I am down to my last spare pair of DS Racers. I was looking to re-stock over the last week, only to learn they have been discontinued. A clueless customer service person from the Asics website said they are not making racing flats anymore. I can’t believe that is true. Does anyone have an idea about what has replaced the DS Racer?
http://www.runningwarehouse.com/ASICS_Gel_DS_Trainer_22/descpage-ADS22M2.html
Running warehouse seems to have a lot of them
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I raced in the Hyper Speed 7 with Supergreen insoles in them. The DS Trainners as mentioned above are ok, narrow toebox so you might have to up a 1/2 Size. The DS racers were perfect, I have an alert set up on eBay but haven’t had any luck.
My mistake, I read DS Trainer for some odd reason.
I didn’t like that last few years of the DS Racer. The blue with green stripes worked well for me. The next one was red and it never felt right. I wound up wearing through the tread before I felt they were broken in. The next one was blue again but it was the same as the red one. I still have the blue ones, think I have about 30 miles on them, size 9. You can have them for the shipping cost.
I went to the Mizuno Hitogami, I like that shoe a lot.
jaretj
I raced in the Hyper Speed 7 with Supergreen insoles in them. The DS Trainners as mentioned above are ok, narrow toebox so you might have to up a 1/2 Size. The DS racers were perfect, I have an alert set up on eBay but haven’t had any luck.
Yup love my Hyper Speeds!
They’re supposed to have a new DS Racer in 2018. I believe it’s the last direct competitor to the Saucony Fastwitch 8.
Asics line-up has really been in flux for the last four years or so; they just can’t figure out who they want to be as a brand.
As someone else mentioned, the Mizuno Hitogami would give a pretty similar underfoot feel, and because of the width of the platform underfoot relative to the DS Racer, should be a more neutral platform to land upon.
Saucony Fastwitch is going to be a firmer ride than you are used to. There’s also the Brooks Asteria or Hyperion out there, likely worth looking at from an underfoot feel perspective.
I ran in the Fastwitch 7 in 2016 for some races and it’s definitely firmer than then Fastwitch 3 or 4 I had run in years before as well as the DS Racer.
There is more posting in it as well so I didn’t feel it was a direct competitor to the DS racer or the Hitogami.
Someone above mentioned the Hyperspeeds, I have a few pairs of the Hyper tri which is almost the same shoe as the Hyperspeeds. If I was picking an Asics shoe now to replace the DS Racer I might go that route as well.
You can find the DS racers, versions 10 and 11, in some Men’s sizes at 33 off. But they will only ship to Canada.
For anyone that has moved from the DS Racer to These other models, what has been your experience with sizing? I am usually an 11 in Asics, but use a 11.5 in the DS Racer. The only other brand I use for running is New Balance, and I typically am an 11.5 there. Curious how it would work with Saucony, Brooks, etc.
9 in the DS racer, Mizuno Hitogami, Hyperspeed, Fastwitch.
Sadly, I think the Hitogami is going away. The good news is that you can find them pretty cheap ($40-$50). The Shadow takes its place.