8,113
edits
Changes
Created page with "{{DISPLAYTITLE:Reebok Floatride Run Review}} The exciting thing about Reebok Floatride Run is that it uses the same type of foam as the amazing (if flawed) [[Nike Vaporfly 4%]..."
{{DISPLAYTITLE:Reebok Floatride Run Review}}
The exciting thing about Reebok Floatride Run is that it uses the same type of foam as the amazing (if flawed) [[Nike Vaporfly 4%]]. If the Floatride has a fraction of the benefits of the Vaporfly, it could be an awesome shoe. The vapor fly is incredibly light yet massively cushioned and incredibly bouncy. On the other hand, the Floatride is a reasonably good, but relatively ordinary running shoe. It's unclear how much of the new "Pebax" foam is used in the Floatride, but I believe it's all of the white colored foam in the pictures below. The blue foam above, and through the zigzag pattern seems to be a harder, EVA foam. Under foot, the Floatride is reasonably well cushioned, and has a little bit of spring, but nothing that sets it apart from the crowd. The upper is a bit of a mixed bag, and the designers clearly didn't follow the Bauhaus "form follows function" approach. I have some reservations over the way the lacing concentrates forces on a relatively small part of the top of the foot that caused me some troubling pain on prolonged downhill running. If the Floatride had a traditional upper, I would be torn between a quote highly recommended" and a simple "recommended", but the problems with the upper make me downgraded to a "worth considering" grade. {{H:WhatToLookForInShoes}}
<gallery widths=300px heights=300px class="center">
File:Reebok Floatride Run-top.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run top
File:Reebok Floatride Run-outside.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run outside
File:Reebok Floatride Run-bottom.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run bottom
File:Reebok Floatride Run-inside.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run inside
</gallery>
=Characteristics=
* {{H:cushioning}}. The Floatride is a comfortably cushioned, and has a reasonable cushioning-to-weight ratio. There is the same kind of spring that you'd get from a well-constructed shoe that uses traditional EVA foam, rather than some think exceptional that you might expect from the new Pebax foam. I was a little concerned that the zigzag pattern would be in some way uneven, but I never noticed any effects. The heel is not only thicker than the forefoot, but feels noticeably softer, a combination which has its pros and cons. If you tend to land more heavily on your heel, then this softness is a little more cushioning, without sacrificing toe off responsiveness. On the other hand, it exacerbates the drop, and actively encourages greater forces in the heel. I think that the Floatride managed to capture more of the advantages than the disadvantages, though it took me a while to adapt to this much of drop.
* {{H:drop}}. The Floatride 6mm of drop, which is more than I'd like, but this increase is all the way to 10 mm when loaded. This again suggests that the heel is quite a bit softer than the forefoot. While this is far more drop than I would like, I didn't find my heel catching the way that I would expect.
* {{H:structure}}. The Floatride has a fairly complex structure. There is the softer white foam at the bottom which has a zigzag of blue triangles from the midfoot forward of firmer foam, then a ream of firmer foam around the outside edge. The firmer foam towards the front of the shoe produces a differential firmness, and the rim of firmer foam keeps the foot centered in the shoe. I generally find that's a fairly unobtrusive way of stabilizing the foot without intrusively interfering with natural pronation. That's certainly the case with the Floatride, which felt both stable and neutral.
* {{H:flexibility}}. The Floatride has moderate flexibility, which I suspect is limited by the fairly extensive hard rubber outsole. I was concerned that the zigzag of different phones would make the Floatride want to bend only in certain positions, but that's not the case. The Floatride bends reasonably naturally.
* {{H:outsole}}. The Floatride has extensive, fairly thick hard rubber outsole over the entire sole of the shoe. This outsole is perforated with many gaps as you can see from the photos above, but it's still a lot of rubber, which increases weight and reduces flexibility. It uses where, but I typically find that the life of the shoe is limited by the collapse of the foam midsole, not the abrasion of the contact patches.
* {{H:shape}}. The Floatride is not designed to fit a human foot, so I [[Shoe Modifications| cut open the toe box]] so my toes would not get crushed and so my foot could move naturally. {{H:TryCuttingShoes}}
* {{H:upper}}. The upper is in 2 distinct parts; the black midfoot and forefoot, and the blue via in the photos above. The black material is thick and heavy, but far more stretchable than most running shoes. To offset this there's a rigid plastic exoskeleton that goes from the midsole to the lacing points. I found this combination to be extremely problematic. In a typical running shoe, the sole is attached to your foot by the entire upper, spreading the forces across the top of your foot. But in the Floatride, the attachment is really limited to this hard plastic exoskeleton, which concentrates the forces in a fairly narrow area. I found that after downhill running for a protracted time, I had some disturbing "top of the foot pain", an injury which is gradually subsiding. This type of pain is typically problematic to resolve, so I urge caution. The back of the shoe (colored blue the photos above) feels like it's made of some type of foam, and is reasonably comfortable.
* {{H:tongue}}. The Floatride is a single piece construction over the midfoot and forefoot, so there's no tongue. The flexibility of the upper means it's still easy to put on, but as noted above this results in increased pressure on the top of your foot. Perhaps exacerbating this problem is a complete absence of any padding over the top of the foot.
* {{H:lacing}}. The Floatride has flat laces that stay tied without a problem. While the laces are unusually wide, there are only 3 eyeholes, again concentrating the forces on the top of your foot.
* {{H:heelcounter}}. The Floatride has a fairly innocuous foam reader that acts as a stand-in for a heel counter.
{{FastBlr|Reebok/type-a6-597|597|Reebok Floatride Ride}}
=A Comparison with other Recommended Shoes=
{{:Shoes-include}}
The exciting thing about Reebok Floatride Run is that it uses the same type of foam as the amazing (if flawed) [[Nike Vaporfly 4%]]. If the Floatride has a fraction of the benefits of the Vaporfly, it could be an awesome shoe. The vapor fly is incredibly light yet massively cushioned and incredibly bouncy. On the other hand, the Floatride is a reasonably good, but relatively ordinary running shoe. It's unclear how much of the new "Pebax" foam is used in the Floatride, but I believe it's all of the white colored foam in the pictures below. The blue foam above, and through the zigzag pattern seems to be a harder, EVA foam. Under foot, the Floatride is reasonably well cushioned, and has a little bit of spring, but nothing that sets it apart from the crowd. The upper is a bit of a mixed bag, and the designers clearly didn't follow the Bauhaus "form follows function" approach. I have some reservations over the way the lacing concentrates forces on a relatively small part of the top of the foot that caused me some troubling pain on prolonged downhill running. If the Floatride had a traditional upper, I would be torn between a quote highly recommended" and a simple "recommended", but the problems with the upper make me downgraded to a "worth considering" grade. {{H:WhatToLookForInShoes}}
<gallery widths=300px heights=300px class="center">
File:Reebok Floatride Run-top.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run top
File:Reebok Floatride Run-outside.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run outside
File:Reebok Floatride Run-bottom.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run bottom
File:Reebok Floatride Run-inside.jpg|Reebok Floatride Run inside
</gallery>
=Characteristics=
* {{H:cushioning}}. The Floatride is a comfortably cushioned, and has a reasonable cushioning-to-weight ratio. There is the same kind of spring that you'd get from a well-constructed shoe that uses traditional EVA foam, rather than some think exceptional that you might expect from the new Pebax foam. I was a little concerned that the zigzag pattern would be in some way uneven, but I never noticed any effects. The heel is not only thicker than the forefoot, but feels noticeably softer, a combination which has its pros and cons. If you tend to land more heavily on your heel, then this softness is a little more cushioning, without sacrificing toe off responsiveness. On the other hand, it exacerbates the drop, and actively encourages greater forces in the heel. I think that the Floatride managed to capture more of the advantages than the disadvantages, though it took me a while to adapt to this much of drop.
* {{H:drop}}. The Floatride 6mm of drop, which is more than I'd like, but this increase is all the way to 10 mm when loaded. This again suggests that the heel is quite a bit softer than the forefoot. While this is far more drop than I would like, I didn't find my heel catching the way that I would expect.
* {{H:structure}}. The Floatride has a fairly complex structure. There is the softer white foam at the bottom which has a zigzag of blue triangles from the midfoot forward of firmer foam, then a ream of firmer foam around the outside edge. The firmer foam towards the front of the shoe produces a differential firmness, and the rim of firmer foam keeps the foot centered in the shoe. I generally find that's a fairly unobtrusive way of stabilizing the foot without intrusively interfering with natural pronation. That's certainly the case with the Floatride, which felt both stable and neutral.
* {{H:flexibility}}. The Floatride has moderate flexibility, which I suspect is limited by the fairly extensive hard rubber outsole. I was concerned that the zigzag of different phones would make the Floatride want to bend only in certain positions, but that's not the case. The Floatride bends reasonably naturally.
* {{H:outsole}}. The Floatride has extensive, fairly thick hard rubber outsole over the entire sole of the shoe. This outsole is perforated with many gaps as you can see from the photos above, but it's still a lot of rubber, which increases weight and reduces flexibility. It uses where, but I typically find that the life of the shoe is limited by the collapse of the foam midsole, not the abrasion of the contact patches.
* {{H:shape}}. The Floatride is not designed to fit a human foot, so I [[Shoe Modifications| cut open the toe box]] so my toes would not get crushed and so my foot could move naturally. {{H:TryCuttingShoes}}
* {{H:upper}}. The upper is in 2 distinct parts; the black midfoot and forefoot, and the blue via in the photos above. The black material is thick and heavy, but far more stretchable than most running shoes. To offset this there's a rigid plastic exoskeleton that goes from the midsole to the lacing points. I found this combination to be extremely problematic. In a typical running shoe, the sole is attached to your foot by the entire upper, spreading the forces across the top of your foot. But in the Floatride, the attachment is really limited to this hard plastic exoskeleton, which concentrates the forces in a fairly narrow area. I found that after downhill running for a protracted time, I had some disturbing "top of the foot pain", an injury which is gradually subsiding. This type of pain is typically problematic to resolve, so I urge caution. The back of the shoe (colored blue the photos above) feels like it's made of some type of foam, and is reasonably comfortable.
* {{H:tongue}}. The Floatride is a single piece construction over the midfoot and forefoot, so there's no tongue. The flexibility of the upper means it's still easy to put on, but as noted above this results in increased pressure on the top of your foot. Perhaps exacerbating this problem is a complete absence of any padding over the top of the foot.
* {{H:lacing}}. The Floatride has flat laces that stay tied without a problem. While the laces are unusually wide, there are only 3 eyeholes, again concentrating the forces on the top of your foot.
* {{H:heelcounter}}. The Floatride has a fairly innocuous foam reader that acts as a stand-in for a heel counter.
{{FastBlr|Reebok/type-a6-597|597|Reebok Floatride Ride}}
=A Comparison with other Recommended Shoes=
{{:Shoes-include}}