Icebug Acceleritas8 Review

Icebug is a Swedish brand that was founded by a mother and son in 2001. The aim was to develop shoes that would grip in all conditions to reduce the chance of slipping in the Swedish off-road routes. They started developing shoes with metal studs in the sole to grip on ice and have developed the brand to offer grippy shoes for all surfaces.

The Icebug Acceleritas8 is designed for those looking for a minimalist shoe that grips well enough for fell/trail Running in wet conditions, Swimrun events and obstacle course racing.

The upper is made of a soft but durable material that retains very little water. The heel cup is soft (there is no plastic heel cup) so it doesn’t cause any pressure on the Achilles even when you are on your forefoot for long periods on steep climbs.

The midsole is very flexible which gives the Acceleritas8 a really natural ‘barefoot feel’. This is helped one of Icebug’s unique selling points; the straight big toe via their toe box shape, which gives the foot the room to function naturally inside the shoes and improved the power of your lift off. When running up steep climbs I noticed that my feet felt bouncier in the shoes than they did in stiffer shoes and there was a lot less tension in my calfs. This is because the shoes had enough room and flexibility for my feet to work naturally.

The straight big toe actually makes the shoes feel a lot more roomy, as you have the space for your toes to wiggle. However, they aren’t broad and rounded at the toes like an Altra or Topo off-road running shoe and the Acceleritas8 is described as a narrow, race day type last. If you have too much room in a shoe designed to be used on broken and soft ground, then your foot moves around inside the shoes. Despite the feeling of freedom that my toes have I haven’t experienced any issues with my foot turning in the shoes, even when contouring.

The outsole pattern consists of quite large studs. The rubber is RBX9, which is made from 31% natural rubber. This has been specially designed for Icebug to outgrip any other outsole rubber on wet surfaces yet still be as durable as the outsole of a road running shoe. You get long lasting, reliable traction in wet and slippery conditions. When I first put the shoes on and started to trot down the road for a few hundred yards on the way to my trail the shoes made a very ‘clip clop’ sound. Like running over the playground in your football boots on your way to the field. As football boot studs slide on tarmac my initial through was that the Acceleritas8 would do the same. They actually didn’t!

On a separate occasion I parked on a car park that was sheet ice. I watched as other people got out of their cars and danced around on the ice as they slipped about trying to get to the grass field. The Acceleritas8 is a studded shoe so there is a low surface area in contact with the floor. Shoes like this can be slippery on icy tarmac despite having sticky rubber outsoles just because of the low surface area. I experienced no slipping at all. By the time I had walked a few hundred yards I was confident enough to run over the rest of the icy car park. Again, I experienced no slipping.

Larger less pointed studs tend not to bite into the mud as effectively as smaller more pointed studs so I was expecting the shoes to not be as good as others. This isn’t the case as the shoes are so flexible that they bend to the surface effectively to give you good traction, even on steep muddy fields. Although studded shoes don’t shed the mud or grip quite as well as a cross country spike, I would be quite happy to race in the Acceleritas8 on all but the most extremely muddy courses.

The grip of the Acceleritas8 is without question exceptional. If I was being very picky, I would comment on the hardness of the studs, which if you stand on a tree root or edge of a rock cause a bit of a kick back from the shoe. It was very rare and didn’t put me off these at all. In fact, I have gone out of my way to run in these shoes over the Christmas period. Racing through the woods down by the river in the dark with a head torch. The feel you get from the shoes when going up steep climbs is good. You feel your feet bending and responding to the climb. The flexibility of the shoes on the descent means you can just let yourself go.

The Acceleritas8 is aggressive and minimal. The midsole is made of EVA and 20% Bloom (a foam made from Algae). It is as firm and responsive as you would expect in a lightweight shoe designed to be fast and responsive. The heel to forefoot drop is 4mm. On firmer surfaces the larger studs in the heel section of the shoe make the heel feel a bit more prominent than the 4mm differential would suggest but on soft ground they feel like a very stable flat shoe.

The low cushioning level and firm feeler means they are almost exclusively for use on softer or more broken ground. Muddy hills and adventures across fields, not hard tracks and trails.

I’m a big fan and as my first review of Icebug, this is extremely promising.

Charlie @ Northern Runner Newcastle

Other Considerations

Scott Supertrac RC 2: Similar width. Stiffer but, with Scott’s eRide sole. This makes the Supertrac RC 2 smoother on the harder packed ground. The studs aren’t quite a long and made from a rubber that is sticky and durable. Here is our review:
https://www.northernrunner.com/blog/scott-supertrac-rc-2-0-review-trail-fell-running-shoes/

Inov-8 X-Talon 255: A broader fit. 3mm from heel to forefoot. Similar length studs made of a soft sticky rubber. Studs aren’t as durable and not quite as sticky. Not as flexible:
https://www.northernrunner.com/search/x-talon-255

NVii Forest: A narrower fit. Not quite as flexible. Similar length studs made of a natural rubber that is durable and sticky:
https://www.northernrunner.com/search/nvii-forest-2

VJ Irock 3: A narrower fit. Stiffer with more of a roll to the sole. Similar length studs made of a natural rubber that is durable and sticky:
https://www.northernrunner.com/search/vj-irock-3