New Balance CT520

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 10 Aug 2004 02:31

My cousins think the entire aspect of having a footbag shoe is cheating. I guess play professional baseball with the glove is cheating too.

richardabshire · Post by **richardabshire** » 10 Aug 2004 08:25

The thing most people forget about clipper rails is that they are far from cheating. In fact a clipper rail limits your stall spot and makes it a more focused stall compared to being able to stall on any part of the shoe. These rails are more for shuffling compare to spinning and ducking. If we had a footbag shoe, this would not be an issue. I would love to see pro basketball players play in low tops with no impact support and then see where their performance goes. If you think it is cheating, then don't do it. If you want to push your game to the highest level, then you might want to raise your standards of what you think is the right gear. Keep this in mind, all of you are getting older and believe me the moves don't get any easier with age. Any advantage that can be found helps the highest level move forward and that in turn inspires the rest of us to push harder. Hope this helps, Richie

Maraxus · Post by **Maraxus** » 10 Aug 2004 08:30

richardabshire wrote:The thing most people forget about clipper rails is that they are far from cheating. In fact a clipper rail limits your stall spot and makes it a more focused stall compared to being able to stall on any part of the shoe. These rails are more for shuffling compare to spinning and ducking. If we had a footbag shoe, this would not be an issue. I would love to see pro basketball players play in low tops with no impact support and then see where their performance goes. If you think it is cheating, then don't do it. If you want to push your game to the highest level, then you might want to raise your standards of what you think is the right gear. Keep this in mind, all of you are getting older and believe me the moves don't get any easier with age. Any advantage that can be found helps the highest level move forward and that in turn inspires the rest of us to push harder. Hope this helps, Richie

Thanks Gramps

marc · Post by **marc** » 24 Aug 2004 23:17

When removing the N from the shoe, i found it was actually kind of easy. What I did was take an exacto knife, and on the outer part of the shoe, I simply cut all the white threads holding it down. then I went from the inside and pulled the threads through from the back with a pair tiny needlenose pliers. It worked out pretty well. As for the rest of the shoe, even with mods, I find the material to be a little thick. I haven't gotten to shred in the shoes yet, because I just got them tonight. Hopefully the matieral wont affect game. Anyway... these look like they're an excellent pair of shoes. I might have to do the brocka mod later too. the padding around the ankles seems like it would be a nusicance.

JFootbagger · Post by **JFootbagger** » 30 Sep 2004 15:51

Can you shred in these shoes JUST the way they are (of course cutting the toe up a bit, and lacing it). But is it REALLY neccessary to remove all that material? (makes your shoes look Ghetto-fied)

shaggster · Post by **shaggster** » 30 Sep 2004 18:13

i would say its a necessity because it make the clipper rail and shit

Shaun · Post by **Shaun** » 30 Sep 2004 18:24

I know Allen Hagget did for a few months when they first came out. I don't know if he still does, I guess it just depends on how strong your clippers are.

I might be grabbing these shoes from New Balance Toronto, they can ship them in for $80 Canadian and they have free shipping. Still deciding cause I got my lavers like 2-3 months ago, but my legs seem to get sore and slow during/after sesh's.

sampotter · Post by **sampotter** » 30 Sep 2004 18:44

I really recommend it. The fabric takes -much- longer to break in if you don't take out the insides of at least the toe and the instep. It will be much harder to feel the bag and it will be heavier. Casey's right, the depression in the material allows for a flatter surface. This isn't like with Lavers with two layers of material... You have canvas and about 3 other layers, one of which is foam. Not to mention the N, which you can't take out without removing the instep.

jon · Post by **jon** » 30 Sep 2004 21:14

I recently got a pair of black ct 520s that are completly unmodded. I am using them for walking around but once they break in a bit more I will try them for shred. I do not plan to mod them in any way, I will post a review after I have had a chance to really try them out.

JFootbagger · Post by **JFootbagger** » 19 Oct 2004 04:17

I'm thinking about getting a pair of these for like Christmas or something. I'm plannin' on doin' what Jon is doing. In time (I'm guessin') the material SHOULD break in. I might wanna just cut out the insides of the shoe out ( like INSIDE the shoe-insides). How do you modd the toe? (Beside cutting the stitching near the eye lets?

mosher · Post by **mosher** » 19 Oct 2004 06:54

I have played in Jon's 520's and there were entirely unmodded and sweet!

I played really well in them I felt. I am a supporter of this shoe.

At first glance it looks like they will suck for clippers and that a rail is needed, but if you really crank your ankles (ike you should be anyways) then they produce a perfect landing deck.

The toe box is big and flat and open.

I endorse these shoes.

MrMeebles · Post by **MrMeebles** » 16 Nov 2004 19:43

I got my 520s about a week ago (sadly not before I went to the Seattle Footbag and Juggling Festival). I've only briefly kicked in them, but for anyone who cares here are my first impressions:

The good:
The sole is much better than Laver's and the traction seems to be better. Also personally the 520 fits my foot better, although I wish I'd gone with the wide instead of normal. Also even skipping a lace to open up the toe box the shoe feels more secure on my foot.

The bad:
Right off the bat the instep is useless with out shoegoo. Your milage may very, but I catch my clippers right around the middle of the shoe and on the 520s the bag just falls off the shoe there. If you catch the bag further toward the toe this might not be an issue.
The toes are surprisingly good, but compared to Laver's you lose about half an inch of scoop. That is, the toe is around half an inch thicker than on Laver's. Also even after opening up the toe box it's still slightly narrower than Laver's.
Even after removing all the padding from the toe and instep the material is much stiffer than the breathable mesh of Laver's. This means bag feel is not as good.
The 520s come up a little higher on my ancle and the material around the ancle is thicker, this stops me from getting my full crank. This might just be a break in issue and probably only an issue for people with a lot of ancle crank anyway, but it's so frustrating I'm about ready to physically cut off half an inch from the top of the shoe.

Final verdict: I don't know yet. At the very least they're a lot more comfortable to just walk around in than Lavers and that in and of itself is a reason to pick up a pair even if you keep a pair of Laver's for "serious" schred. I'll post an update after I've kicked with them some more. Cheers

Sergey · Post by **Sergey** » 16 Nov 2004 20:33

I've had about 4 sessions in my new NB 520 now and I would say I'm completely used to them and use for "serious" shred.

Regarding the instep...I found it becomes much better only after removing canvas and adding the magic shoe goo wall.

The only bad thing is that they are much bigger than I thought they would be...gonna order another pair soon!

sampotter · Post by **sampotter** » 16 Nov 2004 20:56

Andrew:

A couple of points...
- The canvas of the shoe breaks in very nicely after a month or two of play.
- I highly recommend applying the Brocka mod to these shoes. I saw your ankle crank at SJFF and I'd say you're going to need it. Your instinct to cut off a half an inch of material from the ankle is pretty dead on.

Peace,

millenniumtree · Post by **millenniumtree** » 16 Nov 2004 21:17

I don't own a pair of lavers, all I have is the CT520 and I don't find the little dip in the middle to be much of a problem, it just forces me to crank more to make the stall. I MAY think of adding a very small rail at the bottom, but I love the shoes so much as they are, it really doesn't seem worth the time to put the rail on.

If you cut out the material from the insides, the clipper surface becomes rather soft after some break-in. I did the pen mod and custom lacing, but I will certainly not do a brocka on these shoes, they're just too nice as they are.

And I still think hot glue is a much better rail material than shoe goo. :P

Tsiangkun · Post by **Tsiangkun** » 16 Nov 2004 21:26

I removed the entire inside panel and replaces it with with something trimmed to fit. I just had way too much extra fabric on the inside of the shoe and it was causing clipper roll off even on good stalls.

Now that I fixed the problem, I like my 520s almost as much as the ct300.

JFootbagger · Post by **JFootbagger** » 17 Nov 2004 17:13

Hey you guys, I plan on gettin' a pair of these, I was wonderin' about size. I wear a comfortable 11.5 so should I get a 12 or just 11.5?

MrMeebles · Post by **MrMeebles** » 17 Nov 2004 18:51

JFootbagger wrote:Hey you guys, I plan on gettin' a pair of these, I was wonderin' about size. I wear a comfortable 11.5 so should I get a 12 or just 11.5?

My 520s are the same size as my Laver's

Sergey · Post by **Sergey** » 17 Nov 2004 21:41

Mine are way bigger. I want to get a half size smaller.

millenniumtree · Post by **millenniumtree** » 18 Nov 2004 05:06

I ordered the same size as my old nikes and the new balances were a bit bigger. Here's what I reccommend. Go to any New Balance store, or store that sells new balances if you don't have a NB Store near you... Specificially look for the tennis shoes (for tennis!) and try a few pairs on. Get comfortable with the sizes, and then order a similar size.

NBs also come in different widths, so try out the different widths if you can. I think width 9 is standard, and that's what I have, but if you have abnormally wide feet, go with a 10 or 11 width. Options! :D

When they arrive, don't mod them right away! Try them on and walk around in them. If they're slightly too big, and you think you can live with it, keep 'em! Mine are about a half size to a size too long, but that just means they have a bigger toe box! If they were too wide, I probably would have returned them.

Anyway, that's my experience.

And as long as you only remove the /\/, clip the toe box stitching, and modify the insides, they won't look ghetto at all! It's hard to tell you did anything at all to them! Then go out and get some extra wide bright green shoelaces for them, then they'll look pimp like mine. *G*

modified

New Balance CT520

520s, first impression