Icebug is Serious About Running in the Cold and Wet
Icebug is a privately owned Swedish company started in 2001 that has been on a mission to keep athletes and people upright since they began. And after a couple of years in the run business they are starting to make a series that is really appealing.
To be frank, I’m not a winter person at all. Give me hot instead of cold all day every day. But, as you know, we get to deal with our own choices and with what life gives us most of them time and well. I do choose to live in Upper Utah and life chose to make Upper Utah cold and snowy 3-5 months out of the year.
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I have several pairs and these are definitely the best shoes for icy conditions. One pair of the ice bugs have ‘retractable studs’ that are non-carbide I believe. Those are great for when you’re running on patches of ice, puddles, then dry pavement, as they maintain grip on all these surfaces. Definitely should have a pair in your arsenal of winter running shoes.
The big problem with studs is they tend to tear out on mixed icy/snowy/rocky terrain that is pretty common in southern New England. I have a much loved pair of discontinued Salomon Snowcross shoes with spikes and easily lose 1 or 2 on a multi-hour trail run.
My favorite method is to take an old pair of trail shoes and add sheet metal screws. You extend the life of shoes you were probably going to toss and screws are cheap. Icespikes makes hardened sharper screws if you want to spend a few dollars. I happily ran several icy trail half marathons in my “shoes with screws”.
This is my next test with them
Shoe Care — Icebug – Official Webshop
Seems like a pretty easy process. But we shall see.
Cool! I didn’t know Icebug had a running ice-spike offering. I’ve been using a pair of Norda 001 G+ (don’t judge - these were tested and returned and highly discounted through Backcountry!) for two seasons now and find the spike feature invaluable, but do find the midsole (despite its heft) to be firm (possibly exacerbated by colder weather too). These icebug’s look to have a good stack too - what comfort does it offer?
I’m here for the Sally pics.
It is easy to re-stud shoes, although I found epoxy holds a bit longer than shoe glue.
Assume that re-studding as a frequent maintenance item, so buy plenty of extra studs up front.
Send a couple pairs to @mistressk and we’ll get a review to compare
I have never needed to replace a stud in a shoe, and I have used mine for a few winters, but those I use are screwed in, not glued. Seems like Icebug glue their studs to the shoe, lets see if Eric has this issue after some more testing.
My Salomon studs are just pressed in (they have a wide base). Even my screws come out eventually. I think this is a function of the hardness of the outer soles on how well they retain studs
Probably still not wide enough for my duck feet, and if I need spikes I have both ExoSpikes and Microspikes that work with footwear I already like, plus screw shoes are easy to make for less sketchy conditions (I have a pair sitting around somewhere).
If you’ve only used Yaktrax or Gription or Stabilicers, these might seem like an improvement - those all suck. ExoSpikes don’t, and will get you almost anywhere; if they’re not enough, I’d confidently cross mountain glaciers in Microspikes. They’re also removable so you don’t have to worry about the whole “don’t wear these inside/in your car” thing; just pull them off.