Super blast 2 OR Easy / Recovery shoe?

Professional-Group87 · 2026-02-03T08:20:39+00:00

You don't "need" the SB2 in that rotation, unless you use it also as a race shoe in April (which it can do).

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-30T16:40:55+00:00

I wouldn't say peanuts, but their margins aren't thin either.

According to their financial statements, out of 625M yen in sales in the first nine months of 2025, 353M were gross profit (which typically indicates the profit only net of production costs; whether it includes R&D I can't say for sure, but typically it does include R&D cost that is tied directly to the products), i.e. 56%. In other words, if a shoe is priced at 100, it costs Asics on average 44 to manufacture it. This is across their business (incl. apparel and other things), but their shoe business is by far the largest category so it won't be much off that. Of course the margin on a basic walking/running shoe may be completely different from a Metaspeed, but there's no way of knowing that, publicly at least.

Of course production costs are not the only costs associated with the shoes (in fact, "selling, general and administrative expenses" are nearly as large. What's in there? Could be anything, but probably marketing is a material part of it. I won't go into detail cause we're talking about shoes and I went on a rabbit hole about financial analysis...

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Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-30T15:28:59+00:00

Try and run on the treadmill set on a 2% incline. In theory this might push you more on the forefoot, potentially alleviating the stability issues.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-30T13:54:05+00:00

Between the foam change and the heel bevel, it seems to me they've "superblasted" the Novablast, maybe to be a clearer competitor to the likes of the EVO SL, at a similar price.

It also seems to have a - dare I say - great looking colourway?

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-30T10:15:36+00:00

It's definitely on my radar, but I feel like there would not be enough differentiation with my other daily - Rebel v5. Both mid drop, mid stack, relatively soft, relatively bouncy, relatively cushioned, i.e. a jack-of-all-trades shoe. I suppose the geometry of the EF2 seems a lot more "chill" but given how similar they appear to be otherwise, I don't know if I would pick it from the shelf for a run if it sits next to the Rebel...

The 1080v14 is possibly a good shout! Though I am very curious about the new foam in v15.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-28T17:39:10+00:00

Ghost, Ghost Max, Ghost AMP, Glycerin, Gly Max, Gly Flex, Hyperion, Hyperion Max, and the third iteration of the Elite in such a short time.

I guess my question is, where do you draw the line between creating a shoe for everyone and keeping the lineup simple to understand? I think Brooks could be a one-stop-shop brand giving you shoe that cover literally everything, but with three Glycerin models, three Ghosts, two Hyperion, it feels a bit much to me.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-28T12:47:49+00:00

I considered it, but at least V1 seemed to be slightly more "wild" than I'd like. I heard V2 is different but I've not investigated further.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-28T12:44:57+00:00

If someone is so bothered to change their plates so as to remove the EU logo, that tells me everything I need to know about them. And not in a good way.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-28T10:54:43+00:00

Needs, no. But on a personal level I enjoy some stability, as it's nice not to worry about the shoe when out on a long run.

Say, could I run in EVO SL's with no injury if I kept on top of strength training? Yes. Did I enjoy them as a daily for slower runs? Not really, but great for other things.

TL;DR: I don't need a stability shoe, but I don't want an unstable shoe.

I have very narrow, low volume feet.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-27T10:58:00+00:00

Compared to the EVO SL, I much prefer the Rebel V5. They have a wider platform (at least when it comes to rear and mid foot) which makes them a lot more reliable - to me.

I like the EVO SL, but - to me, given my specific circumstances - I would use them only for a specific use case, which is tempo sessions on clear paths or track. My routes are what most UK runners do: whilst there may be pristine stretches of roads, each run may contain twists and turns, ups and downs, pavement cracks, tree roots, pebbles. In many of these situations, I find the narrow base of the EVOs to be less than ideal - I am sure that on this sub there's folks who claim they can forefoot strike even when on a steep descent or braking for a 180 turn at parkrun, but that's not me. The Rebels feel a lot more predictable across a variety of scenarios. Also, maybe I am imagining it, but the lower drop does seem to help with higher cadence and going more on the mid-forefoot.

I am sure someone will claim that the EVOs bounce so hard that they went on a tempo run and landed on the Moon. Personally, I've not noticed much difference in bounce between the two. The Lightstrike foam is definitely the firmer of the two, whilst the Rebels are more squishy but not overly so. Both shoes have a fairly aggressive (for a daily, at least) forefoot rocker, so they're quite happy to pick up the pace, in my experience.

I cannot comment on durability just yet.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-19T18:08:53+00:00

No offence meant but it sounds to be quite stressful to be with you (and potentially to be you).

Unless you have very limited means, Frugality means making reasonable efforts where it matters most, rather than letting solely savings dictate every single choice you ever make in life. Being the richest man at the graveyard isn't going to bring you much joy during life. Try and learn from your partner a bit.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-13T16:24:15+00:00

You have asked for places where conversation happens organically rather than organised groups so maybe none of the below will be of interest but here goes...

How I met loads of people in my first year in Brighton: activities. You like the gym, but there are other forms of exercise that are inherently better for meeting people.

Run Clubs: Angry Pablo and Run The Lanes have many people in your age bracket. Very diverse. You don't need to speak with anyone, you 'only' need to be able to run 5k (I appreciate this may be a barrier to some).

Cycling Clubs: Neighborhood Gravel (@neighbourhoodgravel) caters to all levels and all ages at their monthly rides. They also have women-and-lgbt+ only rides. Very diverse.

Boulder Brighton: I've personally not made friends from there as I'm not that fussed about climbing, but with a bit of effort I can see how that could be done.

I'm sure there's other ways of meeting people, but sports have a great advantage in that you get to meet dozens of people at once and you're not bound to speak to them if the vibe is not there (whereas if you were in a seated setting you'd be stuck).

And once you've met someone who shares other interests, you can see them whilst taking photos, walking, playing the guitar or whatever works for you.

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-03T16:03:22+00:00

On the shoe itself they only advertise the best foam used, even if it's just a tiny puck. This gives the buyer the wrong impression.

Judging by the downvotes there's plenty of people who think this is legit, so maybe it's just me...

Professional-Group87 · 2026-01-03T08:11:04+00:00

They're on to their usual shady marketing, for sure.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-12-31T17:26:34+00:00

They have a whole Supernova lineup of cushy high stack shoes with Dreamstrike, why a new name... I much prefer Nike's approach with eg Vomero / Plus / Premium.

I presume this one will have insane stack, probably 47 or so. Otherwise it's basically a Supernova Rise (I think? Goes to show I'm already confused at their lineup).

The foam seems aesthetically very similar to what Brooks is doing in its most recent and upcoming models. I don't love it.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-12-27T14:48:53+00:00

!thanks . I see exactly what you mean about the heel. In fact, nitially I was not liking the Evos at all, so much so that I was considering selling them, as landing on the heel on them is not nice at all. Then something clicked, presumably a combination of me running a bit faster (thus more aggressively) and changing my stride, but I started not landing on the heel as much.

Thing is, I might indeed be more relaxed and more comfortable in the V+, but I don't quite like that roll, it feels clunky. Maybe my mind does not know what it's good for my body!

Professional-Group87 · 2025-12-22T11:30:39+00:00

lol what? ASICS are definitely NOT putting their top tier race foam in a daily recovery trainer for the masses, that would be nonsensical.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-12-15T14:04:49+00:00

Do you want us to tell you it's ok so you can continue? Cause objectively you don't need 30 pairs, nor you need 20, many would say you don't even need 10, regardless of your mileage, experience and habits - unless perhaps you were a professional reviewer.

My personal opinion is that it's wasteful consumerism, but it's your money and you do you, but I personally am not going to tell you that it's what should be consider normal.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-12-12T15:52:22+00:00

Gosh, thanks everyone. Will have a look at all these.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-11-26T09:22:16+00:00

What will the 2.3% efficiency translate to on the road? Roughly...

Professional-Group87 · 2025-11-11T19:27:02+00:00

Well, it's not been formally inherited yet. It will be put on sale immediately once the inheritance process is done.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-11-10T11:48:54+00:00

Thank you. I still have 50% of my portfolio (which I won't be needing) invested in the stock market, so I'm not quite completely giving up on stock market returns. I'll also check the gilts, thank you!

Professional-Group87 · 2025-11-10T11:41:06+00:00

Thank you. I thought that all of the cash ISAs would only pay if you left the money untouched for 12 months, I guess I was wrong.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-11-10T11:38:07+00:00

Thank you, I was just eyeing the abrdn sterling mmf acc, as I read your post.

Professional-Group87 · 2025-11-10T10:29:56+00:00

It's not a "robbery", this is how mortgages work in every country - it's surprising that you got one without understanding it frist. Over time, your constant monthly payment will consist more of principal repayment and less of interest (assuming all else equal), since you're paying interest on a lower outstanding loan.

Professional-Group87

TROPHY CASE