UKC

Ocun Nitro Review

© Alan James

The Nitro is a high-performance bouldering shoe from Ocun. It's low-volume, sticky, and hugs your foot to give you maximum performance whether climbing indoors or on rock.

Performance

The Nitro is definitely a soft shoe and so primarily aimed at bouldering. I find that its long, thin shape focusses a lot of power to your toe but the accuracy depends on how the shoe fits you. Its shape also means that the focus is on flexion rather than downturn, tension and power, as you find in other bouldering shoes. The softness and lack of tension does make the Nitro very comfortable to climb in as well as making it great on volumes and smears. This is ideal for indoor and competition bouldering, while if you take it outside the smearing performance also suits rock types such as grit. Whilst the Nitro performs fine on edges its softness means that it doesn't quite have the bite you want for small, edgy footholds. The Nitro is made on a new last for Ocun which is why it feels different to their other shoes.

The softness of the Nitro makes it great for getting the most out of slopey footholds on steep climbs  © UKC Gear
The softness of the Nitro makes it great for getting the most out of slopey footholds on steep climbs
© UKC Gear

Heel and Toe

The heel on the Nitro is great - I find it fits nicely and it doesn't slip. The toe itself doesn't quite work on edges for me as it doesn't sit on the apex of my big toe. Due to the flexion of the shoe it is, however, brilliant for smearing. It's all a bit of a trade-off though as with such a soft shoe you feel like you have less power in your foot than with something like the Ocun Bullit (which will be featured in our upcoming Indoor Shoes Group Test).

Good for heel hooking on grit  © Alan James
Good for heel hooking on grit
© Alan James

Fit and Comfort

The Nitro is a funny one for comfort. Its soft and forgiving shape gives it that 'whole session' wearability. However, it is a very narrow shoe and until you get used to this I've found it can become uncomfortable on the arches of your foot. This is accentuated by the 3 Force tensioning system Ocun use to provide more torsional tension. The pinching on your arches will depend on the shape of your foot and so the Nitro is more suited to people with narrow feet. In general however, it's a very comfy shoe to wear for long periods.

Great for smearing when you can't find a foothold!  © UKC Gear
Great for smearing when you can't find a foothold!
© UKC Gear

A very flexible and skinny shoe  © UKC Gear
A very flexible and skinny shoe
© UKC Gear

Materials and Rubber

The Nitro uses Ocun's CAT 1.5 rubber and there's plenty of it over the front of the toe. The 4mm sole is sensitive without being so thin that it will wear down immediately. The shoe has canvas materials elsewhere which are very comfortable to wear, giving it that slipper-like feel which is found in many bouldering shoes.

Sometimes you need a specialist shoe for a crucial heel hook: the Nitro fits the bill  © UKC Gear
Sometimes you need a specialist shoe for a crucial heel hook: the Nitro fits the bill
© UKC Gear

Overall

If you have low-volume feet and you're looking for a shoe for smearing, volumes and competitions then the Nitro is a great choice. It's comfortable, extremely flexible and sticky. If you've got slightly wider feet, or are looking for something that has a lot of power on edges, check out the Ocun Bullit.


For more information Visit Ocun



18 Mar, 2022

Are you sure it's a 1.5mm sole? I'm sure this would've warranted more comment - I can't think of any climbing shoes with a thinner sole than 3mm? Ocun's website says it's 4mm, which is more realistic.

18 Mar, 2022

Hi Nutty, you're right - it's 4mm. The 1.5mm was a typo after noting that the Nitros use Ocun's CAT 1.5 rubber. Thanks for pointing it out, I have now amended it.


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