micke-midlife on December 1st, 2008

the riddle of the mystery pair of trail running shoes that we presented last week seems to be lifted. the friendly folks at asics of whom tom@asics is one replied by email and wrote the following.

Thank you for your email. I believe the shoes you have just purchased are the same as the ASICS GEL Torana 2.
As a brand we sometimes sell shoes into national accounts with different names to those sold into our running specialists. However, the shoes still have the same features and technologies. You
should be able to find plenty of info on the Torana 2 on the website.

well, well that’s selling the bulk cheaper, but guessing from the higher development cost of a separate model, but lower additional manufacturing cost of nearly the same, it’s easier to just use different colours and perhaps change the design a little to reach sufficient differentiation without incurring too much additional cost. this much about running shoe business theory, or actually the attempt at it.

the shoe itself is solid footwear with a hell lot of technology built-in, judging from asics’ product webpage. the outer material really prevents the wet environment to penetrate the surface. for my taste, and the one of my feet, the shoe is a little bit too rigid. yes, it was the old beginners mistake, didn’t protect the sensitive places. hope the shoe will give in a bit more after a while.

it felt pretty good to switch backto the summer tyres again after the snow has gone completely away again. the adidas response cushion is really soft in comparison. the 21.5km in a 4:15min average became more a fartlek than a long and relaxed run. if not for anything else, it was to celebrate day 100 of this project!

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