I first saw this shoe at The Running Event last December. We spoke with the Under Armour development team and they let us know the concept behind the Under Armour Fat Tire. It turns out the shoe was inspired by those huge tired mountain bikes. It seemed like the team had a fun time coming up with this shoe.
If you ever wanted to have the feeling of running on bike tires, well, this is your shoe. It is bouncy and squishy with a wide feel under foot. At first the shoe doesn’t feel all that stable. However, out on the trails my feet and ankles were confident running in the Fat Tire. I felt a little bit of a “Tigger effect.” You want to bounce and bound in these shoes. I found myself picking up the pace and smiling as the trail disappeared under my feet. The upper fit well with no adjustment, and is made with a ripstop material treated with Under Armour’s “Storm1” water repellent. The midsole and outsole are made by the tubby Michelin Man. This shoe doesn’t really look like anything else out there. I love the way they look, but the styling might be polarizing. People will either think it is rad, or that think they look like Frankenstein’s b-ball shoes. I don’r think too many opinions will be neutral.
These boats are HEAVY. 13.5 oz for a size 10.5. The bouncy-ness of the shoe helps propel you, but man, these can start to feel heavy after a few miles. The UA Fat Tire does not breath well. I got a little bit of swamp foot in these. If you get water in these it does not drain quickly; you will have some “bucket effect” in the Fat Tire.
This is a fun shoe. I would recommend using the Fat Tire for fall and winter trail running. I did do some road running in the shoe as well. It isn’t that bad on the pavement. I would trust the Fat Tire on fire roads, single track, and even loose gravel. The outsole is sooooo thick you don’t need to worry about getting jabbed by the occasional sharp stone. If you like ground feel, then this isn’t the shoe for you. This is a max cushion shoe with a unique ride. It is a little too heavy to take on big miles, but a gas to run 8 milers in. I am looking forward to trying these again this Fall in cooler temps or in the Winter after a snow fall.
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How is the width? I don’t run much because of a lot of arthritis, but I walk and sometimes jog on trails. My problem with UA shoes is they are too narrow. (I use Merrell Mixmasters and Izumi N1 Trail shoes for most of my gym/walking/fishing sand pits.)
They are wider than the typical UA shoe. It is hard for me to gauge how wide due to my narrow feet.
I cant help but feel that Under Armour went too far out of the box on this one. I think this shoe was designed to take a shot at the Hoka market but it misses the mark on many levels.
I don’t think they were going after Hoka in this one. It is fun to run in, it wouldn’t be my first choice mostly cause of the weight.
Inspired by and built to mimic a fat bicycle tire, it looks like no other shoe you’ve encountered before. This week, we got to run in a production model for the first time, and we were unexpectedly pleased with the performance. The first surprise comes as you put on the shoe. Given the concave shape of the outsole, I expected to sink into the middle and have the shoe wrap up around the sides like a moccasin. Instead, you encounter a firm, bouncy midsole underfoot.