Unpacking everything you said: The Nepali fits well, is light enough and is good and soft enough.
1. Clifton too firm and stiff
2. Bondi to Heavy
3. Clifton 1 tongue problem.


Options:
For Weight - Mach 2 - drawbacks, slightly higher arch, designed to be firmer.
For Cushion - Bondi B - Lighter than the current Bondi at just over 10 oz. Has all the cushion you can handle and the tongue is nice and normal.
Another Option: Use the Clifton 1 - go your local Walmart, Target or Longs and buy a flat insole. Cut it to the shape of your Clifton tongue. Glue your new cut padding to the underside of the tongue. Use socks to adjust to the new fit (You may need a thinner sock). This should fix the tongue problem.

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Dave Jewell
Free Run Speed

I like your idea to fix the tongue

Rincon is the Napalo replacement. Coming out in July.

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Washed up footy player turned Triathlete.

Napali, which I loved, is the Clifton 3 with a different upper. Clifton 4, which I have, like you said is stiff and has a weird arch. Clifton 5 is similar from what I've heard. Clifton 6 is supposedly a return to older generation Cliftons, so you might want to check that out when it comes out next month.

i sure hope the clifton 6 are better! i have a few extra clifton 1's waiting. the clifton 4 was awful.

I’ve been a Clifton user since they came out. I never got the 4 (thank goodness). The 5 is fine but relatively heavy compared to earlier versions. I bought 2 pairs of the Napali when they went on sale at Running Warehouse. To me, they are better than the Clifton 1’s (equally light, comparable cushion and a better tongue). If they just rebadged the Napali’s as Clifton’s they’d probably sell a boatload of them.

What do they do over at Hoka headquarters, throw all shoe model names in a hopper, pull one out and blindly slap it on a pair of shoes ?

Gimme a break

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Not everything is as it seems -Mr. Miyagi