evident that the Mafate has even more cushion
in relation to the Stinson Evo. I also
found the Mafate provided additional grip of the trail due to the more
aggressive tread pattern. Now with
approximately 200 miles on these shoes, the Mafate is
exhibiting exceptional durability as wear is barely evident at
this stage. It is my understanding that
the shoe last on the Mafate 2 has been altered slightly to provide more toe box
wiggle room, and I would agree that this is a wise change. The Mafate's heel to toe gradient is 4 mm.
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| After 200 miles of heavy trail use. Still looking good! |
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| The factory molding rubber is still evident on the lugs even after 200 miles of wear! |
Overall I am very pleased with the Mafate and consider the shoe my primary choice on rough demanding technical terrain and ultra long distances.
The Mafate's are available through Zappos.com and Amazon.com
Happy Running!
Bartman
Bart - what a coincidence! I was just looking at these shoes on the Zappos website. I've been thinking about trying them out, but I wear down shoes in a way that nobody believes (the MBT and the Birkenstock people have given up on me). How do the sizes run -- pretty much like your other shoes?
ReplyDeleteErnie
Both the Stinson Evo and the Mafate run true to size in their 2012 models. Some earlier models ran a little small on the Stinson, but that has been corrected on the 2012 models. All my other shoes are Inov-8 which run true to size for me as well. My problem with most shoe fit is caused by my going barefoot whenever I am indoors. I began this practice 3 years ago to in order to correct some foot issues I was having caused by the "Italian dress shoe last" that most running shoes are cut on and curtailing the nature movement of the foot and preventing the proper spreading of the toes during the support/propulsion phase of the stride.
ReplyDeleteBart