There's a brand new supershoe in town.
The Kiprun KD900X from Decathlon has arrived. So we're going to be comparing what could be
the cheapest carbon plated supershoe on the market against these,
the Nike Vaporfly Next% 2. Now, are these worth more than double the retail price of the
Decathlon shoe? Let's get into it.
So breaking this video down into two sections.
First, a comparison here in the studio talking you through point by point.
And then we're going to take them out for a street test where I'm going to actually run in the shoes and talk you through how they feel.
Stay tuned as well, it's going to be competition time in a minute.
But in the meantime, let us know in the comments what your first impressions are of these shoes.
So the KD900X is from Kiprun, which is one of the Decathlon's in house run brands.
It can be a little bit confusing. But I was lucky enough to go to Lille, to the Decathlon's headquarters earlier this
year, to find out a little bit more about all of the research and development that had gone into this shoe and other shoes. And it blew me
away. Just the amount of detail and kind of, I suppose, science and actually investment and R and D
that had gone into creating these shoes as their kind of first ever attempt at a carbon plated supershoe.
Now, super shoes not complete without that carbon plate.
You can see the carbon plate here showing through the midsole underneath. It feels really stiff.
It's going to be impossible to judge exactly how much propulsion or roll through that's going to give me
until I take it out for a test. But it's a combination of that carbon plate with the
specific foam that's used, and Decathlon have gone for what they called V foam, which is
PEBAX power. It's a PEBAX foam, which is actually the same type of foam from the same
manufacturer as Nike used for their ZoomX foam. It's going to be really interesting because
different shoe companies have been using PEBAX foam. So I think Misuno, Saucony and onrunning as
well.
And they always come out with a slightly different density, a slightly different
level of propulsion or feeling of softness or bounce. So that's going to be something to put to the
test. But the first thing to notice is that actually, visually, it does look different.
So Nike's Zoom X foam is pretty smooth. You can't see any components of the actual, I suppose,
chemistry or makeup of the foam itself, whereas on the Kitrun 900X, you can actually see the kind of individual cell units or the cells of the foam itself
that have been compacted together in the manufacturer of the foam itself.
Aesthetically, I think it's a really nice looking shoe. The colour combination, it only comes in one colour, feels best.
I always think racing shoes should be white. Personally, I think it makes them feel lighter. That's what I always preferred when I was racing.
The upper definitely feels quite different to the quite open, breathable mesh that's used on the next percent two.
It's kind of a much tighter fabric. It definitely feels like it's got less stretch in it, so that might give you a nice snug fit.
I'll be trying that one to see how well it laces up and how tightly it can forms to my foot and ultimately
how well it holds me in place when I'm running. Because if I had one complaint
about the NEXT% 2, which is still one of my go to shoes and
probably the go to superhero in the world, it just doesn't feel stable. So whilst the upper might lock you in, the midsole is very soft and for me,
a variety of different paces running and this is only one real, and quite narrow, sweet spot of pace where the Nike
shoe feels comfortable. So that's always what I'm looking for in a super shoe. Currently, I would find for
myself that the New Balance Fuel Cell Elite 2 actually gives me a little bit more of a window of pace that I
can run in it and feel more comfortable. Whereas, like I said, for the Vaporfly, I feel like I have to stick to one very
specific and quite fast pace to not feel like I'm rocking and rolling. So from a technical standpoint, the KD900X
has an eight millimeter drop, which is the difference in height between the heel and the toe, which is exactly the
same as on the NEXT% 2. I've seen a quoted stack height of around 37mm, so it's a pretty high stack shoe,
but not right the way up to world athletics 40 millimeter limit. And then they feel slightly heavier than the NEXT% 2.
But the weights that we get quoted are often for different sizes and sample sizes and so on. So I think we
should actually put these to the test and weigh them because I've got my size ten here, my size ten here,
so let's do that now. Let's weigh the Vaporfly NEXT% 2 first. So this one comes in my size UK ten at 221 grams
and the KD900X actually really interested to find out the weight.
Comes in at bang on 250 grams, again in a UK ten, or for me an EU 44 and a half. So there is just under 30 grams difference,
which actually is a fairly substantial difference. They are 10% heavier.
But for me, the key is always how they feel when they're on whether a shoe
feels responsive. I've run in some shoes that are close to 300 grams or over, which feel much more
responsive than shoes that are under 200 grams. So the weight on its own isn't the be all
and end all, but the proof will be in taking them out for a test, which is what we're about to do very
shortly. But a final view for me would be that holding them, looking at them
side by side, ultimately, these, the shoes from Nike have been well tested on the world
stage. It's a huge multibillion dollar company.
These shoes do not feel cheap, and I suppose they're not cheap in that sense. They're £130 retail, but they look like a
high quality shoe. So I'm actually really excited to go and test them out, which is what we're going to do right now.
Okay, so hitting the road in the KD900X and already they feel like a completely different
shoe. So straight out of the box, I immediately noticed how much firmer they are.
So what I said about the different compounds of PEBAX foam being really different, these
are night and day compared to the NEXT%. They still feel responsive. I can feel the
stiffness of the plate, but in terms of cushioning, they definitely feel much firmer.
Again, much like the NEXT% 2, I found myself immediately
clipping along at what I consider to be supershoe pace. The difference here was though,
setting off at a relatively easy jog, these shoes felt a lot more kind of
usable. So I'd say that the usable range for me of pace for these shoes is much wider. There's not a massive difference in kind of stability
running fast or slow. They feel kind of equally comfortable, equally responsive. As I go through the different gears of pace right now I'm running out of breath a bit because
I'm probably at about 10k pace. The combination of a couple of little bit
of extra padding bits in the heel, the way that the tongue conforms to the front of my foot, and ultimately the upper, which has a little bit of
give but not too much, feels like my foot's really locked in. And in combination with that midsole, that PEVAX foam that I mentioned, which
has that kind of increased density, giving me a real sense of stability,
I do feel really planted. I'd also say that with the really nice
way that it fits, the fact that it feels responsive and you feel kind of in touch with the road
despite having such a high stack height actually means I haven't noticed that additional weight at all.
And in fact, I didn't really notice any difference in the weight of these shoes
versus the Vaporflys, which like we said, are about 10% lighter.
So that's a massive win. And potentially I'm speculating
here, but because of the slightly denser midsole, slightly increased weight, you might find increased durability. It's
not wet today, so it's actually pretty difficult for me to pass comment on the grip in different
conditions, but I would say there's a good degree of coverage and you're certainly not missing out compared
to many of the other super shoes out there. So from a first impression. I can't see why you'd have any issues at all with grip.
The Next% have been the go to shoe for a while. But I've often been rotating between those, the RC
Elite 2 from New Balance. Which I found to be more versatile in terms of the paces that I can wear them at.
And the Soacony Endorphin Pro 3. Which is another brilliant option that I really like.
Now, the KD900X are much cheaper, but they don't feel it. And actually, just in the course
of this 1 mile run, experimenting at lots of different paces, I feel like they're really versatile.
They're good value for money, they look good.
So what's not to like, really? I think maybe back to the studio for a little bit of a summary.
Okay, so the results are in, or at least my subjective opinions are. And the overall thought from me is that I really like them. They're totally different.
They feel totally different to the NEXT% 2. The biggest thing being that they're much, much firmer. So if you like that spongy feeling, or used to the spongy feeling
that you get with the NEXT%, and a lot of the Nike shoes with that
particular type of foam, the Pegasus, for example, is also a very soft shoe and you don't get that
here, but you don't lose responsiveness. So they just feel responsive in a totally different way and
actually in a much more stable way. That was always my difficulty or objection with the
Nike Next%2 for example, was that it felt amazing at one very specific pace for
me. But as soon as I tried to turn a corner or run a little bit slower, they felt really
unstable and I felt like I was rolling around in them. Whereas the extra density, I suppose, in this new
foam from the Kiprun KD900X just felt really stable. And the
combination of that extra stability with an upper that really locked my foot in was
a really nice feeling. So that alongside the really low, relatively speaking, for super shoes, price point makes these a really genuine contender from my
perspective. Hopefully you found this useful. But now it's competition time.
So if you want to be in with a chance of winning a pair of super shoes of your choice that The Running Channel will send out to you, make sure you're subscribed to The Running Channel,
you've liked this video, and drop us a comment.
If you don't know what to comment, drop us an emoji about how these shoes make you feel, maybe. And we'll see you next time on The Running Channel.