In recent years, trail running has become increasingly popular. As a result, its various subcategories have gained popularity and the shoes have become more specific to the terrain and distance of the runs. Meanwhile, conventional "road running shoes" are under a notion that they must constantly become lighter and softer. Thus, there is less and less rubber under the shoes, and therefore also less outsole.
Play
Many runners who like to run on regular forest and gravel paths find trail shoes too extreme but also need more outsole than their regular running shoes offer. For them, Craft has created Xplor.
Craft Xplor - Running Shoes for Gravel
As the name suggests, it's a "hybrid" shoe. It includes most elements of a regular running shoe, with an outsole designed for offroad performance.
And the outsole performs offroad. Craft, in collaboration with Vittoria, who make bicycle tires, took inspiration from how Vittoria designs tires for gravel cycling. Essentially, Craft Xplor is almost a type of gravel running shoe. If you're unfamiliar with gravel cycling, it's roughly cycling on nearly regular road bikes with wider tires, typically on sand, gravel, and wide forest paths.
It seems Craft is trying to make the same differentiation in running as has been done previously in cycling: road, mountain bike (trail), and gravel. And I quite like it.
Craft Xplor - Technologies
Creating such a hybrid gravel shoe might sound complex, but Craft has kept it simple. They essentially took a regular road shoe and added the aforementioned Vittoria outsole.
The midsole is made with Craft's PX Foam. We've previously praised Craft for how they make midsoles, and this one is no exception. It strikes a great balance between cushioning and bounce. I've had several runs in these shoes, and the midsole performs well throughout, even on long runs.
This is a truly nice midsole, and it does something very good for the shoe by being as wide as it is. It's wider than usual, which gives the shoe more resistance and stability, which is especially nice when you hit the trails.
The aforementioned outsole from Vittoria also performs well in the forest. I've run a long route where I went into the forest and encountered quite muddy sections. I found it very nice that the outsole had more grip than a regular running shoe would. It grips best on loose surfaces but also handled a bit of mud just fine.
Craft Xplor - Light and Airy
The upper is where Craft struggled the most. Unfortunately, it's no exception with Xplor. Granted, it's one of the better attempts, but it still doesn't play 100%. The starting point seems to have been to use an upper from a regular running shoe to provide maximum comfort. And they've hit that quite well. But the areas where the shoe needs to create more structure, such as reinforcements, sit a bit askew on my foot, which bothers me a bit.
Otherwise, the upper is light and airy, maybe on the thin side, but that's also what I prefer. Some might find it a bit too unstructured for running off pavement. But since it's meant to be a "gravel shoe", I don't miss more structure – if it were for trail running, it would be a different story.
Overall, it's a really good running shoe, especially for those who like to run on trails around. The outsole and midsole are the real standouts of the shoe, and I definitely feel that the sensation underfoot matches a road shoe, but with better grip when you venture off the roads.
Didn't you find your favorite?
See our entire collection of running shoes here:
