Reviewed by 
Type: Trail
Weight: 352g (UK12)
Drop: 8.5mm
The Shoe
Just to clear something up immediately: if you’re hoping that the Nike Ultrafly feels and performs just like the Vaporfly 3 with a grippy sole glued on, prepare to be disappointed. The Ultrafly Trail certainly has materials and elements that are similar to its road counterpart, but it's a wholly different shoe and experience in its own right.
What’s it like to run in the Nike Ultrafly?
The shoe has a firmer ride than its road counterparts, mainly due to the wrapped ZoomX foam. ZoomX foam is famously soft and cushioned (as anyone who has run in the Invincible 3/Vaporfly/Alphafly can attest to) but when faced with uneven ground, rocks, roots and all that good stuff, super-plush shoes aren’t ideal. To solve this, Nike brought some structure to the foam by wrapping it in a material to add some structural integrity (and also to protect it) which seems to have done the trick.
This firmer ride is a welcome attribute on the trails where ground feel is paramount. This sense of feel is enhanced by the wide toe box and even wider forefoot platform; the amount of shoe that touches down is considerable (especially compared with other shoes) and that not only provides more surface area for grip, but trail confidence too. On the flip side, the width of the shoe does slightly reduce the feeling of nimbleness on super technical trails, so if you’re used to a narrow shoe more inline with the width of your foot, that’s worth bearing in mind.
For the sake of comparison, here are some rough widths of the forefoot of the Nike Ultrafly Trail, Asics Fujispeed 2, Hoka Tecton X2 and North Face Vectiv Pro (all carbon plated trail shoes catering to a similar surface/distance). The Nike is up to 1cm wider than the rest (size UK12 shoe).
The Vibram outsole strikes a good balance between speed and grip and worked well on all surfaces, but it truly excelled on the dry, loose stuff like gravel, forest trails, hard packed earth and even sand. It handles some mud relatively well, but it’s not a shoe for trails that are consistently sloppy with mud.
Nike React Element 55 Orange | How does the Nike Ultrafly fit?
The fit of the Ultrafly is true to size and feels reassuringly built when on the foot. The Vaporweave upper feels robust without being bulky and once locked in, that wider stance doesn’t feel cumbersome at all and you get that nice feeling of the shoe being an extension of the foot rather than something noticeable, which is particularly relevant on the trails.
The Vaporweave upper isn’t the most breathable in really warm weather, but it performed well, plus the additional padding on the tongue helps to achieve a locked-in feel without hot spots on the top of the foot. The point of question with the shoe is the laces; Nike hasn't used the same laces as its other super shoes (the ones with the little grippers at the edge) and have gone for some chunky, thick laces. These laces do offer a more equal distribution of pressure across the top of the foot and a degree of flex that allows for the bumps and shifts that trail running brings, but they did work themselves loose on occasions. I swapped out the laces and tried some from an old pair of Vaporfly and found this to be an improvement in regards to lace tension, but it might not be as comfy for other runners.
Oh, and the ¾ length carbon plate? It’s certainly there and the shoe benefits from it with a sense of drive and responsiveness which some trail shoes certainly lack, but it’s not the standalone feature, more a supporting act in the whole play.
RW Verdict
If you’re racing dry, long trails then these shoes are pretty fantastic and just eat up the miles, hitting a sweet spot between grip, cushioning and ground feel. For more technical trails, super narrow paths and proper mud then these shoes can do it, but it’s not where they perform best.
