Sizing

The Berle Pro fits true to size.

Durability

Aside from the shoe’s canvas sidewalls, the whole shoe is layered with high quality premium suede. Moreover, the shoe’s upper area also features a rubber toecap that has an additional Duracap reinforcement embedded within. No stranger to Duracap technology, the durability of the shoe was just as imagined, excellent. We skated the shoe longer than ususal to showcase the advantage of the rubber toe. As seen in the pictures below even though the rubber toe shows wear, there is still a fresh suede piece. Upon first impression, there is a lot of stitching around the upper and toe area of the shoe, which is an obvious point of attack for flip tricks. However, after the test, the Ollie-hole area of the shoe wasn’t heavily affected and did not tear open. Aside from the obvious abrasion in the kickflip area, the durability of the Berle pro was quite good, with no huge holes. In addition, the pattern of the sole was quite durable, with no major blow-out spots.

Cushioning

Typically, especially in the most recent releases over the few years, the Vans Pro Skate line uses Ultracush HD technology for cushioning, which isn’t removable and stitched completely to the Waffle Control sole of the shoe. Just looking at the posterior heel of the Berle Pro, it’s unlike basic waffle soles in that it is a deeper fit, which locks the heel in to maximize both stable protection and impact cushioning. The posterior part of the shoe than flattens out to a more shallow fit towards the frontal part of the shoe, allowing for more boardfeel. Although the cushioning doesn’t have the Ultracush HD elements of softness, it does perform quite well for medium impact stairs and gaps, and protects the heel well.

Shape

As a low-cut cupsole shoe, the shoe’s posterior and sidewalls don’t have much additional support to maintain its structure, yet after 10 hours of skating, the shoe held up fine. The shoe’s overall shape and fit was perfect, it didn’t narrow out too much and also didn’t feel too wide. Looking from the soles of the feet, it is apparent that the shoe’s shape narrows a bit from the midfoot to the frontal part, but is essential as it locks in your feet better and optimizes the boardfeel of the shoe.

Boardfeel and Grip

When it comes to boardfeel, the Berle Pro is designed with Vans’ newest Waffle Control technology. The structure of the sole of the shoe is simpler and a bit thinner, which helps immensely with the boardfeel for flip tricks. For those not used to skating shoes with rubber toe caps, it will take a bit of time getting used to during the initial stage, as the toe cap can be a bit slippery and takes time to break in. But once broken in, the additional toecap’s grip becomes exceptional and the grip for flip tricks is on point. When it comes to the grip of the sole, the designers also took their time to work on different patterns in the sole to enhance grip in multi-directional movements. One point worth mentioning is that the sole is also extremely flexible, which helps with boardfeel.

Comfort & Stability

Some shoes right out of the box are extremely stiff, where you need to walk in them for about a week before using them to skate. But the Berle Pro feels like the shoe’s been broken into right of out of the box and is ready to skate. The interior of the shoe also uses Vans’ trademarked Lux-Liner technology, which is an internal sock-fit construction consisting of an elastic fabric stitched along the internal sidewalls that stretches from the tongue of the shoe to the tip of the shoe. This makes the fit more comfortable, but also holds the feet in place for flip tricks. The breathability of the shoe is average, since the only elements designed into the shoe are the two metal eyelets on the sidewalls and the canvas material used in most Vans Pro Skate models. When you skate, your feet will still become quite sweaty and the interior of the shoe becomes very humid after taking the shoes off. With that said, the shoe’s overall construction wasn’t affected much by the humidity as other shoes may have.

Conclusion

For a shoe that looks simple from it’s outward appearance, the Berle Pro is still packed with Vans pro Skate technology, including the newest Waffle Control technology. As a result, the Berle Pro is exceptional in boardfeel, grip and durability, but is sacrificed a bit on the cushioning and comfort of the shoe.

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Sizing

The Vans Ultrarange Pro fits true to size.

Durability

The durability of the Vans Ultrarange was the least of our concerns when it came to the weartest. Similar to the Vans Gilbert Crockett 2 that we tested back in March, the Ultrarange Pro was outfitted with a layer of Duracap rubber in the first third of the shoe. If you look at the shoe, you can also notice a small ripple effect underneath the suede near the first eyelets, which is as far back as the Duracap goes. The thin rubber layer of Duracap reinforcement is not only there to act as a second layer of abrasion defense, but it also helps to hold up the structure of the toe cap area, and provides a bit more protection than most shoes with one thin layer of suede. No blow out spots occurred during our weartest since the side wall’s seams were pushed a bit back away from the usual Ollie hole area, and even better, no laces were ripped. All in all, the durability of the shoe was good; the suede didn’t wear away much and even when it does, the shoe has enough structure underneath the suede to prolong its lifespan.

Shape

The shape of the Ultrarange Pro is quite narrow; the heel to the midfoot area slims down, and then widens out around the forefoot area before tapering into a pointy toe. Interestingly, when you wear the shoe, it feels quite comfortable similar to a slip-on. As mentioned earlier, the toecap piece also has a slight ripple effect, which is just the presence of the rubber Duracap layer beneath the suede. One thing that was a bit different than other models tested was the rubber outsole’s shape. The overall outsole was quite contoured, with the heel area of the shoe’s outsole protruding a bit that helped with heelflip tricks. The outsole around the toecap area was shaped a bit convex, which made have been designed on purpose to let the grip tape catch more edge of the shoe when it came to flip tricks. Although the technical elements of the shoe make the Ultrarange Pro seem like a narrow and sleek running inspired skate shoe, the overall shape and fit was quite comfortable and wider than we expected.

Cushioning

Cushioning was a feature of the Ultrarange Pro that went through many trials in the Vans R&D center. Vans tried to hit two points with their newly introduced Co-Molded Outsole: provide a high quality shock absorption material that would also make the shoe as light as possible to prolong the skater’s stamina for jumping down sets or gaps. To do this, they threw away the idea of a removable insole, and instead selected the insole material Ultracush Lite to be made into a midsole.  Afterwards, they molded the infamous waffle outsole to the midsole and created an outsole that was lighter, and didn’t sacrifice cushioning. If you look at the sole, you can see the molded Ultracush Lite coming out from in between the tread patterns of the waffle sole. After realizing that there was no insole to remove, we were skeptical at first jumping down sets during our Shanghai weartest. However, the shoe’s Ultracush Lite outsole was more than enough support to handle skating an 8 stair, and barely any impact could be felt through the shoe’s thick, but light, outsole.

Boardfeel and Grip

Just for reference, skateboarding shoes have always been battling between cupsole outsoles and vulcanized outsoles. Cupsole models can provide much better cushioning, while vulcanized models can provide much better boardfeel and grip. While the majority of Vans’ Pro Skate models have a vulcanized outsole, the Ultrarange Pro is a cupsole model whose marketing has really been focused on it’s cushioning and impact protection. When we first saw the shoe, we assumed that it would be quite thick and bulky, and since cushioning was a highlight of the shoe, board feel would be sacrificed. However, after skating the shoe for about four hours, the shoe was finally broken in, and the boardfeel was great. It helps that Vans chose a thinner and lighter Ultracush Lite instead of Ultracush HD to make their midsole, which made it easier to feel out the concave of the board. The initial grip of the outsole was fair, but didn’t maintain its grippiness during all 10 hours of skating like previous vulcanized models have. With that said, the waffle sole was similar to other models and was extremely grippy with no blow out holes during the weartest.

Comfort and Stability

Now we’ve come to a part of our review where the Ultrarange Pro’s truly impressed us throughout our 10-hour weartest. To start things off, the Ultrarange Pro was extremely light, and breathable. The medial sidewall features a mesh panel that allows hot air to flow out when your feet get sweaty from skating. Moreover, the inside of the Ultrarange Pro features a seamless sock-fit construction called Lux-Liner, which is essentially a tongue that features tongue centering straps which connect to the sidewalls of the shoe. This Lux-Liner construction knocked the ball out the park for two reasons. First, it centered and stabilized very well; when it came down to jumping off sets, the shoe did not slip around to mess up our flick and catch. This stabilizer also helped control the impact of landing by directing the shock as central to the Ultracush Lite as possible, which prevents heel bruises. Moreover, the Lux-Liner construction was made of an extremely breathable mesh/silk material that also allowed heat to escape through the tongue. Sweating while you skate in the summertime is unpreventable, but the Ultrarange Pro’s breathability and Lux-Liner construction helped tone done the blistering heat.

Summary

Whatever you do, don’t judge the Ultrarange Pro by its look. This is a technical shoe adapted for modern day skateboarding that excels when it comes to comfort, durability, stability, and cushioning, but could use a bit more improvement on boardfeel and grip.

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adidas Lucas Pro review teaser from weartested skate on Vimeo.

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High quality PDF version: Adidas Busenitz Pro Review

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Thanks to the German “Sneakers Magazine” and Jascha Muller, the Global
Sports Marketing Manager of Adidas, I’m able to test a pair before the actual release in July.

I received the shoes yesterday and what can I say…they are amazing! Design, the used materials, the fit … all is on point! The finished review will be published in #3 of  ” Sneakers Magazine” as part of their skate shoe special in that issue. It will be for sale around the end of June. Since the review will be in German, all English speaking readers must wait a bit longer, but I’ll definitely post a translated version here on weartested as soon as I can.

Unfortunately I’m not allowed to post pics yet, for those who haven’t seen them yet here’s a picture from CrookedTongues.com:

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