The Summary: A yacht-sized super shoe that burns retinas and the nerves in the ball of my foot.
Specs
- Model: Nike ACG Ultrafly Trail
- Testing: 16 miles / 2.25 hours (trails and treadmill)
- Acquisition: Retail (Running Warehouse)
Build & Fit: There’s no denying the Ultrafly Trail is a well-built shoe – the materials feel high-quality and the sole boasts the gold-standard Vibram rubber.
Unfortunately (for me at least), the shoe feels enormous. Like, if Adidas’ Agravic Speed Ultra 1 is a speedboat, this shoe feels like a yacht under foot. It also has an upper that provides zero give/stretching, and while the toe box doesn’t feel particularly tight (I thought it felt wider than my ASUs), it seems… vertically challenged? My forefoot felt like the PB&J between slices of unstretchable upper above and firm carbon-plated sole below, which ultimately led to nerve aggravation in the ball of my left foot.
On a positive note, it feels much more stable through the heel and I would assume I’d have far fewer ankle rolls in this shoe.
The Good
- High-quality materials – super foams, carbon plates, Vibram soles
- Wide, stable footprint – probably helpful for those with a penchant for ankle rolls
- Caleb Olson won Western States 100 in some prototype of these so they can’t be that bad
The Bad
- A lot of shoe – feels clunky on technical trails; yacht vs speedboat
- Unforgiving, unstretchable upper – hope your feet don’t swell!
The Verdict: I can generally tell within minutes of wearing a shoe whether or not things are going to work out, and that was certainly the case with this new version of the Ultrafly.
I want to like Nike’s trail shoes – I loved the look of the original Ultraflys with the asymmetric colors and sick textured uppers, and while the ACG version screams “super shoe” with its eye-catching “hyper crimson” colorway, critical foams, and carbon plate, it doesn’t feel super on the trails. I know I keep coming back to the Adidas ASU 1 comparison, but it really captures the essence of the experience. My idea of “super” is fast and nimble on the trails – the ASU 1s delivered that feeling (even if it comes with a few rolled ankles) and the new ACG Ultraflys do not.
It also didn’t help that some combination of the upper material and foam/plate stiffness led to significant nerve pain in the ball of my foot over the course of a relatively short (9 mile) trail run despite trying multiple lacing tightnesses and strategies.
I’m sure it works for others (like Caleb Olson mentioned above), as this stuff can be so specific to individual physiology. But for me, I’ll be returning my pair.
