Rock Shoes: Evolv Kaos
1st Mar 2006
£68.00 | Velcro | size reviewed 9.5 (foot size 10) | weight 502g | low asymmetry
Very yellow! These shoes like their cousin stand out. Billed as excelling at edging, they are straight lasted and narrow in the toe. In addition to the narrow fit they have additional non-stretch material across the toes to keep things tight and improve edging performance. This it does well, however, given the synthetic leather and additional non-stretch section you need to size these carefully if you want to be able to wear them for long routes. The toe could be a bit narrow for some, losing some edging ability as your toes and knuckles push the rand out over the edge. To save weight and increase flexibility they have trimmed the sole in areas they don’t feel it is needed, which seems to work but also gives a couple of spots where dirt can more easily collect. The heel is a tad baggy, but is held well by the slingshot rand. They are also let down by poor lining construction leading to folds of material around the toe – otherwise a well-made shoe. Sized appropriately they’ll be good all day giving support and precision, sized a bit tighter and they’ll be ideal for standing on small edges for hours (if you can take the pain)!
Note that when we contacted the UK distributor about the inconsistencies in lining quality they had the following to say:
Your comments seem fair enough, although just checked some other predators and kaos and have not found any folds on the lining. Is your predator lined with the microfibre or cotton lining? If it's the cotton, it's an older version that has been replaced with a softer lining. If it's microfibre lined, then as mentioned above, can't find a similar problem with the other shoes, perhaps a one off?
Our test models were cotton lining so we assume that the problem is no longer. We thought you should know just in case...
This review was carried out as part of a massive comparative review of 25 pairs of Performance Rock Shoes. We think that this could be the biggest review of such shoes ever undertaken. You can read the whole review here.