By Guest Reviewer Jason Robertson
Jason's
review of the Hoka Stinson Evo Low was so popular that when he bought a pair of the new Bondi 2's I pestered him for a review until he finally agreed. Enjoy!
My Recent History with the Hokas:
Last
June I picked up a pair of Hoka One One Stinson Evo B Lows. In my review I raved about their downhill
prowess, sticky rubber traction, and the polished fit and feel. I also questioned the outsole longevity and
how would running in such a pillowy-soft shoe effect the training adaptations
typically received in lower, less cushioned, more flexible shoes.
The
summer is my high volume time of the year as I am not teaching. So I ran.
Mixing the New Balance 110’s, Brooks Pure Grit, and the Hoka Stinson
B’s; I averaged 85 miles per week. The
Hokas were my long run shoe of choice. I
continued this until the peak phase for the Hell 50k in September. I ran the Woodstock 50K and two weeks later I
raced and won the Hell 50k. I did both
races in the NB 110’s. After Hell, my
hip was incredibly sore and I took October off.
During this time the Hokas became suspect to the hip injury and I
shelved them.
During
November and throughout the winter months I tried several new shoes and started
to mix the Hokas back in. My hip healed
up after some much needed cross-training and yoga sessions. Finally, in February, I was 18 miles into a
road run wearing the Altra Instincts. My
left calf felt as if someone had snuck up and stabbed it with a knife. I immediately called my wife and she
graciously picked me up. Throughout the
next two months I tried every shoe, stretch, and rehab technique in my
inventory and nothing seemed to help.
The calf would seem ok, then boom! Injury and back to square one. I pulled out of the 100 miler I was signed up
for, but I had this awesome trip planned to the Smokey Mountains. I utilized Running Warehouse’s return policy,
sending back the Altras (both the Instincts and Superiors) and had them send me
a pair of the new Hoka Bondi B 2s.
Hoka Bondi B’s
These
shoes allowed me not only to enjoy the trip, but to run much more than
initially expected. I started very
cautiously, hiking the ups and jogging on the downs (there’s not much in
between). Then, toward the end of our
first outing I was able to run the downhill and feel zero pain in the
calf. The next day, I ran everything
that my current state of fitness would allow and no pain. I commented to Jon several times how good
these shoes felt and how good my calf was doing. Third day, besides crossing an icy river of
death, all was well. On the fourth, I
switched to the Brooks Cascadia because of some preconceived notions of mud in
the upper elevations needing increased traction. My calf spoke to me all day. I still have no idea why the calf is good in
the Bondi B’s and nothing else, but I’ll take it. Here’s my take on the shoe
 |
| The author horsing around in his Hoka Bondi B 2's |
Fit and Feel:
The
Bondi’s have a great upper. Very thin
mesh on the outer, a hexagonal structured material and then a final mesh that
sits against your sock that is very comfortable. I had over seven hours and never felt a hot
spot or uneasy rubbing. The shoe runs
true to size, if not a touch over-sized.
I wear 10’s in the NB 110’s and bought a size 10 Bondi. I could probably go for a 9.5, but with long
races and foot swelling, the 10’s will be just fine. My first run in the Stinsons did develop some
chaffing around my pinky toe area. I had
nothing with the Bondi. From the first
run until now, no blister or hot spots; these uppers are top-notch. One of our shorter outings, a 3.5 hour, had a
stream crossing right off the bat. Feet
were wet the entire time and no issues. They are not over-built, but do offer
enough structure for technical trail use.
As good
as the uppers feel, there does seem to be a weak spot. I now have well over 50 hours in the
Bondi. After yesterdays trail marathon
the upper around the toe box was stressed to the point that some holes were
forming in the first layer of mesh.
These had not formed until yesterday and the race took place on a
mountain bike course with many tight, twisty switchbacks. I wasn’t too surprised by this and it
confirmed the major weakness of this shoe.
 |
| Slight wear on both sides of the toe box |
Not a Shoe with the Quickness:
This is
the major drawback with the Bondi, in my opinion. You just don’t get a high turn-over or quick
turning manners from this shoe. Think slow(er) and
methodical versus light and racey.
On the first major downhill, heading back to Laurel Falls
the trail was strewn about with a lot of technical debris: rocks, roots, mud,
tight-twisty turns, and off cambers; I thought I was flying. Jon came up and let me know that our 9 minute
per mile pace was ok, but went shooting by in his Senses (half the weight, half
the mid-sole, much higher turn-over). I
just didn’t feel safe following. I felt
very protected and could’ve ran that pace over that terrain all day, but just
didn’t feel like I could handle all the technicalities any faster. Yesterday’s trail marathon was on much
smoother terrain where I could really fly on the downs, but the tight-twisties
forced me to slow slightly.
Safety
on the down hills is also where this shoe seems to shine over the Stinson. I never felt my ankle twist or have any major
deflection on the loose rock as I did with the Stinson B’s. This did give me more confidence going into
loose rock piles and slick roots. In my
opinion, I think the Bondi does a better job of absorbing the side-load impacts
than does the Stinson; most likely because of mid-sole design.
Outsole design:
Super
tacky! As good as the Stinson B’s outsole and the quality of the rubber for
trail use is, the Bondi trumps it. As
mentioned before, I wore the Cascadias on our last outing because we thought it
would be incredibly muddy with all the snow melt. I didn’t notice much of a difference in
traction levels and was left wanting the plushness and calf soothing feel of
the Bondi. Anything but algae covered river rock is traction for the
Bondi. Back in Fort Wayne this week, we
had a few days of sloppy, snotty mud and while there was some slippage, I was
happy with the way that this road shoe handled the mud. Hoka could make a very nice winter running
trail shoe simply by adding lugs to the rubber portions of this shoe- good
stuff.
 |
| Outsoles after about 50 hours |
Conclusions
The Goods:
1. Great fit and feel, the upper and sizing are spot on. All
day comfort, lace ‘em up and forget.
2. Protection and midsole shape. Inspires confidence and great for injury
prone runners and recovery days.
3. Awesome outsole, holds on to multiple surfaces even
though it’s marketed as a road shoe.
The Bads:
1. While very comfortable the upper is weak in some spots
2. Not a fast turner or allows for high turn-over as other
lighter shoes do (12oz on the food scale)
All in all, these are allowing me to run and get back to a
normal training schedule. If you’re in
the Hoka market, I would definitely look at, and try on a pair of the new Bondi
B’s. They are very useful for trail
applications, high mileage outings on road, trail, mountains, ect. If you’re
racing 50 miles or more, these would be great in a drop bag- the longer the
race/outing the better they feel.
