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Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Gear Reviews

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Reebok recently launched their 2019 collection of Floatride running shoes. The statement product in the range is the Floatride Run Ultraknit. We’ve been training in the Runner’s World Best Debut winner of Spring 2019 over the past month on a variety of surfaces. Read on for our World Exclusive look at it as we celebrate National Runner’s Month 2019!

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Specifications

Here are the technical specifications of the Floatride Run Ultraknit from Reebok.

Floatride foam technology cushions feet while staying incredibly lightweight. It stays responsive to your movements throughout your gait cycle, providing support every step of the way. Every piece of these high-performance men’s running shoes is engineered to reduce irritation, friction, and anything else that might weigh you down as you’re racing toward the finish line.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

• Best for: Long distance runs, including marathons, half marathons, 10Ks
• Floatride Foam technology provides soft and lightweight cushioning for a responsive feel
• Stabilizing EVA foam rim centers and balances your foot throughout gait cycle
• Supportive 3D heel cradle is specially contoured to help eliminate heel irritation
• Rippled rubber outsole adds traction
• Molded sock liner for durable cushiony comfort

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Design

The main components of the Floatride Run Ultraknit are its well-cushioned foam sole, minimal Reebok logo-inspired midfoot and lacing cage, flattened laces, ultrasoft heel cradle, and well-ventilated knit upper. The design of the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit very effectively combines all those elements in an extremely simple yet very functionally manner. A brilliant aesthetic effect is created at the same time. Our test shoe was a classy black / white/ slate colorway. However, just about any set of colors would work for this shoe.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

The highlights of the Floatride Run Ultraknit design are the shoe’s upper and cage. The new Reebok knit used for the user is a modern of an athletic shoe fabric as you can find today. It has a pronounced texture because of its ventilation that gives a very visually appealing three-dimensional effect. This, in turn, works well with the raised cage to create an extremely modern look that gives the wearer the look of a serious modern athlete once on the feet.

A final nice design touch of the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit is its light brown rubber outsole. Reminiscent of the soles of traditional indoor soccer shoes, this traction-enabling element of the shoe add a unique touch that isn’t common in most of today’s trainers. The visually contrast with the rest of the shoe created is well done.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Fit

The Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit fits true to size. Therefore, we suggest getting it in your usual running / training shoe size.

The shoe’s knit upper provides an amazing fit that doesn’t feel very different from wearing a pair of socks. Our testers have even worn the Floatride Run Ultraknit with no socks and have reported being quite comfortable doing so. Slipping on the shoe is effortless with no pull tabs or lace adjustment required. It is simply a matter of sliding your feet in them and lacing up to your liking. Once the shoe is on your feet you can move your toes around easily because of the soft, stretchy feel of the Ultraknit material. This provides a nice, very natural feel while running that reminds us of the days of barefoot running shoes.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

One of our favorite features of the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit is the raised inside padding of its heel counter. This not only plays a big part in readily sliding on the shoe but greatly adds to its comfort. The feel of it is quite soft thus ensuring that there is zero discomfort when on the move in the Ultraknit. It is almost like a travel neck pillow for the back of your feet!

Weight

The Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit is a relatively lightweight shoe because of its foam sole and knit upper. We tried out a men’s size 10 that had a weight of just 9 ounces. This is quite discernible when running with the shoe and without the loss of cushioning and support often experienced in stripped down lightweight running shoes.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Ventilation

The Ultraknit upper on the Reebok Floatride that proudly includes the fabric in its name is the best-ventilated athletic shoe material that we’ve ever run into. It is a light as a sock with openings that are essentially pores that allow for the flow of air into and out of the top area of the shoe. This makes for an excellent cooling feeling while running or training in this version of the Floatride. We never experienced the dreaded runners’ hot feet and enjoyed the fact that the shoe helped keep our feet drier than others in the current heatwave in our area.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Ride

The ride of the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit is based on its superb sole made of EVA Foam. The cushioning throughout each stride provided by this material is second to none with a soft, bouncy feel experienced from the time the foot hits to ground at the heel. This continues without any reduction to the midfoot and forefoot. This is, in part, because of a small heel to toe drop.

The Ultraknit upper’s sock like fit does its part in creating a wonderful ride by wrapping the foot like a sheath with no rubbing or unwanted shifting. Meanwhile, the heel cradle keeps the back of the foot in place and well-supported with the help of the lacing cage.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

We tried the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit out on concrete, rubberize and asphalt our door surfaces and on a treadmill at the gym. The ride was stellar in all cases with running even while fatigued just a little easier than with other running shoes that we’ve tried out lately. Of note is the fact that we did not feel as much of an impact on our joints (particularly soccer-worn knees) while running on concrete (which we try to avoid because of its well-documented injury risks).

In the Gym

We all wear our running shoes for a multitude of athletic endeavors out of convenience. This includes weightlifting and conditioning work that might precede or follow a run.

We’ve worn the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit extensively at the gym for a slew of upper body weight work. The shoe provided a decent level of support for everything we did including standing moves such as bicep curls, triceps press down, shoulder shrugs and bent over barbell rows. We don’t recommend them for leg works such as squats, calf raises or deadlifts because they are built with the right level of support for such exercises.

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

Durability

After one month of use and with over fifty miles on them our Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit shoes shoe little signs of wear and look almost as good as they did straight out of the box. The upper has a little stretching where you slip your foot into the shoe while the white sole picked up some dirt along the way. Everything else has held up quite well. Therefore, we think that the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit is well-built and should last for at least a year of training.

Bottom Line

It’s not a surprise that the Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit has earned accolades since its release in the athletic world press. The shoe is among the best trainers that we’ve seen in some time with its combination of modern lightweight running shoe technology and undeniable comfort. We recommend it to anyone in the market for new training kicks!

Review: Reebok Floatride Run Ultraknit

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