Kobe X Official Thread Elite Series ‘Elite Team’ April 18th, ‘Elevate’ May 15th, ‘Rose Gold’ June 5

[nyc757]

The latest nike basketball tweet on the Xs said they have a free outsole, is that a true free sole or changed up for bball? Just wondering

Doesn't look like it from the pics but it sounds very interesting to say the least.

I think the white part that is encapsulated by the clear outsole is what has free properties, based on that deconstructed pic from several pages back.

If you look at the midsole near the fore foot area you can see vertical slits similar to free outsoles 

 

[bdrake823]

 
Some of the early pics shoe that the lunar midsole (which is caged up) had a bunch of flex points -- notice the square grooves in the midsole.  

My thought is that it's like an "internal free midsole" if you will.  Maybe this is what Nike is talking about?

Nice catch forgot about this pic, this must be it

 

[nyc757]

 
Some of the early pics shoe that the lunar midsole (which is caged up) had a bunch of flex points -- notice the square grooves in the midsole.  

My thought is that it's like an "internal free midsole" if you will.  Maybe this is what Nike is talking about?

 

this too 

 

[blastercombo]

I'm assuming it's more a gimmick

Free actually does serve a purpose. What doesn't make sense if that the sole is covered in that condom. Free splits and widens as you plant your foot. If it's stuck in that rubber condom it won't be able to do that.


Without condom > with

 

[rfx45]

The latest nike basketball tweet on the Xs said they have a free outsole, is that a true free sole or changed up for bball? Just wondering

Some of the early pics shoe that the lunar midsole (which is caged up) had a bunch of flex points -- notice the square grooves in the midsole.  
My thought is that it's like an "internal free midsole" if you will.  Maybe this is what Nike is talking about?

 

Very interesting, maybe that rubber surround that encapsulate it is pliable enough for the free material to be useful. Maybe this was a way they figured they could use the flexibility of the free sole while keeping it more durable (because regular rubber free sole would get obliterated outdoors) while also providing better traction?

But does that also mean that the forefoot isn't lunar but free-midsole instead?

 

[iks mod]

Very interesting, maybe that rubber surround that encapsulate it is pliable enough for the free material to be useful. Maybe this was a way they figured they could use the flexibility of the free sole while keeping it more durable and provide better traction?

But does that also mean that the forefoot isn't lunar but free-midsole instead?

It might be a both a lunar and free midsole.  The closest thing that I can compare this too is what they did with the Hyperfeel

obviously different because this was an actual drop-in midsole with grooves.  Who knows if that outsole will be flexible enough to make this a significant difference

 

[blastercombo]

Yup, the inserts of the hyper feel are already flexible where as the ones in these don't look to be so

 

[earldagoat]

 
Posted about 12 pages ago. Thanks though. Looking more forward to the launch of these than the Super Bowl. 

Haha, my bad.  Went back and repped my man, @GrizzlyAnimal, for the DOPE shots!  Nice job on the blacked out PS btw, @Big B 33!  I'm holding off on the Blue Lagoons as I'm all in on the ASGs.  Stoked about the Xs in general though.  Already know they're going to be performance beasts.

Go Patriots!

 

[iks mod]

Yup, the inserts of the hyper feel are already flexible where as the ones in these don't look to be so

Yeah that whole piece being encased just doesn't seem like it would do much.  Guess I can't speak before trying them, so who knows

 

[CHAOSE57]

The latest nike basketball tweet on the Xs said they have a free outsole, is that a true free sole or changed up for bball? Just wondering

Some of the early pics shoe that the lunar midsole (which is caged up) had a bunch of flex points -- notice the square grooves in the midsole.  
My thought is that it's like an "internal free midsole" if you will.  Maybe this is what Nike is talking about?

 

Now I'm more intrigued to try this out.

 

[slwilke13]

 
Yeah that whole piece being encased just doesn't seem like it would do much.  Guess I can't speak before trying them, so who knows

Its definitely a unique idea but i think I'm with ya on this one not sure that the "free" attributes will show through like we would like them too. I think that It will help with the hardness of the sole giving nicer movement but not how much of an effect we will see... only time will tell for sure. Im hoping that they start to look better to me soon! :-/

 

[troyjerby]

Everyone needs to be a little patient. The IX was full of surprises. We got a low, mid and High. EM and Flyknit and even an EXT with leather and snakeskin patterns. Nike knows what sells and most of all we know what we will pay for.

I agree. This launch colorway is underwhelming due to the exceeded expectations of the IX. Remember how many people disliked the 9? Look now.

What mid?

 

[wallysmallz619]

What mid?

 

[blacklion23]

The EXTs were mids.

 

[rfx45]

Everyone needs to be a little patient. The IX was full of surprises. We got a low, mid and High. EM and Flyknit and even an EXT with leather and snakeskin patterns. Nike knows what sells and most of all we know what we will pay for.

I agree. This launch colorway is underwhelming due to the exceeded expectations of the IX. Remember how many people disliked the 9? Look now.

What mid?

View media item 1374800

 

[blacklion23]

I still need a pair of those.

 

[senorroboto2k5]

I'm assuming it's more a gimmick

Free actually does serve a purpose. What doesn't make sense if that the sole is covered in that condom. Free splits and widens are you plant your foot. If it's stuck in that rubber condom it won't be able to do that.


Without condom > with

I meant encapsulating it in a rubber outsole is what makes it a gimmick. Seems like the midsole gives the flexibility/motion of Free, and then slapping the outsole over it would take it away.

I'm interested to see what they say and if it really works though

 

[blacklion23]

I meant encapsulating it in a rubber outsole is what makes it a gimmick. Seems like the midsole gives the flexibility/motion of Free, and then slapping the outsole over it would take it away.

I'm interested to see what they say and if it really works though

I definitely see what you're saying. The outsole looks a bit thick, maybe leaving enough space to feel the flexibility of the Free sole.

 

[rfx45]

If the rubber surround is soft and pliable enough, it could work and the free mid-sole could useful but then the problem becomes the traction's durability, making that rubber capsule soft enough also make the traction ridges/pattern on the bottom less durable. Unless of course they managed to use a harder rubber for those ridges that protrudes in the bottom for traction then that would solve that problem.

 

[cdubsdad]

I'm just glad I can drop my orthotics into these - my only critique of the IX.

 

[tigo0240]

It definitely seems like they put all of the design effort into the outsole/midsole setup and just kind of gave up on the upper. Who knows, they could be performance beasts for players but off the court they don't hold a candle to the previous six models.

 

[sk33termcg33]

I'm just glad I can drop my orthotics into these - my only critique of the IX.

Main reason I stayed away from the IX lows.

 

[troyjerby]

Like I said before I think this shoe is gonna be **** compared to the kobe 9s performance wise and casual. First off these look like it has first generation mesh and since it's a basketball shoe it needs support. I don't see any type of flywire or a dynamic fit system for mid foot lockdown so the mesh is most likely going to be stiff. The stiffness annoys a lot of people as for me not so much but this is going to cause the shoe to pinch and not being able to conform to your feet like let's say a leather or flyknit, as for the ankle support there is probably an internal TPU shank/cup which helps the foot to stay in place and not move side to side. The traction isn't going to be pleasant either, its gonna be a dust collector as all the color ways released so far have been translucent. The technology on the cushioning is here but I don't think it's used properly. We have a full length lunarlon with a pretty big zoom unit in the heel, the cushioning reminds me of the KD 5 elites or the Melo 9s because it looks like a caged zoom unit. Caged zoom basically feels like max air because it's literally caged this causes it to not compress as much so theres little responsiveness. It's not that bad of a cushion but what worries me is that the caging of the zoom looks like it extends through out the whole shoe this is the first time I've seen of a caged lunarlon but let's hope it changes to a different material after the caged zoom because if it doesn't that would hurt the shoes flexibility making the heel to toe transition feel like a 1 2 rather than smooth ride. Hopefully I'm wrong about this stuff and may have exaggerated a bit saying that this shoe is **** but coming from the kobe 9 EM to this cheap looking thing... That really pisses me off. I really want to see the Kobe line and basketball technology to progress rather than going back to old tech and making a gimmick then selling it for $150+.

 

[Kobekobe]

I'm really excited but it sucks that I have to wait until the all stars to try these. I am not a fan of the blue pair and rather save that Canadian cash (and absurd tax) on a pair I like.

 

[mastralf]

Like I said before I think this shoe is gonna be **** compared to the kobe 9s performance wise and casual. First off these look like it has first generation mesh and since it's a basketball shoe it needs support. I don't see any type of flywire or a dynamic fit system for mid foot lockdown so the mesh is most likely going to be stiff. The stiffness annoys a lot of people as for me not so much but this is going to cause the shoe to pinch and not being able to conform to your feet like let's say a leather or flyknit, as for the ankle support there is probably an internal TPU shank/cup which helps the foot to stay in place and not move side to side. The traction isn't going to be pleasant either, its gonna be a dust collector as all the color ways released so far have been translucent. The technology on the cushioning is here but I don't think it's used properly. We have a full length lunarlon with a pretty big zoom unit in the heel, the cushioning reminds me of the KD 5 elites or the Melo 9s because it looks like a caged zoom unit. Caged zoom basically feels like max air because it's literally caged this causes it to not compress as much so theres little responsiveness. It's not that bad of a cushion but what worries me is that the caging of the zoom looks like it extends through out the whole shoe this is the first time I've seen of a caged lunarlon but let's hope it changes to a different material after the caged zoom because if it doesn't that would hurt the shoes flexibility making the heel to toe transition feel like a 1 2 rather than smooth ride. Hopefully I'm wrong about this stuff and may have exaggerated a bit saying that this shoe is **** but coming from the kobe 9 EM to this cheap looking thing... That really pisses me off. I really want to see the Kobe line and basketball technology to progress rather than going back to old tech and making a gimmick then selling it for $150+.

Tl;DR