Nike Joyride Run Flyknit

NIKE JOYRIDE RUN 

 Nike unveiled a brand new cushioning technology that they've dubbed Nike Joyride now usually when a sneaker company unveils a new cushioning technology it just looks like standard foam nothing too crazy but when you look at the Nike Joyride technology it really looks different as you can probably tell from this window on the heel Nike Joyride is actually just a bunch of tiny little beads usually sneaker cushions are foam or some type of air and in some cases they don't even have cushions but this shoe literally has a bunch of tiny little TPE beads which is something I've never seen before and that's honestly why I was so excited to try this sneaker out I love crazy new technologies and this really seems like crazy new technology before we jump into the review itself let me fill you in on some of the basic details this colorway of the Nike Joyride run Flyknit is the first shoe available that you can actually try Joyride technology and as of right now.

 It's only available to Nike members however on August 15th it does get a much wider release and a couple more colorways as the name would suggest.The Nike Joyride run is specifically designed to be a running sneaker however Nike is planning to release some lifestyle models that featured joyride cushioning technology before the end of the month and probably even more models before the end of the year the Joyride run-flat it comes in at a retail price of 180 bucks which definitely isn't cheap like I said as someone who loves trying out new sneaker technologies.I had to grab myself a pair since first trying on the shoes.I have had a chance to go and run in them so I do have some experience with the shoe but stay tuned because later in the week once. I've had more time with this it to some other cushions out in the market but with all of that out of the way let's jump right into the upper the upper as you probably expected from the name of the sneaker is made up almost entirely of planet it's very soft it's very stretchy but it's just kind of your standard flying it it's not really anything new sort of diagonally cutting across the mid foot of the sneaker you do have this sort of neoprene material that starts on the medial side this material did offer a little bit more padding on the inside of my foot which I really did appreciate it's also riddled with perforations because unlike flattenit it's just not as breathable but that definitely does help there's a small piece of fuse overlay on the tip of the toe for some extra durability then moving up on the shoe you to your flat white laces that weave through even more fuse overlay around the eyelids the general construction of the upper is essentially just a booty so you don't have a separate tongue and your foot kind of slides into the sneaker like a sock however there is actually the separate piece around the heel so it's not really a one-piece upper it's kind of a split dual bootie situation I'm not really sure how to describe it at the top of the tongue you've got this seemingly retro-inspire padded circular Nike logo which.

 I actually kind of like inside the shoe there's not really any sock liner to speak up also the insole of the shoe isn't removable and it feels just like a thin piece of material between your feet and the beads that's definitely not a bad thing though it's not uncomfortable in any way but honestly you probably wouldn't feel the beads underneath your foot if there was any kind of foam in between your foot and the beads themselves you do have the Joyride logo printed on the insole and orange Nike also didn't adhere or glue the center of this material to the mid sole itself so there is sort of a weird kind of air bubble or air pocket going on which I don't mind and I guess it's there to allow you to feel the beads a little bit more freely I'm not totally sure why it's there but I don't hate it as for fit the Nike Joyride does seem to fit me true to size but I have narrow feet if you have wide feet or you prefer a little more space in your running sneakers I would definitely suggest going up half a size I'd also suggest if you have the chance to try the shoe on first before you buy it make sure to do that to make sure you're grabbing the right size for you continuing back on the shoe you get to that separate ankle area that I mentioned earlier which has some really nice padding around the top of the ankle and does lock you down pretty nicely around the heel and of course rounding off the back of the shoe you've got this sort of rope like pull tab.

 Then moving downward we get to the part of the shoe that I'm sure you're most interested in the Joyride mid sole itself according to Nikes website there are four different segments that make up this midsole there's a large heel unit a small mid foot unit a slightly larger forefoot unit and then a small toe unit each one of these segments or bags or containers or whatever you want to call them hold these TPE beads now TPE is not actually a foam it's what's called a thermoplastic elastomer and it's actually something you might be a lot more familiar with than you think PPE is actually used for a lot of different things it's food safe so you can use it as a gasket and a bottle cap or you could use it as like the soft touch material on a tool in my previous line of work where I used to design kitchenware and dog toys we use TP ela so TPE is actually not a foam at all it's more of a rubbery type material and because of that a large slab of TPE would not be anywhere close to as soft as a slab of foam but that's actually where the shoe gets interesting because this midsole is not made up of one slab of material like most foam midsole it's made up of a bunch of tiny little rubber like beads.

 

So your foot almost sinks into the midsole it's a really weird sensation running or walking on this midsole isn't a soft is something like boost or react but it does kind of feel like your foot is slipping into a tiny little ball pit which is a super weird feeling it almost feels like you're walking on like really thick granular sand but what's nice about these rubber beads rather than a foam insole is that you actually get a lot more bounce so you get a lot more spring in your step the way this shoe has been described by a couple of my friends who have actually run a lot more in the sneaker than I have is a great recovery shoe it's the kind of sneaker that you would wear for a run when your muscles are really worn out and they can't handle too much more impact or for example if you're a new runner and you're just not used to that kind of impact and it's also an interesting sensation underfoot when you're walking but not so much when you're running because when you're running it just feels like a standard midsole it's a really interesting technology and one that like I need a lot more time with to really completely understand one thing I will say though is that because this midsole is essentially just for beanbags you do really get a very customized and very personalized fit to your foot the beads just sort of slowly move out of the way as you walk in the shoes so it really feels like a one-to-one fit and that's something I really like about this shoe no it's not as soft as boost no it's not as soft as react but it really gives you almost a more personalized fit than those materials.

I also think it looks nuts like I've never seen a shoe that looks like this it's just such a crazy unique look if you're a runner who needs a good recovery day shoe to alleviate some of those pressure points this is a great way to go or if you're just a beginner runner who doesn't like a lot of that hard impact that you get from a lot of other running shoes again a good way to go I definitely plan to run in this shoe more I'm not like a super aggressive runner however I do like a slightly stiffer cushion right now my favorite shoe is the Pegasus 35 but this is something that I'd be happy to try for a few days and really get a feel for another interesting thing about this bead construction is that the midsole doesn't really have any sort of like solid and stiff structure it's a very flexible shoe and if that's something you like great if it's something you don't avoid this ship then finally moving from the midsole to the bottom of the shoe which you've already seen a lot of by this point you do have some orange rubber panels for extra durability and then of course he's got these clear rubber areas to show off the Joyride cushioning over all the 180 dollar Nike Joyride is a brand new sensation and one that I'm pretty excited about wearing more it might not be a shoe for the most hardcore runner or at least not an everyday shoe but it's definitely something that if you run is worth checking out I honestly feel like this is gonna become much more of a lifestyle shoe for me than a running shoe it's definitely not something I'd want to run in every single day that said because I'm primarily wearing this as a lifestyle sneaker I'm not a huge fan of this colorway there are more colorways dropping on August 15 that this colorway is not really your speed and there's also a bunch of lifestyle models coming out later in the year if you don't really feel like grabbing this particular silhouette joy ride is a really interesting new technology from Nike and I'm very excited to see what they do with it but that pretty much wraps up the review for today now I would love to know your thoughts on the Nike Joyride run flying it and whether.