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Brooks Running CALDERA 8 | Early Review | BIG Cruiser !
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Jan 16, 2025
Mike P gives an early look at the Brooks Caldera 8 - discussing the ride on the run, as well as the fit and upper. A big cruiser for sure, but smooth on the trails. Keep an eye out for the full multi tester review at RoadTrailRun with comps. Upcoming shoe releases are compared here - Merrell MTL Adapt Matryx and The North Face Vectiv Enduris 4. 00:00 Let's Go! 00:21 Ride 02:15 Stack height & foam 03:59 Width 04:39 Close up / upper 05:36 WIDE platform 06:33 Rocker comparison 08:56 TrailTack outsole Samples were provided at no charge for testing purposes with no additional compensation. The opinions herein are entirely the author's 100's of Run Shoes and Gear Multi Tester written reviews at www.roadtrailrun.com SHOP Running Warehouse at the links below for the widest selection of run shoes and gear anywhere and help support our channel! USA https://tinyurl.com/RWRTRUS EUROPE https://tinyurl.com/RWRTREU EU Only: Use RTR code RTR5ALL for 5% off all products, even sale products AUSTRALIA: https://www.runningwarehouse.com.au/?from=rtr
View Video Transcript
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Brooks Caldera 8 just a cruise day today
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perfect for
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these yeah the caler a ride I'd say it's
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pretty
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smooth the profile under foot is a
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little bit flat
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I think I've been running in more rocker
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shoes lately so that stands out to me
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this one does have a little bit of a
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rocker but it's more kind of at the
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toes you can feel the
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flex pretty far forward seems like it
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lands kind of flat underneath the bould
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the foot through the
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midfoot back through the rear the
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platform under the rear is very wide one
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of the widest if not the widest rearfoot
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platforms so as I was saying in
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comparison to some of those more
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rockered shoes I've been testing
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recently the two
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shoes that I have in mind are the MTL
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adapt Matrix and the North Face vective
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endurus 4 which I'm testing when I have
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time those shoes have a rocker that
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starts earlier more under the ball of
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the foot
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or you know just rear of the toes the
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endur for relies on a bigger
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rocker really rolling earlier has a
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plate in there plastic plate not a
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carbon plate the Merill adapt has those
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Flex grooves I talk about a lot in the
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review so it just seems to flex earlier
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under the ball the foot the cder here is
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generally stiffer throughout most of the
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foot until you get into that late toe
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off by the toes it does flex smoothly
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though it's not like a jarring kind of
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uneven
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Flex stack height is good I believe
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we're in the range of 38 mil under the
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hill spec drops can be misleading this
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one feels right I don't feel like I'm
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high like some eight or 10 where I'm
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slanted forward or it's too flat or some
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shoes even at four or six feel less than
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that the mids Sal foam is DNA Loft
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version three just put out a
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video on the Catamount 4 that uses Brook
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DNA a flash version too they're both
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nitrogen infused Evas this one tends
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more soft whereas The Flash tends more
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responsive I'm not sure if they vary the
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amount of
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nitrogen or the amount of air bubbles or
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whatever they put in there but yeah the
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loft is going to be softer The Flash
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faster more responsive the durometer of
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the foam feels good for this type of
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shoe I was mentioning relative to
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Brook's other DNA foam The Loft is
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softer but this is not a soft foam I
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wouldn't call this
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squishy by any means at all here's a
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healthy amount of it especially when you
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consider the width of the shoe that
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width really gives good stability but
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there's no
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squishiness it's not an overly soft foam
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so if you're not into that this is a
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good option I'm going to make a stop a
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little bit further up ahead talk about
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the fit and feel a little bit more but
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it's it's a wide shoe there's plenty of
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width in it now I have a
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medium width I would say and a medium
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volume foot but I prefer to have more
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width in the shoe and adjust from there
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rather than being squeezed volume can
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sometimes be an issue the way this one
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is set up there's enough width that I
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like but I'm able to tighten the laces
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where it doesn't constrict my foot I do
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feel secure if you're concerned about
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WID I wouldn't say that's an issue
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unless you do have very narrow
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feet definitely have a little bit of
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extra material here there's good amount
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of volume in this upper if you have a
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wide foot or a high volume foot this
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shoe is going to work great for you I've
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got a medium foot as I said it it does
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see this offset lacing the throat is
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kind of wide so I'm able to pull it in
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nicely whereas I don't feel I'm trying
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to shift my foot side to side it's not
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it's it's pretty solid in there I don't
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when I was running I don't feel any
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shifting and certainly this is more of a
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longdistance shoe nothing you would be
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bombing down high-speed technical rain
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in anyway so I think it's actually
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leaning very good in terms of foothold
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in terms of PL the platform you can see
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it's wide up front a lot of the shoes
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I've been testing including the Merill
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The North Face a lot of Cruiser shoes
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they're similar in width under here
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under the for foot but then in the rear
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they tend to narrow out this one doesn't
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this one see if I can get there it's
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super wide back here so if that's
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something that you're looking for I I
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think that probably works better for
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bigger maybe heavier Runners it it
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really enhances stability you're having
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solid width from here all the way
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through the rear if stability is a
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factor if you're maybe a bigger Runner
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this is a great option personally I'm
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obviously a little bit lighter
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Runner I'd like to see this maybe pulled
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in a tad um I don't think it would hurt
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stability at all to make it more in line
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with some of those other shoes I think
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it would make it feel a little bit
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quicker a little less flatter on the
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ground um you can get a look at the
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rocker here as I was talking about the
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rocker I feel it up here by the toes um
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you can see some from some of those
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running Clips I can run pretty smooth in
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this shoe even though it's 11.2 o I
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believe it's a heavy shoe objectively
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speaking and for me in my size it's
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heavier than I would typically run in
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but I'm able to turn it over pretty
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quickly I would say it definitely runs
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lighter than its weight so you do have
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that a little bit of a tow spring up
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here it's rocker for sure but it's
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noticeable On The Run kind of right at
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this point right here that's where I
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feel it some of the other shoes I talked
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about the meril and then Endor 4 they
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start more around here so it's really
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like you get more of a roll this one
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probably leans more into stability than
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that rocker in conjunction with having
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this being super wide wide wide you're
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Landing more flat you're Landing more
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stable the upper material is this TP
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mesh that is apparently hydrophobic I
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haven't gotten these out into rain yet
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but it's quite breathable I like a white
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shoe anyway uh once summer rolls around
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and the hot sun is beating down on my
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feet it's quite breathable have a notice
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any issues with breathability footo hold
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is good the tongue is plenty High Enough
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this is perfect love it the heel I was
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going to say initially that it seems
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like the bolstering is overly
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thick I thought they might have perhaps
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overdone it but actually now that I've
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had a couple runs in it feels definitely
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better I'm wearing these norda socks
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just cuz they're thick I feel like I
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have a lot of volume in this shoe which
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I like I I'm at a 10 and I'm about my
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toes is about right here actually right
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here so I could probably go with a 9 and
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1/2 but I wouldn't want to I like the 10
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here I think most people should probably
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wear bigger shoes than they're actually
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wearing so I like the 10 this thick sock
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it kind of fills it fills it in for me
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so I really like how that feels too it's
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a good combo obviously the white matches
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aside from the
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name the rubber over there Brooks Trail
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tack green good amount of recycled
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content I'll put that up on the screen
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four mil
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lugs solid traction throughout no issues
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at all as you can see had a little bit
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of mud not too
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much so that's a wrap here on the Brooks
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Calera 8 this is a little bit of a mini
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SL early review I'll be doing the full
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review on the written website including
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the comps this is a cruiser shoe there's
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a lot of shoes on the market in this
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range so if there's something particular
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that you want to look at in terms of
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comparisons I'll dig into that on the
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written site any other questions on the
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shoe just let me know down in the
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comments I'll try to cover those as well
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when I get to the written review we have
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a few Runners at Road trail run with
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this shoe right now so you'll get a good
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multi-tester review there
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n
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