Mudclaw G 260 V2

I like the Spartan OCR speed shoe by Craft but the toe box is a bit cramped. For my trail runs, non-OCR, I wear Nike Ultrafly. I have tried Salomon Speedcross 5 and Inov8 mudclaw g 260 but went back to Craft and Nike.

Salomon felt too bulky and very heavy once wet. The inov8 felt too stiff on the bottom with each foot strike. The craft ones feel very light and the tread was great for Spartan or trails in general. The Nike Ultrafly is a super shoe but not too bouncy; it feels light, supportive, and drains easily when wet.

Worth noting that G270s are very passive lug-wise for inov-8, have stopped being made, and inov-8 have gone massively downhill in the past few years, including but not limited to using a new factory with massive QC issues and replacing the excellent mudclaw with the mudtalon, which falls apart and much worse on rough terrain. The classic mud shoe of theirs was the mudclaw, which is coming back for sale this winter, however it is being made by their new shitty factory, so it remains to be seen if they will survive a week of running.

Still not the same though really - other brands overtook them in the meantime with better outsoles and the new mudclaws are made at the new factory. Build quality much worse

Because the whole GRVL-concept is basically a solution to a problem that doesnt really exist. Every roadshoe with a tiny bit of rubber outsole is going to be perfectly fine for running on gravel'y stuff. You dont need a specialized shoe for that. It isnt exactly rocket science to be able to understand that a shoe with 8mm lugs (Mudclaw) aint the best choice for harder surfaces.

I feel the 'new' range is just uninspiring and feels old fashioned. I tried the Trailfly Speed which was heavy with a dull foam. Standard Trailfly was heavier with more dull foam! They just aren't competitive with other shoes out there. La Sportiva Prodigio shows how a modern all round trail shoe should be (and it's been a massive success). It's a shameas they used to be one of my favourite shoe brands, I went through 4 pairs of the G270's loved that shoe. Numerous Roclite, Mudclaw, X-Talon. I just don't consider them as an option any more. I live in the Lake District and not many of my friends wear them either any more. Mudclaws used to be the go to. See a lot of VJ, Terrex, Nnormal, La Sportiva and Hoka now.

Altra MT King or Inov8 mudclaw. Big cleats and fast draining are what you want. Wool based socks like Hilly merino work fine when your feet are soaked. If you have the right footwear just go route one through the middle of everything with a big smile 😃