Wheel Love

The good news is, the Conference guys have continued to improve on the Xsjado boot concept. Top marks on the great colour schemes of the Farmer3 and Wilson1′s, the minor improvements in the details of the skates are also much appreciated.

However, theres is still a lot that can be done. Here’s a list of hit and misses.

^1 month down the line, and as you can see, white skates don’t stay white for long.  Here is what they looked like out of the box.

HITS

-Great colour combos.

-Interesting innovations (as seen on the Damien Wilson1: v-cuffs & integrated one piece tongue). Not sure if they work (features not available on the Farmer3s) but gotta give them credit for at least trying to update the design.

-Quality seems as good. Not as good as when they were owned by Salomon, but much better than the 2008 Xsjado range.

-Improvements on the placement of the bolts on the ankle strap. A lot cleaner and more stable now.

-Same great responsiveness and flexibility thanks to the tested and proven footwrap + skeleton Xsjado concept.

-Finally, no annoying arumol icon stickers (as seen on the 2008 Farmer2s).

MISSES

-Soul spot still needs some work. Still the same old slow plastic. Works best on super waxed obstacles. New harder plastics please.

-Footwrap still feels a little cheap. Not recommended for long walks or travelling, but works fine in the skate. For some strange reason they keep on including a size 9.5 footwrap in a size 10 skate, it happened to my 2008 Stockwell2 purchase as well. It still fits, but a tad uncomfortable when used to walk around in.

VERDICT

The best looking Xsjados since its inception. Love it that they’re finally getting off their asses and introducing new features to the skate. Can’t wait for the 2010 version. As a long time Xsjado user, since 2006, with 3 boots under my belt, it looks like I’ll be waiting for the next edition to drop.

-sukeats