Adidas just stepped into the 200$ price tag club with its the most expensive ball shoe ever – the adidas Crazy BYW X. Damn… Why products with X in their names are so expensive, huh? They better be CRAZY good, otherwise I will get CRAZY mad.

Let’s get it!

MAIN SPECS

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WEIGHT: 371 g / 13.09 oz

TECH: BOOST

TYPE: MID/HIGH-TOP

COLORWAYS: 1+

FIT: TRUE TO SIZE

RETAIL PRICE: $200

BD RATING: 9/10

BEST PLACE TO BUY: FINISH LINE (Lifestyle Edition)

 

PERFORMANCE

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MATERIALS

WEAK ON PAPER, AMAZING ON THE COURT

Although the dual Mesh upper with some knit & suede hits sounds like a rip-off in the middle of the day considering its price, the upper actually did perform like a true banger though. Considering that the Mesh construction is double layered, it didn’t feel clumsy or thick. On the contrary, it was really soft to the touch and pretty form-fitting, while still maintaining that durability & longevity on a high level. Obviously, it’s not on the same comfort level as Primeknit or Flyknit, but I think it’s worth to give away some comfort in exchange of increased durability. Am I right?

Looking a little bit higher, there we can find a knitted ankle collar which is an essential part of a one-piece bootie construction to create an easy access to the shoe. And while I didn’t receive any issues putting them on due to fairly stretchy knit, wide footers may have a bit tougher time doing that. Still, it shouldn’t be so big of a deal whatsoever.

 

CUSHION

THE MOST VERSATILE SET-UP?

So we do have the Crazy Explosive line which is famous for its extremely squishy BOOST with ton of impact protection to offer. There’s also the Harden signature line for those who need a true guard-oriented tooling underneath their feet with a nice low-profile ride & plenty of responsiveness. But how about connecting best of both worlds, huh? This is where the Crazy BYW X comes in and saves the day. Save to say, this is the most well-rounded BOOST midsole out right now, period.

As you can see, the midsole is decoupled which allows the forefoot and heel move separately to even further enhance that all-around performance. And although this type of construction isn’t very commonly used in the ball shoe manufacture, I do think that it suits this sneaker perfectly in terms of how performance & style go.

The forefoot does play very much like the tooling on the Harden Vol.1 – BOOST is fully-caged with this semi-translucent rubber, making the forefoot really stable & responsive to any type of move. So if you’re a heavy forefoot striker or you just enjoy responsive ride, this is definitely what you need. Now talking about the heel, it seems like adidas just slapped that gigantic slab of BOOST and that’s about it. Yep, that should do it. Ironically, this beefy-looking slab of BOOST did its job flawlessly – crazy amount of impact protection & pillow like softness. PERFECT stuff for a heavy or explosive player.

 

TRACTION

YOU CAN’T GO WRONG WITH THE HERRINGBONE, AREN’T YOU?

Same thing as the cushion, the BYW X features two different traction patterns for each BOOST unit – herringbone in the forefoot & Crazy Explosive type of pattern in the back. On paper, this stuff sounds like a true punisher. However, we ain’t playing on paper, we’re playing on the damn hardwood.

No surprise, on clean courts I didn’t receive any issues whatsoever – just pure “strait up glue” performance. But that doesn’t mean much since a 50$ budget performer is able to bring out this type of performance on a regular basis as well. So the only way to separate the men from the boys, is to throw them on a dirty court.

While on clean courts these bad boys where phenomenal, dust problems kept them from being great on rough surfaces too. I’m definitely not saying that it was garbage or just a pure dog shit. Nah, that’s not the case. The main reason is the herringbone pattern being to narrow & compact to the point where it becomes a pure dust magnet once you touch the floor. The heel portion, on the other hand, did its job nicely even when dust was present. So in order to receive that killer bite, you need to wipe those damn bottoms whenever you have a free second or two (if you have two free seconds – wipe them twice for the good measure).

Unfortunately, this wasn’t the worst part… That god damn DURABILITY was the worst part of this traction. Rubber was so delicate that it did fray as fast as my ice cream on a sunny day, and I’m not exaggerating right now. I’m dead ass. It must be the softest rubber I’ve ever tested in my entire career. And that comes from a 200$ sneaker? It’s just unacceptable in any context man.

 

FIT

COMFORT LEVEL OVER 9000

Going back on a winning streak, fit was definitely one of the best, if not the best highlight of this shoe. As usually with my adidas kicks, I went 1/2 a size down and it did work out perfectly fine for me. Wide footers should go true to their size.

First time lacing them up, they did feel a bit too tight, especially on the lateral sides. So I was forced to chill out for a sec and loosen those laces up, in result, giving away some containment in the process. Luckily, after a few spins the mesh did break in nicely, letting me to tighten my shit up back again and put in some serious work on the hardwood. So break in process was a thing but it wasn’t super long or painful whatsoever, pause.

Again, after putting in some hours on the court, that mesh & knit combo evolved into more forgiving & better form-fitting tooling. And together with that minimalistic lacing system, I was able to achieve near custom made like fit. Just simply enjoyed every single second spend in these.

 

SUPPORT

NOTHING TOO INNOVATIVE, BUT GETS THE JOB DONE WELL

At first glance the BYW X clearly doesn’t seem to have a very supportive construction, however, performance speaks for itself once you get loose on the court.  For what they stand for (comfort & light ride), I couldn’t be much happier with this straightforward, yet above solid set-up.

The lacing system is pretty much the same stuff as on the last year’s Crazy Explosive model, only this time, adidas added a few straps both on inner & outer sides for improved lateral containment. Talking about lateral containment, there’s a quite vastly sized suede panel, as well as, rubber extension to really keep that mesh from stretching out once pressure is applied. Meanwhile, the back has this perfectly molded internal heel counter for strong heel lock-down. Hell slippage? Not in these bad boys.

The base itself is considerably wide, so I did feel completely stable while making any type moves. And despite the fact that there isn’t any outrigger, that protruded BOOST midsole compensates its loss with bunch.

 

OVERALL

As much as I did enjoy playing in them, I still can’t get over their price tag. It has been bugging me the entire way. Even so, I’m still think that the Crazy BYW X is a solid performer and adidas did a great job of showing us a sneak peak of the hoop sneaker feature. However, the shoe has one pretty ugly flaw that a $200 product shouldn’t be having. Personally, I would love to see them priced at $160 or something in that price range. Let me know how much you would pay for them in the comment section below.

I can only see people who own multiple pairs in their rotations actually buying these, just to update their collection & play around from time to time. Now, if  you don’t have multiple pairs to hoop in and you’re looking for a solid performer for a new season or maybe two, just pass these bro. There’re plenty of cheaper alternatives that could deliver great all-around performance and ability to play outdoors without having a head ache.

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YOU CAN GRAB THEM ON EBAY

OR

GOAT APP

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Hope you enjoyed my Performance Review on the ADIDAS CRAZY BYW X. Will you be picking them up? Let me know!

If you have any questions don’t hesitate to comment down below!