The Best Road-To-Trail shoes

adidas Ultrarun 5 Trail

Designed to offer affordable exploration, the Ultrarun 5 comes in a road version as well as this Door-To-Trail specialist. A water repellent upper keeps rain showers, or a splash through a puddle, from ruining your mood. Adiwear rubber in the outsole gives durable traction across mixed terrains, and Bounce foam helps cushion the ride.

Inov-8 Trailfly™

By using the strongest material on earth, graphene, in the rubber outsole, Inov-8 can make an incredibly tacky rubber with exceptional longevity, for superior grip and durability. Throw in a meta-shank rock plate, POWERFLOW PRO foam and a BOOMERRANG footbed and you get a shoe capable of going well beyond the local park, but because of the low 4mm lug depth and durable rubber, it can do a great job of Door-To-Trail too.

Hoka Challenger 8

Taking the concept of high stack heights, increased rocker shape and super lightweight cushioning, The Challenger 8 gives a smooth feel to your strides. An updated, multi-directional lug design gives excellent durable traction. The 100% recycled engineered mesh upper includes a 3D screen printed toe cap for extra protection.

Merrell Promorph

A flexible, comfortable cruiser, the Promorph uses energy efficient FLoatPro+ foam in the midsole and a Vibram XS Trak Evo outsole which is designed to give the optimum balance of traction and flexibility across wet surfaces. Add in flex grooves in the midsole and you get enhances connection with the ground for confident footing on any surface.

New Balance Nitrel v6

The Nitrel V6 does miss out on one of the top tier midsole foams, but it still provides plenty of comfort with Dynasoft and an EVA insert absorbing the lumps and bumps of the trails in comfort. It uses an on road/off road specific AT Tread outsole for the perfect grip over just about any surface. An engineered mesh upper with no-sew overlays provides a breathable feel with a touch of extra protection.

Nike Pegasus Trail 5

In retrospect, making their best-selling road shoe into a trail shoe seems like an obvious win, but to make the perfect door-to-trail shoe Nike didn’t just stick a new outsole on the bottom, they used runner informed data to give the perfect fit and grip, as well as extra protection for the upper. React foam in the midsole provides durability, cushioning and an extra spring in your step.

On Cloudsurfer Trail 2

The Cloudsurfer is a new, but very successful shoe in On’s line up, providing a series of clouds designed to collapse forward through your stride, giving extra momentum through each step. Even newer is the Cloudsurfer trail, bringing the computer optimised midsole construction to the trail with mission grip rubber in a door-to-trail grip outsole for the smoothest of transitions even on bumpy ground.