I had a few pairs of Noosa’s when I first got into triathlon years ago. They were pretty heavy and not great shoes, but I didn’t know any better. Since then I was training in Pegasus turbos, racing in Asics Hyperspeeds, then Nike 4%/Next%. I’ve struggled to find decent shoes to train in since Nike discontinued the Pegasus Turbo, I tried the Pegasus 37 and they were nasty. I recently got some Noosa 13s and I’m pretty surprised. They are great to run in. About 30% lighter than my old Noosas, super comfy with decent amount of support and cushioning, They are a pretty fast shoe too. They remind me in some ways of the Pegasus Turbo, both shoes, you run in and you kind of forget they are there.
I tend to favor ASICS for training. I’ve used the Kayanos, Dynaflytes, Noosas and others for that. I usually just buy whatever is on sale, and it works for me. I don’t see a big difference between the Noosas and more expensive ASICS like the Kayanos.
I used to love the DS Racer as a racing flat, but those days are over—you have to use the Nikes. At some point, maybe I’ll try the Metaracer.
I tend to favor ASICS for training. I’ve used the Kayanos, Dynaflytes, Noosas and others for that. I usually just buy whatever is on sale, and it works for me. I don’t see a big difference between the Noosas and more expensive ASICS like the Kayanos.
I used to love the DS Racer as a racing flat, but those days are over—you have to use the Nikes. At some point, maybe I’ll try the Metaracer.
Yeah I’m keen to try the Metaracer too.
Isn’t the sole really stiff though?
I used to have the Noosa Tri 11s. They were mostly fine, except for the sole, which wouldn’t bend unless tortured. As a result, my heel was bobbing up and down in the shoe, no matter how tight I’d laced it. Because the producer said they were great for triathletes, I tried running sockless - sure enough, got massive blisters on the back of both heels.
Not sure if you’ve tried but I have had good luck finding Turbos and ZF3 on eBay. Love both of those shoes so I try to grab a pair or two when I find a good deal.
I haven’t tried the most recent Noosa. I’ve tried several Asics models over the years, some that I’ve liked, and others not so much. I was a big fan of the old Hyper Speed for racing. There’s a new version of the Hyper Speed that I like even more. I’ll try it on my next race. I think it would work well, particularly for short races.
This is the model I’m referring to:https://www.runningwarehouse.com/ASICS_Hyper_Speed/descpage-ASH1MS2.html
Isn’t the sole really stiff though?
I used to have the Noosa Tri 11s. They were mostly fine, except for the sole, which wouldn’t bend unless tortured. As a result, my heel was bobbing up and down in the shoe, no matter how tight I’d laced it. Because the producer said they were great for triathletes, I tried running sockless - sure enough, got massive blisters on the back of both heels.
The old ones were heavy and stiff, these are completely different. Same weight as the Pegasus Turbo. I haven’t tried running without socks in these as they won’t be race shoes, but they have an inner sock lining that supposedly allows you to run sockless. I ran 80km in them last week with no issues.
Thanks, I’ll have to give them a chance then.
We can not keep the Noosa 13s in stock. It’s almost a sure thing when bringing them out.
it’s almost like Asics is trying again after floundering for the better part of 5-7 years.
Asics seem to have been really come out of the box the last few years. My current arsenal of Asics are:
GT-2000 or DS-Trainer for longer runs, it used to be Kayano or GT-2000 but like the last two runs of the DS Trainer a-lot for long runs.
Glideride and Noveblast for 45min or shorter
Magic Speed can’t say enough about this shoe. I use it now for Tempo or Interval sessions. this is going to be my new race shoe.
I remember a couple years back you said that Asics was really changing the lineup. I used to be exclusively Kayano, GT-2000 and DS-Trainer. The Kayano have way too much support even for me, a bigger guy. I have never tried the Noosa Tri. I don’t know where they would fall into my use/need. I am in-between a neutral/stability shoe if that makes any sense. And a size 14 makes things tough.
it’s almost like Asics is trying again after floundering for the better part of 5-7 years.
I completely agree. They didn’t get great reviews because of the giant tongue, but the new trail shoes, the Trabuco Max, are great in my opinion. They steal all of the best features from other shoes. They took the max cushioning of Hoka, the speed laces of Salomon, the gator trap from Altra and the upper that is all Asics to make a pretty good shoe. Now, they could do each of those items a bit better. The speed laces slip a bit and the tongue is indeed too big. If they can fix a few minor issues, the next version is going to be perfect.