Nike Zoom Vaporfly Elite 2017

Yea Vapoes are my best looking show. Those look. I like the Pegasus more especially with the different color drops
 
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Prior to the AFN3s, all AFNs and VFNs were $100. At least the VFN3s can still be scooped up for $100.


Had a tongue swap on my favorite cw. Now, it undoubtedly reminds me of my favorite Flyknit of ALL TIME, the Cheeto FKR!

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It's crazy how the original retail price of those in Asia is about that price, was passing through HK and saw them in store.
 
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ultrafly on discount for $137 on NDC with the code WINNING + 6% cashback via rakuten

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Not going to pretend like I do a bunch of trail runs but I’ve been wanting to try these out since they do have a wider toe box per reviews.

Can’t really find the older reviews from a road perspective. BITR called is a wider vapor/alpha fly so that’s not a bad thing but at this price I’ll bite and try them out.
 
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Not going to pretend like I do a bunch of trail runs but I’ve been wanting to try these out since they do have a wider toe box per reviews.

Can’t really find the older reviews from a road perspective. BITR called is a wider vapor/alpha fly so that’s not a bad thing but at this price I’ll bite and try them out.
The toebox is wider than the VF or AF, but the throat of the midfoot area feels disproportionately narrow compared to the toe box. Also, the ride on road and trail feels nothing like either. It's got super shoe tech, but on foot it feels like less than the sum of its parts; the ride is kinda ordinary. The Adidas Terrex Agravic Speed Ultra and Hoka Tecton X 3 actually feel like a supershoe; the UF doesn't. The ZoomX is comfortable, but not bouncy or propulsive and the plate is a tad too stiff. It's got Vibram Megagrip Litebase (which is great), but shallow lug depth. It's also too heavy for what it's supposed to be. Overall, it's a mixed bag for the retail price. But at $137, it's worth trying, especially if you haven't tried a trail super shoe before.
 
Zoom Fly 6 looks like a big step up!
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In case anyone was curious what a pair of original Nike ZoomX Invincible Run shoes looks like after about 2-3000+km of heavy use, here's a pair that I recently stopped using because the thin foam in the forefoot finally wore all the way through, allowing water into the shoe. I decided to disassemble them "for science". They were in use for about 3 years, and they were used primarily for lifestyle use (a mix of walking, standing, and running). ZoomX is supposed to last a long time (probably not this long).

They were washed periodically (about 6-7 times in total, including before these pictures) in a bucket of warm water and laundry detergent. This was an effective method to clean the shoes, after which they were dried first in the spin cycle of the washing machine, then overnight.

Some parts of these came unglued and were re-glued with super glue about halfway through their lifespan. You can see that the inner side has unglued itself. I think this is because of the way the strobel board is only a thin perimeter, and it easily comes unglued. This is probably why it is no longer designed this way on newer versions. The glue used to assemble these is weaker than usual, as it can be very easily removed using acetone compared to other shoes. The pattern of dirt on the inside of the outsole shows the areas where the outsole had come unglued naturally.

I cut the left shoe in half to see how the stack height changed over time. The midsole alone measures 24mm (31mm total, 38.1mm new, 81%) in the heel and 15.5mm (22.5mm in total, 25.4mm new, 89%) in the forefoot allowing for 7mm of extra thickness (from the outsole and insole, as this is how RunRepeat measured it). However, some parts of the foam were thinner than expected, probably due to uneven wear.

In order to test the energy return, I unscientifically measured the energy return of the foam by dropping a heavy screwdriver from a short distance onto the foam and seeing how far it bounced up, about 70-80% of the original height. I suspect that a heavier load would produce different results (though I am not able to test this), as around 1500km in, they started to feel significantly different, though the foam remains very soft. If you are not particularly concerned about performance, with replacement of the outsole these could probably be used for longer.

At the end of their life they were still generally comfortable, but no longer bouncy at all, and where the foam is thinner, you can feel the ground quite easily.

Feel free to share or use the images for whatever you like, hopefully this is useful or interesting for someone.

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