The selling points of Nike Zoom X series running shoes are the thick insole and light weight. Now it’s popular in the Marathon runners. So I’m also attracted to purchase one pair of Nike ZOOM FLY SP FAST to have a try.
At the present time, Nike develop a series of running shoes which are subverting tradition by cooperating with Eliud Kipchoge and Kenenisa Bekele etc., such as ZOOMX Vaporfly 4%, ZOOM FLY and ZOOM Pegasus Turbo and ZOOM Pegasus which constitute the NIKE Marathon running shoes series.
The FLY series runs to the third generation, the location of FLY series is the second-rate top running shoes. It’s called ZOOM, but it don’t have any releation with ZOOM Air Cushion and ZOOMX insole material. FLY series don’t use both of ZOOM Air Cushion and ZOOMX technology.
The main difference of these three generations of FLY series running shoes is the insole material. The ZOOM FLY uses traditional LUNARLON, although it’s soft, but the durability is not good. The second generation is ZOOM FLY SP FAST which use React to improve the durability of insole. The third generation ZOOM FLY 3 follow the configuration of SP FAST, and the design of vamp and sole is almost the same as NEXT%.
ZOOM FLY
ZOOM FLY Flyknit
ZOOM FLY 3
As the second generation, ZOOM FLY SP FAST has been released more than one year. The price is already reduced a lot.
Suited Person: racing
Suited Road Condition: Gum-elastic, Road
Core Technology: React insole, full-length carbon-infused nylon plate, semi-transparent woven fabric vamp
Unboxing:
Orange shoebox
The shoe tree of ZOOM FLY SP FAST is smaller, so I choose one size bigger than normal size.
Appearance
The appearance of ZOOM FLY SP FAST looks nice. The shape looks light. It’s different with other Marathon running shoes.
Vamp:
The vamp of ZOOM FLY SP FAST uses semi-transparent seamless elastic woven fabric. The shoe head is decorated with green punctiform stripes and small Swoosh logo.
Insole:
The thick React insole is attracting. Although the durability is improved compering with Lunar, but it’s easy to have fold which is also the characteristic of ZoomX.
The curled-up design of shoe head is obvious.
We can see the structure of the shoes from the semi-transparent vamp. In the inner position, the inside and outside of ZOOM FLY SP FAST has a piece of fabric to fix the foot. And we can also see the Swoosh logo on the fabric.
ZOOM FLY SP FAST uses hot-melting technology to connect the built-in fabric plate and semi-transparent vamp. The connecting part is the holes of shoelaces.
Shoe Tongue
The shoe tongue also uses semi-transparent material. It doesn’t have any padding. The irregular shoe tongue can prevent the transposition after intense exercise.
Shoe Heel
The inner side of shoe heel is anti-fur material which can fix the ankle.
It also has NIKE RACING mark on the shoe heel. The shoe heel uses the same design as 4%. It’s cool.
Outsole:
The outsole of ZOOM FLY SP FAST follow the design of ZOOM FLY. The yellow part is thin rubber. And the gray part is React insole material extending to outsole. This kind of outsole configuration is for speed, not for good abrasive resistance.
Shoe Tree:
The shoe tree of ZOOM FLY SP FAST is thin and long. If you want to purchase it, it’s better to have a try on the physical store. I suggest you to purchase one size bigger if your foot is wide type.
Details:
As the vamp of ZOOM FLY SP FAST is semi-transparent, so it’s better to choose a pair of thick and good-looking socks.
Fit:
Although it doesn’t have the padding on the vamp, but the inner sleeve design makes the vamp fit the socks well. The semi-transparent vamp looks nice, but the air permeability is not good.
Cushion Performance:
I always expected the flexible soft feeling of React. But it’s a pity that I can’t feel it on this pair of ZOOM FLY SP FAST. It’s a little stiff. If you fall to the ground by heel firstly or you’re jogging, you can’t feel the cushion performance. If you run acceleratively, you fill find the advantage, it’s fast to improve the speed.
Stability
As it uses full-length carbon-infused nylon plate, the anti-torsion performance is very great. But I can’t adapt to the thick insole when running, the center of gravity is high, so I’m worried when running.
Overall:
I expected that ZOOM FLY SP FAST is light and elastic. But after running, the thick and stiff insole let me feel weird. I think that I need some times to breaking-in it. If you like fast speed running, you can have a try.
