D'artagnen shoes?

[labouche]

Does anyone know if the D'artagnen shoes are very supportive on the heel. Right now I have blue-gauntlet shoes and I have bruised my front heel so many times from lunging that I'm wondering if it is ever going to heal. So I am about to upgrade to a better shoe but I don't think I want to spend $170 on the A-symetrical adidas.
Thanks,
la bouche

[Tireur]

Buy a $3.00 heel cup. You can lunge on a bruised heel with no pain at all.

[KShan5[PrFC]]

Yeah that is what i did, like $12 Dr. Scholls.

[lfortier]

I own the d'arts., and I'd say that for a fencing shoe, they're pretty comfortable, except if you have wide feet like me, it takes getting used to how narrow they are- I commonly end up with alot blisters and sore spots after a tournament. The shoes are still pretty good for anyone who doesnt want to buy something that'll need to be replaced every year, yet burn a hole through their wallet.

[achilleus]

I haven't worn the D'arts for an extended period of time. I just tried them on, and they felt like every other older style fencing shoe. In other words, not enough cushion. And if you fence at NAC's or practice your footwork a lot, they don't have enough support or cushion, even with a heel cup. They've worked OK for me with a nice thick sorbathane insole for a short while...

To protect your heel, get a shoe with heel cushion. If you must have a fencing shoe go for the assymetrics, if you don't like the way those feel or cost, then buy an indoor court shoe or tennis shoe.

[pkt]

This thread belongs to the Armoury.

Read the product review section too.

No matter what shoes one wears for fencing, one should ALWAYS wear the CAD10 a pair heel cups on the front heel.

End of discussion.

PK

[MyraTrue]

Oy! I sympathize, and sadly, can only add what the others have added. GET HEEL INSERTS!

I had the same problem- I love the shoes I have, but I'd leave practice hardly able to walk I'd bruises my heels so badly. Sometimes it'd take a week plus to stop hurting so badly. And I finally (don't know what took so long) grabbed a 2-set of the Dr Schulls gel heel inserts for all of $8, thinking "I could do worse." And in the 8 months I've used them, I haven't had a single problem.

Its cheap, compared to another pair of shoes!

Hope it works

Myra

[MikeHarm]

I use the same thing, a pair of Gel heel cups, wether its a pair of fencing shoes or wrestling shoes I'm using.

[lfortier]

But dont the heel cups fall out of place, like to where they're coming out of your shoe during a bout?

[Tireur]

I've been using the hard plastic ones for 30 years and that has never happened.

[The0ne]

labouche,
I just got heel cups for my BG crap-for-craps (victory shoes) and I didn't bruis my heel this weekend at the tournament. I fenced a decent amount on them too, 2 rounds of pools and a couple DE's. . . Get them now for sure!

[KShan5[PrFC]]

mine fall out when i take the shoe off and on, not in the middle of a bout.

[MyraTrue]

Same here: I have to make sure they're in place right when I put on my shoes, and that I don't lose them when I take them off, but they never come out when I fence. They've mad a HUGE difference for me, any hassle that goes with them (mainly dealing with an ankle brace plus inserts being quite funny) is well worth it.

[labouche]

Thanks everyone. I got the heal cups but I haven't had a chance to try them out yet. I am thinking about getting the A symetrical in a couple months (once I have the money) cus I have heard a lot of great stuff about them.
thanks,
la bouche