Rock Shoes: La Sportiva Katana
1st Mar 2006
£80.00 | Velcro | size reviewed 9 (foot size 10) | weight 553g | medium asymmetry
An old classic nowadays, the Katana still has many features that make them stand out. Firstly we love the fastening system. The twin Velcro straps come from opposite sides and attach to circular pads rather than similar sized strips. This means that you can change the angle of the straps and give a little extra tightness in different areas of the shoe depending on your needs. The twin offset pull loops are easy to access and plenty big enough for fat fingers. What lets them down somewhat is the bagginess in the heel and across the top of the toes. The tear drop style heel is a reasonably snug fit, but we found the bulging tear drop shaped bit of material a little off putting. The uppers are un-lined leather. The rubber is soft, meaning good friction as long as it is not too warm, but you will wear them out faster than average. In fact one of the reviewers has a pair of Katanas which he had resoled. When he weighed these they came in at 518g, compared to 553g for the new pair. Bearing in mind that this allows for wear and a subsequent re-sole that’s a lot of rubber gone! Unfortunately we can only assume that the innovative design of the Velcro system comes at a cost – at £80 these were the joint most expensive shoes on test.
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.