When a pair of HOKA ONE ONE Carbon X 2’s rocked up at RT HQ, we were pretty stoked. Once dubious of the brand, we are now loyal fans. Great running shoes without the in-your-face marketing BS that we see from so many other brands. And free shoes, hell yeah.
The Carbon X 2 is HOKA’s go-to road racing shoe. With a full-length carbon plate and light, bouncy foam, it is HOKA’S answer to Nike Next% or Saucony’s Endorphin. Furthermore, HOKA have made some key upgrades from their original Carbon X.
The Brooks Levitate 4 is a true workhorse of a neutral high mileage training shoe. Not the lightest of shoes, nor the fastest; but the trade off is you'll get many extra k's out of a pair of Levitates than you may in many other brands.
Runner's Tribe were lucky enough to take a pair through 210km, and below is our unpaid for analysis.
HOKA ONE ONE, the brand known for its max cushioned shoes and metarocker midsole geometry, were second to the table. In 2019 they dropped their Carbon X road racing shoe, all reports indicate they sold like hot cakes.
Now zoom to the end of 2020, and HOKA have just launched the Rocket X (dropping soon in Australia). It is to be viewed like the Carbon X, but slightly faster, subtly better. Its stack height is slightly lower, and the shoe is lighter. Running in the Rocket X feels more like a traditional shoe than a HOKA. The wide base of a Clifton (and most models) is gone, trimmed down to increase performance.
The midsole foam used by HOKA is still their proprietary EVA, they haven’t switched to PEBAX foam used in a few other road racing shoes. The midsole foam found in the Rocket X is the lightest foam that HOKA has ever produced. The EVA foam works for HOKA, and if it ain’t broke….
Runner’s Tribe took the Rockets through three sessions (15km in total).
Another year, another Hoka Clifton, perhaps Hoka’s most popular shoe. A highly cushioned, neutral high mileage trainer. A workhorse for endless miles. HOKA called it their ‘Ultra comfortable go to daily runner’ – it’s hard to argue with that
Not designed for speed, but for long distances or easy runs.
The Clifton 7 is very similar to the Clifton 6 – a nice, soft, lightweight, cushioned ride. The only significant changes are a new upper (mesh) and various minor changes to it’s last/upper/heel counter. The differences between the 6 and 7 are pretty much negligible, some minor tweaks, but hardly noticeable.
Runner’s Tribe took these shoes through 110km of mostly road and light trail running, and below is our unpaid for analysis.
If a higher stack height, coupled with a carbon fibre plate and the correct foam, is correlated to more speed, then Asics must have another theory in mind. The Asics is more of a traditional racing flat, but with an extra springy ride thanks to the carbon fibre. There is ample ground feel, and the cushioning feels mild. A vastly different feeling to the Vaporfly road racing shoes so many are used to. Horses for courses.
Hoka's Bondi 7 encapsulates all that the brand Hoka One One is about, better than perhaps any other shoe. High stack heights, metarocker midsole geometry and oh so soft midsole foam.
Runner's Tribe took the Bondi 7's through about 150km of road and light trails, below is our unpaid for review.
HOKA took all the good traits from the original Carbon X and stuck with them, while replacing the things that needed some work. The upper is high-end, providing a snug sock like fit with an in-built mesh bootie. In terms of improvements from the original Carbon X; the heel pull tab is way better, and the heel cup seems to provide a better lockdown.
If a higher stack height is correlated to more speed, then ON must have another theory in mind. The Cloudboom is more of a traditional racing flat. There is ample ground feel, and the cushioning feels mild. A vastly different feeling to the Vaporfly road racing shoes so many are used to. Horses for courses.
The Hoka One One Torrent 2 is a neutral, lightweight trail shoe with aggressive outsole lugs. It is designed for trail runners who want to run fast on varied terrain. It’s a shoe with a modest amount of underfoot cushion, no where near as much as say the Hoka Speedgoat or EVO Mafaete shoes. The Torrent 2 is much more like a ‘traditional’ shoe that one of the ‘old school’ brands would release, but with the unique Hoka touches like a 5mm drop, soft foam, and a rocker bottom.
Nike are the kings at marketing, among other things. And few shoes exemplify this more than the Infinity React. Nike’s marketing machine had people spinning with talk about injury risk reduction. They cited an external study by the British Columbia Sports Medicine Research Foundation (BCSMRF) on 226 runners using the Nike React Infinity Run as well as the Nike Structure 22. It indicated that runners using the former had a 52% lower injury rate. It’s an area in which more research is required.
So, is this all complete BS, or are the shoes legit? Runner’s Tribe took them through 310kms and below is our unpaid for review.
