New Hybrid Footbag Shoe "Isotopes"(Pictures inside

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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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New Hybrid Footbag Shoe "Isotopes"(Pictures inside

Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 06 Oct 2011 17:57

After hours in my room, with glue and blades... I've finally finished them...


I reveal to you... The PERFECT footbag shoe (for some of us, at least)... The Original "Isotopes".

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I've had this footbag dilemma for a while... I love and hate things about the Nucleus and the Quamtum.

Nucleus perks: Great sole for unusual surfaces
Nucleus flaws: Really awful for traditional shred

Quantum perks: Great shoe for traditional shred
Quantum flaws: Not that great for unusual surfaces

My shoe offers the best of both worlds.

So I've been toying with this idea in my head for a while now... but after watching some footage from East Coasts of myself dropping multiple times on Flapper> Reverse Swirl, and other flapper combos I remember myself dropping on... I decided it was time to experiment.

I've taken the soles off of 1 pair of Quantums and 1 pair of Nucleus, and attached the Nuke soles onto the Quantums.

I had a few mini test sessions in them and they are AWESOME so far. It's my dream footbag shoe. Number one, HUGE disappointment with the Nucleus shoe, in general... I used to like them, but now that I've improved a bit, I don't know what I was thinking. It seems like the people who made it obviously had never even played footbag before. Dammit. That really angers me, because the Nuke could have been such a good shoe if it had a better clipper area. One thing I love about my "Isotopes", is that the Quantum had a great clipper area and this really compensates for the lack of vulcanized rubber sole on the clippers of the Nucleus.

I am quite pleased. I'm going to show my idea to Sunny Genz and see if she can talk to some people and make something happen. There are definitely some kinks that need to be worked out, but I'd say this is a pretty damn good (and highly functioning) prototype for an amazing shred shoe.

Feedback is greatly appreciated. These bastards took a long time to make and some good skateboarder friends who just happened to have a whole tube of Shoe Goo that they were willing to give me in exchange for a slice of pizza next week.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

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"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Post by C-Fan » 06 Oct 2011 19:41

It's kind of hard to give feedback without wearing them. There were pictures of nucleus before they were released, but nobody had any idea how they played until they tried them on.

*for the record, I've never tried nucleus, and have no opinion how they play.

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Dio
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Post by Dio » 06 Oct 2011 19:56

Nick this is an awesome project - I admire your vision in creating a new footbag shoe. I hope to see you shred in them live soon so I can get an understanding of how they perform.

I've recently switched back to Lavers from Quantums and couldn't be happier with Lavers. However, I do miss the amazing surfaces of Quantums but certainly not the crappy soles :/ if you do another project, could you somehow combine Lavers and Quantums?

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will_T
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Post by will_T » 06 Oct 2011 20:19

Nick..... what the fuck man, what the fuck. 8)

You are an unstoppable footbag innovation machine, the future of our sport rests in your capable hands.

Way to be, and for the record, I preordered Nucleus, and they really helped my game (since it's tougher to shred with them). They are super light and have an ultra thin sole, great for feel, not so much on the support. Shred in those hybrids for a while and let us know how they work out dude!

EDIT: regarding the Nucleus, the slanted clipper area was due to a common manufacturing process where soles are made on a slant to allow for easy removal from the mold, this was something caused by the plant, rather than the shoe's designers.

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Dawn Of Freestyle
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Post by Dawn Of Freestyle » 06 Oct 2011 21:06

Hey Nick,

I totally respect the innovation! I'm currently involved with another shoe project, and should see the latest prototype later this month (and if you know which project I speak of...well, let's just say we are all hoping this projects moves along fairly quickly). It's been a long time comin'

I'm not sure how well the shoe you designed would play. When Jim played in the Nucleus shoes the sole would just cave in on itself, which was not good for clipper stalls. The sole might perform differently when placed on the Quantum shoe, but I personally like having a wider sole, like on the Quantums and Lavers.

Definitely let us know how well they work for you, maybe post some videos. If you want to help design a shoe perhaps talk to Red of Fourkast, it seems my role is just to help bring them to market.

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Post by mahhkohh » 07 Oct 2011 02:05

i think the perfect hybrid would be quantum shoe with g-unit sole! :) but i failed in building one :) maybe i try again after i saw this :P

the pics are not that good really, some light would rock, but totally keep going that way man! i would love to see them in real life -.-

and sunny: do hurry up! i need new shoes! :D
come get your mÃcrÖ¶ bag today
buy one of my bags and help finance my guitar lessons :)
mäcrö hartig

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F[uns]tylin' Eclectic
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Post by F[uns]tylin' Eclectic » 07 Oct 2011 07:10

Hey thanks guys :) I know the lighting sucks in my room. I'm having a session with my crew today, so I'll try to get some sample footage and post it here.

Like I said, this shoe isn't for everyone. It does take pretty good crank to rock these, I feel.

Last night after I posted pics, I kept testing them, and continued to find and fix flaws in them, specifically, the toe lost a little support from the tip, due to the nuke sole being skinny and the quantum toe being taller, so I made a wall of shoe goo and stuck it in front of the toe to act as support and that seemed to do the trick. These shoes might actually be more acceptable for every player once I can figure out some last kinks in the clipper area. Roll-off was certainly decreased in my new shoe, but I still have a few more ideas in my little skull.

Will Post improved pictures later, as well as video.
Nick Polini

Footbag is good for the SOLE

Funblog

"Yeah dude it's all mental. Then it's physical" ~Evan Gatesman

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Donovon
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Post by Donovon » 03 Jan 2012 11:50

will_T wrote:Nick.....
You are an unstoppable footbag innovation machine
Keep it up man. I strongly admire this about you.

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