XR Crossmax review - Paul Wathan (U&R Keswick)

Salomon XR Crossmax

Recently I have had the pleasure to test the new XRs, and yes it was a great pleasure! The shoe does exactly what it says on the box 'Door to Trail'
Living in the Lake District offers some of the best running trails around. But the only downside is that most people have to run along a road to get to these great trails and trust me the average off road shoe hurts after a couple of mile on the road before hitting the trails. For the people who don't want to go out and buy two pairs of shoes (Road & Off Road) solution  = Salomon XR Crossmax

The Crossmax is a great shoe for combination running, I was previously a great fan of the Speedcross for this type of running, but the Crossmax takes it to the next level the rubber compound used for the outsole is very durable and offers great traction for the trails with the help of the ever reliable Contagrip. The cushioning within this shoe is amazing and is also helped by a very comfortable OrthoLite insole. The upper of this shoe is soft and very breathable which helps extract the water out (when you end up in them deep puddles!). Salomon have kept with the ever reliable Quicklace system, with friction free eyelets to help with durability of the laces. Last but not least another impressive feature of this great shoe is the SensiFlex over the top front of the shoe, this technology is brilliant for adapting to the foot, and removes the hard digging in feeling at the side of the foot when flexed as some shoes do! 

The shoe comes in two styles neutral and guidance, for the people who severely overpronate, its not the best! The dual density eva for the pronation control could be a little longer under the foot and a little harder maybe?? 
Overall in my opinion and experience of this shoe, this is a  highly recommended shoe. 8 out of 10 scoring.      

Paul Wathan (U&R Keswick)