Anyone here owned Ristos shoes?

[ayjay23]

Am currently looking for weightlifting shoes and am considering Risto. Has anyone owned a pair of these and how was your experience with 'em?

Also, what model did you buy? Was the fitting true to size (i.e., should you have gone up/down a size)? Got any recommended sites/stores to buy from?

[DV]

I bought for the wife and myself. Wrote with Ivan about sizing. The wife's are a bit small and mine are a bit big. Nothing major, but not super-exact either. Maybe it was the way I measured our feet (which is how you pick your size with them). The shoes in themselves look and feel great. Very, very stable. Heavy, as shoes with a wooden heel will be, of course.

They are hand-made, so there are little imperfections, but you can't really see them. For the price it's probably one of the best WL-shoes, at least from what I've seen.

That said I wouldn't buy it as my first WL-shoe, simply because of how long it takes them to get them to you. I had read about other people having issues before I ordered, and I waited a looooong time for mine, too. They were nice about it, and responded promptly to emails etc., but it took a long time for me to get them.

[ayjay23]

Hey DV,

A couple of questions:

1. I just sent them an email and they told me that the heel for my shoe size (9.5 US) is 1.25 inches. Isn't this pretty high? According to Rip's book (Starting Strength), heels higher than 1 inch should be avoided. How high are your shoes' heels?

2. How long of a wait was your experience?

[Mr_Rogers]

That's probably the actual heel height. I'm sure the effective heel height is around 1". If it's anything like the Romaleos the rest of the sole is roughly 0.25"ish with the heel being 1"ish leaving me with an effective heel of around 0.75"ish. Higher heels have their advantages.

[JStrong]

I have these and really like them, they have held up much better than my Do-Wins did.

They run wide, which is good for me.

[devnull]

I got the Cobra ones. Here's what I didn't like:

• Cheap laces, which is not doing the shoes any favors.
• Cheap, thin eyelets. Two began failing within a couple of uses.
• If you look at the pictures (http://www.ristosports.com/images/Risto-0067.jpg), notice how some of the eyelets rest on the white bands. This doubles the amount of leather supporting them. The leather under the other ones is too thin and quickly gets damaged.
• The leather on the Velcro strap is too thin. The Velcro itself is not of the best quality. Good enough, but not great.

I changed the laces and replaced the eyelets with heavy-duty ones. Now I like them better. They have a generous toe box that fit my wide feet fine. It is a shame that all it would take for the manufacturer to make them an outstanding pair of shoes would probably be about dollar worth of materials.

[DV]

Hey DV,

A couple of questions:

1. I just sent them an email and they told me that the heel for my shoe size (9.5 US) is 1.25 inches. Isn't this pretty high? According to Rip's book (Starting Strength), heels higher than 1 inch should be avoided. How high are your shoes' heels?

2. How long of a wait was your experience?

1. They are about the same height as my Rogue Do-Wins. I.e. about 1". They are not excessively high, in any case.

2. I waited some 4 months, though 2 of those (just about) were due to me preordering and having customization on one of the shoes. Still, 4 months was excessive, and Ivan apologized profusely. I think, though, that it's a fairly common occurence, from what I read of reviews.

[Mac Ward]

Wife got them - will never buy Risto anything ever again.

Within 3 weeks, an eyelet came off, the rubber heal came unglued, and a hole in the velcro strap.

Called them, was told they had a two week warrantee, tough shit.

Bought Addidas Adistars and have not looked back.

Do not recommend based on quality and customer service.

[ayjay23]

Aarrrgghhhh! Too many conflicting responses. It's sooo hard to choose. >.<

[devnull]

Aarrrgghhhh! Too many conflicting responses. It's sooo hard to choose. >.<

If I could do it again, I would pick a better quality shoe (thicker leather, better eyelets, better shoe laces, better velcro strap, etc). You pay the money once, you have to wear the shoes for a lot longer.