Prof. K: What was your favorite Kicksology.net review?
Link: The BB4 review was my favorite [see the full review below].

You really seemed to evaluate every aspect of its performance, but that's what I've always liked about Ko — it always approached shoes like it was a segment on the TV show CSI.

It breaks down the data and facts from all different angles. There are lots of little performance features in our shoes that people usually don't pick up on, but you always seemed to find them.

Prof. K: Damn man, you're being too generous!
Link: No, really, Kicksology.net has always been a reaffirmation of what we at Nike do: performance comes first.

I've also liked that the Web site has always had a very easy user interface and a nice design aesthetic. It's not just good for a shoe site, it's very good compared with the rest of the Web sites out there. I'm still amazed that you haven't been scooped up by some big corporation to head their Web department.

Prof. K: I think I need to hire you as my agent. Seriously, though, do you think the site has had any impact on the industry? How about you personally — has it had an impact on your own work in any way?
Link: Kicksology.net has kinda been the watch dog for the industry. Ko calls bullshit when it sees it — whether it's us or any of our competitors.

It also became the first site people checked when they wanted know how a shoe performed. Pretty important stuff when someone has a 100-bucks to spend on a shoe they have to wear for an entire season.

Has it influenced me? Yes, It helps remind me that I'm not designing for my portfolio — I'm building kicks for the next generation of kids that love hoops as much, if not more, than me.

Prof. K: Speaking of the next generation, if there was one bit of advice you could share with the aspiring shoe designers and developers of the world, what would it be?
Link: First off, draw every day. Draw everything, not just shoes. Design is a very competitive field and you need every advantage you can get, so get your ass in college and take industrial design!

And remember why you love shoes. It's your passion that will set you apart from the pack.

Prof. K: I can't tell you how much I appreciate you taking the time out Ken — any parting thoughts?
Link: Well Prof, I'm bummed that you're closing the doors on Ko, but as the saying goes: "for every door that closes, another one opens." But I have a strange feeling this isn't the last time we'll be hearing from you.

Your site was slammin' and set the benchmark for others in your profession. Thanks for all the late nights you put into Ko. I think I can safely say I'm speaking for all the shoeheads out there when I say we all truly appreciated it.

Now here's my favorite review...

by Professor K, posted October 12, 2000
updated January 5, 2002 (click here for the latest update)

The Shox BB4 is without question the most difficult shoe that we've had to rate and review to date. It's a shoe that we've been eagerly anticipating since the first hints and whispers began to leak out on sites like Niketalk.com several months back and when we saw players like VC sporting the Shox BB4s at the Olympics (and making what will now forever be know as "The Dunk"), that only served to increase our desire to put them to the test ourselves. Well, Nike was kind enough to make a limited number of the Midnight Navy/Gold colorway available on Nike.com before the shoes' official release date of November 15th and we here at Kicksology.net were lucky enough to manage to procure a pair. Now, before we get on to the review, a little background for those of you out there who might not be familiar with the story of Shox. Those who know the story, feel free to skip the next paragraph.

The new Nike Shox cushioning technology is based on a simple idea; what if a shoe could provide, not only cushioning, but take the energy absorbed in the impact of heel strike and return it to the wearer as a spring would, thus providing the wearer with energy return in addition to impact protection? That's the question Nike engineers asked themselves some 16 years ago. Around that same time, based on the research of a guy named Marion Frank Rudy, the folks at Nike also happened to come upon the idea of using Air for cushioning and Nike Air was born. So for most of the past 16 years, the majority of Nike's attention has been focused on Air and its various implementations, but the idea of "spring loaded" sneakers never died and now in 2000 we finally see the fruits of all of those years of research, Nike Shox (for additional background on the Shox BB4s, check out a Flash movie created by the folks at Instyleshoes.com). The concept is the same, but instead of actual springs, Nike Shox uses high-density polyurethane foam columns, which provide the same basic effect. They absorb the energy of impact and return it to the wearer on the transition from heel-strike to toe-off.

So, does this mean that everyone in the world will be dunking with reckless abandon? Hardly, the energy return is not nearly as dramatic as some have been hoping, but after several test wearings we can say that the Shox do indeed provide a type of active cushioning that is unique to the technology, but let's start from the beginning...

At this point, you may be asking, if Shox is so great, why was the BB4 the most difficult shoe that we've tested to date? The reason is that no other shoe has involved such a huge swing in opinion from the first wearing to the third. Generally, at Kicksology.net, we will review a shoe after two intensive wearings, sometimes three. Prior to the Shox BB4, we had never had a huge shift in our opinion of a shoe from the first wearing to the second. While it's normal for a shoe to require perhaps 10 - 15 minutes of game play to get broken in, we had never known a shoe to change dramatically after a full day of wear testing, that is until we tested the Shox BB4.

After my first day of wear, I was ready to give the Shox a negative review, and I don't mean just bad, I mean a negative two for cushioning. Not since my days of playing for hours at a time on asphalt in a pair of Cons had I felt so much pain in my feet and shins. After about three hours of playing in the BB4s on an indoor, hardwood court, I was ready to stick my feet in buckets of ice and keep them there for a few hours. The cushioning wasn't just bad, it was non-existent. That's not to say that the other aspects of the shoe were bad, quite the contrary. Everything else about the shoe was excellent. It was comfortable to wear, fit extremely well (no shifting around inside of the shoe and no turf-toe), provided good ankle support, and was the most stable shoe that I had ever worn. But all of this was overshadowed by the pain in my heels and shins. I swore never to wear them again.

I expressed these initial opinions on Niketalk, but was told by a few trusted sources that the Shox required at least two to three wearings to get broken in and that I would be thankful for sticking it out if I wore them a couple more times. Now, these were folks I trusted, so, against my own better judgement, I laced up the BB4s again, and was surprised by what I felt. While there was still no feeling of active energy return, there was also no feeling of pain in my feet or shins. The level of cushioning was firm, along the lines of a Tuned Air based shoe such as the Nike Air Big Flyer Force. Without the pain, I began to appreciate the other positives about the BB4s, the most impressive being the stability. The Shox BB4 is perhaps the ultimate defensive players' shoe because it allows for an incredible level of agility in all directions, particularly side-to-side. I believe that this is due to the fact that the Shox columns are placed at the very edges of the outsole (see figure 3) and, because they are quite firm, allow for instant cuts to either side. This level of resiliency to the very edge of the outsole does not seem to be possible with Air or with other traditional foam based cushioning technologies. Of course, the ability to cut to either side with ease is also of benefit on offense, but where I noticed it most was in a defensive stance.

Based on the results of the second wearing, we decided that we'd give the Shox a full third wearing before writing our review and, as we had hoped, the cushioning again improved, to the point where the response of the Shox columns was somewhat perceptible. By no means was the experience like having springs strapped to my feet, but it was along the lines of the active cushioning felt in Nike's better Zoom Air based shoes such as the Air Flightposite KG, except that the cushioning was a bit more firm. Hopefully this will continue to improve with subsequent wearings. If the improvement is dramatic, I'll make sure to update this review to reflect that.

So, there's the crux of our dilemma. If based on the first wearing alone, the Shox would recieve a negative review, but if based on the third wearing the Shox would receive a positive review. What we've decided to do is base our review on the third wearing, taking into account the fact that the shoe required three wearings before it actually started to perform at the level it should have on the first wearing. I'd be hard pressed to tell anyone that it's worth it to wear a shoe through one painful wearing, particularly if you play more than four times a week because it takes time for the pain to go away, but if you can find a "friend" or little brother to break them in for you, you'll probably be as impressed by the Shox as we've been on subsequent wearings.

The bottom line is that Shox is an extremely promising technology that is in its first released incarnation. Just like Air, it will be improved over time by the folks at Nike, perhaps to the point where the Shox columns dynamically adjust their resiliency level based on the weight and activities of the wearer. At this point, the benefits are perceptible, but not to the point that all other shoes become obsolete. Of course, there's a chance that this may never happen. Shox may go the way of L.A.Gear's catapult concept of several years ago, which is what plenty of naysayers are saying. Based on our experience with the BB4, however, we'd say that the future for Shox is bright. Even though it's just scratching at its full performance benefitting potential, the Shox BB4 is a comfortable, incredibly stable shoe that provides the wearer with a feel that is completely unique to itself (quick note: in order to take full advantage of the fit benefits of the shoe, you MUST lace the shoe up to its top most lace loop and make certain that it is tightly laced at the ankle. Otherwise, you may experience heel slippage). It could be better, though, and we hope that the next generation Shox basketball shoe addresses the break-in issues of the BB4 and simply works out of the box.

Who's Worn It
A number of players on the U.S. Olympic Basketball Team, including Vince Carter, Jason Kidd, and Antonio McDyess, wore the Shox BB4 through the Olympic competition. Look for the Shox BB4 to be Vince Carter's signature shoe for the upcoming 2000 - 2001 NBA season.

Nike Shox BB4 Review Update
by Professor K, posted November 18, 2000

On Wednesday, November 15th, the Nike Shox BB4 was officially released in the U.S. We picked up a pair of the mass-market BB4s in the Black/Silver/Lapis colorway and were surprised by what seem to be some fairly substantial differences in the shoe, but more on that in a bit. On the 15th Nike also released the two other members of the Shox family, the R4 (for running) and XT4 (for cross training), for 10 days only and only at Niketowns. Since we're all about kicks for hoops (at least for now), we're not going to review the R4 or XT4, but we thought our loyal readers might like some pictures of these sweet shoes.





Shox BB4: The Black/Silver/Lapis colorway of the BB4 shown here is the first of many colorways to be released through the next several months. We were surprised to find that this colorway of the BB4 differs from the Olympic Midnight Navy/Gold colorway reviewed above in more than just color.

Shox BB4
So back to the BB4s...the thing that surprised us most was that the cushioning of the Black/Silver/Lapis shoes was much more noticeable than that of the Olympic exclusives. The Black/Silver/Lapis version provided more cushioning right out of the box than the Olympic exclusive version after five heavy wearings. This is a very good thing and eliminates the one major criticism we had of the shoe in our original review. While you may feel some discomfort on your first wearing, it will be nothing like the pain I felt on my first test wear of the Olympic exclusive BB4s. Never before have we seen such a dramatic difference between two shoes that should have only differed in color. It may be that the Olympic exclusives, having been produced in very limited quantities, were not produced in the same way as the mass-market version. My guess is that the Shox columns on the Olympic exclusives were not tuned to vary based on shoe size, so all sizes may have been produced with columns tuned for much heavier professional basketball players. The columns on the mass-market Black/Silver/Lapis BB4s are tuned to be "softer" as shoe size decreases. This size based tuning is carried through the entire Shox line.

Based on this we are revising our cushioning rating and this means a change in the overall rating as well:

Cushioning: (was 3.5)
Overall: (was 3.5)

The Shox line represents the state-of-the-art in athletic shoe design, not only for Nike, but for the entire industry. With Air, Nike set a standard for cushioning and performance that most other manufaturers are only now beginning to come to grips with. With Shox Nike has raised the bar again, developing shoes that not only absorb impact, but also provide energy return and incredible levels of stability to the wearer. I can smell the midnight oil burning right now...

Nike Shox BB4 Review Update 2
by Professor K, posted March 22, 2001





Shox BB4: The Nike Shox BB4 in White/Metallic Silver/Varsity Red. One word; yummy.

In this case the old adage "a picture is worth a thousand words" is quite fitting. There's not much to say about this latest colorway of the excellent Nike Shox BB4. Performance-wise, it's identical to the black/metallic silver/lapis colorway, but in terms of looks this shoe is just killer. To me it brings back memories of the Air Jordan XIII in the white/red colorway.

A quick note on the Shox XT4, the cross training shoe in the Shox line. Some of you out there may have been wondering why it isn't on store shelves. The reason is that it was recalled just days before its projected release date for reasons undisclosed. What we've heard is that there was a manufacturing defect which caused the outsole to become detached, but we have not been able to confirm this. Expect a revamped XT4 to be released in late Summer/early Fall, but not in the grey/orange colorway shown above.

Nike Shox BB4 Review Update 3
by Professor K, posted May 12, 2001









Shox BB4: The Nike Shox BB4 in White/Lapis/Metallic Silver (top) and Black/Black.

The White/Lapis/Metallic silver is the colorway that Vince Carter has been wearing for the Raptor's home games during the playoffs. On the road he has been wearing the yet to be released Black/Graphite/Red colorway, but during the season he did wear the Black/Black colorway seen above. I've also spotted Baron Davis wearing the White/Lapis/Metallic Silver colorway in the Charlotte Hornet's first home playoff game against the Milwaukee Bucks.

A few other players currently in the playoffs are also wearing the Shox BB4 in player exclusive or yet to be released colorways. They include Sam Cassell of the Bucks, who is wearing a White/Black/Metallic Silver colorway that we've heard (through the rumormill) will be released sometime in late Summer, and Juwan Howard of the Dallas Mavericks, who is wearing a White/Royal/Metallic Silver colorway that will almost certainly not see release.

Two performance notes, we've noticed that neither of these two latest colorways exhibits the break-in problem that we experienced with the original Olympic and Black/Silver/Lapis colorways of the Shox BB4. I'm almost certain that Nike has either tweaked the density of the foam material used in the Shox columns or is pre-wearing the columns to eliminate the need to break the columns in. We did not experience heel pain on the first wearing of either of these two new colorways and the Shox columns clearly deform under lower loads than in the previous colorways. On the second performance note, I've found that after extended play in the Shox (more than 2 hours) I feel some minor pain in my toes. This does not appear to be a size issue, since the shoe fits very well for length, but more an issue stemming from the design of the BB4's toebox. This is a fairly minor issue, but I thought it worth noting.

Nike Shox BB4 Review Update 4
by Professor K, posted January 5, 2002





Shox BB4 iD: A custom coloway of the Nike Shox BB4 created using Nike's Nike iD service. Note the personalized "KO" monogram visible on both sides of the shoe.

While Nike's Nike iD service has been available for a few years, it has now really come of age with the availability of the excellent Shox BB4. For those unfamiliar with the concept, Nike iD allows you to create a customized shoe complete with custom color combinations and a personalized monogram (for a more in-depth explanation of what Nike iD is see the update to our review of the Nike Air Zoom GP III). Many of the possible color combinations are unique and unlike any of the publicly released colorways of the Shox BB4. The premium for this customization is $15, which sounds like a pretty good deal until you consider that this brings the total price of the shoe to a stratospheric $165.

The cost of entry is steep, but for fans of the BB4 the Nike iD service provides an opportunity to create a completely unique version of the shoe, the likes of which you're very unlikely to see on anyone else's feet. From a performance perspective I found the iD version of the Shox BB4 to be identical to later colorways of the shoe. It felt great right out of the box and didn't require a break-in period for the Shox columns.