I am extremely committed to my Fluxes, so much so that I hiked the collegiate loop in the collegiate peaks wilderness using only them.
I wore my stokos every single day, over the entire 160+ mile hike. The support they provided was incredible. Steep climbs are great when you have the support these provide, but going down steep descents are absolutely hell on the knees. I would tighten those knobs up to the support I need. When I start down, the tights just work their way into the support level needed. On the flats, I just popped those knobs out. And they would relax.
I was worried about taking them off at night. They are like a second skin and there is not a great deal of room in a tent. But they peeled off like they do normally. I kept them warm in sleeping bag footbox and they went on in the morning without difficulty. (Note these were well broken in already, so the cuffs could be spread easily to slip on over the heel)
Surprisingly, they’re incredibly durable. I did not baby them. I was on my knees cooking, setting up tents, or sitting on rocks and sticks. Not a single tear or run.
I was worried that my backpack would push against the knobs and make them uncomfortable. Or cause the knobs to bend or break. But ultimately, the knobs created a little ledge that kept the backpack from slipping down to the butt (which can happen when losing weight on the trail.)
This is colorado monsoon season. I rarely wore my rain paints because these felt like they had a DWR finish. Don’t even know if they do, but who cares. Seems like they did.
Smell. You would think that these things would stink. Everything else did. Typically after 14 days in the backcountry, everything smells like my a**. But these smelled the least. How is that possible. I don’t want to go into it, but they should have just smelled awful, but of all my gear, they held up the best.
I thought I would boil in the black leggings. But the venting was great. Worked well to keep my legs cool when moving. I will acknowledge, sitting in the sun on a mountain top, the black soaked up the heat. But nothing is perfect. I just covered them with a white t-shirt and everything was fine.
I chose the full length leggings for this trip (as opposed to the hikers) for protection against ticks. But the side benefit was the mosquitos didn’t have much success sucking blood through the fabric.
I was a little concerned about the pee hole. Walking around in public I wore shorts over them. Which is just a waste of weight. So after a while, I didn’t care and didn’t wear the shorts. Just threw them in a hiker box along the way. I will say, my um, equipment is too difficult to pull through all the underwear and then the pee hole so I never used the pee hole. Just tugged them down.
For pooping in the woods, it takes a little more time to peel these back. So planning in advance was needed.
I would have preferred no Pee hole. And a phone pocket. I have the other K1’s with the pocket, but they’re 3/4 length and I wanted full coverage for this trip. Besides those are for pickle ball.
Got my ortho to rx the stokos and insurance paid for them. How wonderful.
It is rare that everything goes as it should. But Everything was as it should be.
I remain a huge fan.
