Salomon S/Lab Ultra Glide Review

The Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide. All pictures: iRunFar/Bryon Powell, except in any other case famous.

Befitting of the “lab” in Salomon’s S/Lab moniker, the corporate invented some first-ever applied sciences and built-in them into the beautiful experimental Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide ($250) shoe.

The shoe appears to be like strikingly totally different from the rest in the marketplace and feels totally different than any of the opposite Salomon footwear I’ve examined over the previous couple of years. Path working shoe expertise has largely centered on foams and plates these days and Salomon discovered a midsole mixture that’s as snug as any I’ve used.

However I’ll acknowledge my blind spots. One, for about 5 years now I’ve been notably drawn to light-weight racing footwear, on the paths and on the roads. This has solely been exacerbated by the unimaginable foam expertise that has developed lately. Quick footwear are enjoyable due to the power return and bounce. The paths the place I dwell are fairly balanced between very easy and runnable and really steep and technical. More often than not I can get away with increased stack, cush-y footwear, though I’m rather more selective on race day.

My different blind spot is my testing of a large swath of Salomon’s footwear. I’ve examined the entire Salomon S/Lab Pulsar fashions, of which there are 4 thus far. The S/Lab Extremely Glide doesn’t share any traits with the Pulsar line, apart from Salomon’s reserved crimson colorway, and but this can be a shoe I selected to evaluation? Emphatically, sure!

Not surprisingly, the S/Lab Extremely Glide blends qualities from street tremendous footwear — notably the identical Power Foam+ midsole used within the Salomon S/Lab Illusion 2. The S/Lab Extremely Glide’s foam creates a excessive stack however with solely common drop to assist preserve the shoe secure — a claimed 6-millimeter drop in contrast with the S/Lab Illusion 2’s 9 millimeters.

With a claimed stack top of 41 millimeters within the heel and with all of that uncovered foam — and, particularly in my U.S. males’s 12.5 — the shoe cuts an enormous profile. However appears to be like do deceive. The rapid step-in really feel is pure springy and tremendous snug cushion. I used to be thrilled to have a extremely responsive and rockered path working shoe to stability my rising disdain for plated ones the place with an equal quantity of cushion, floor really feel is simply killed. This shoe’s excessive cushion doesn’t scream floor really feel both, however with no inflexible plate in the way in which, it’s a lot better than a few of equally priced tremendous footwear from The North Face, Hoka, and adidas.

However even by fashionable requirements, this shoe is pricey and has some unsubstantiated expertise, notably within the outsole, that you just won’t need to pay for. That stated, I feel you’ll battle to discover a extra snug and enjoyable shoe for regular paces and, regardless of the “extremely” in its title, it’s a blast to make use of whether or not you’re working just some path miles or many.

Store the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide – Unisex

Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide Higher

A lateral view of the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide.

Materially, the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide higher is straight ahead. Breathable mesh wraps the shoe, from the forefoot and round each side the place it meets the Quicklace system. Not like, say, the S/Lab Pulsar collection, the Quicklace system right here is unprotected, with the laces passing via stitched tunnels till a remaining eyelet the place it terminates with the laces’ locking mechanism.

Quicklace has by no means been my favourite lacing system; it’s attention-grabbing that on this period of Boa dials, Salomon stays dedicated to its proprietary lace type. My subject with Quicklace is the shortcoming to make micro changes at sure sections of your toes.

The everyday lace storage covers the very prime of your foot and prevents you from making micro changes, it seems like you’ve got simply two choices: a bit of too unfastened, or a bit of too tight. The laces do an exceptional job although staying in these positions, by no means changing into totally different from the setting you utilized. I simply want there was extra customization.

The higher materials high quality is nice, with the mesh being sturdy and breathable, and bolstered — not with typical overlays — however with micro stitching meant to forestall abrasion whereas saving weight.

Salomon Slab Ultra Gilde - extra Front Range pic

The Salomon Slab Extremely Glide within the wild. Picture: iRunFar/Craig Randall

Due to its numerous stitching and patterning, the higher jogs my memory, aesthetically, of a European model’s athletic compression sock with totally different zones and intentions.

The higher has remained in good situation all through my testing, although one space of concern has already sprung up. The Quicklaces run over the ankle collar the place it connects on the tongue. They’re slowly grinding down the suede-like materials and can most actually change into break up open. That is in distinction to the fabric selection for the tongue itself. The gusseted tongue is created from a neoprene-like materials, which is the place the vast majority of the laces run over, and is clearly extra sturdy to resist their abrasion.

Whenever you put the shoe on, even with the laces absolutely loosened, I discovered the tongue would get bunched up. Salomon should have had this subject as nicely and is addressing it with the twin pull tabs over the tongue. A decrease one helps unfold out throughout your forefoot and a prime one, stitched over the lacing storage, helps distribute and even out any bunching.

Whereas it’s actually a part of the midsole, a evaluation of the higher ought to point out Salomon’s Power Foam that extends virtually as excessive because the ankle collar and is one a part of the midsole stack. Its top is supposed to cradle the medial and lateral facets of your foot.

Salomon S/Lab Extremely Midsole

A medial view of the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide.

It’s an extremely nice expertise to placed on the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide and sink into the froth. I’m a light-weight path shoe disciple, so in an effort to discover enjoyment out of a heavier and fewer nimble shoe, the midsole building have to be full of life, enjoyable, and soft.

The shoe’s enormous stack — a claimed 41 millimeters within the rear and 35 millimeters within the forefoot — particularly in my U.S. males’s 12.5 presents an enormous total package deal and footprint.

With an precise weight of 11.0 ounces (313 grams) for a U.S. males’s 9, the footwear I instantly likened the S/Lab Extremely Glide to have been the The North Face Vectiv Professional 3, which have a claimed stack top of 43 to 37 millimeters, heel to toe, and a claimed weight of 10.4 ounces (294 grams) for a U.S. males’s 9, and the Arc’teryx Sylan Professional, with a claimed stack top of 28 to 22 millimeters and a claimed weigh of 10.2 ounces (289 grams) for a U.S. males’s 9. All of those footwear make the most of a particularly rockered form, in order that they slot in in addition to path working shoes-cum-bulldozers/tanks/Humvees … you get the thought. I feel the On Cloudultra Professional may even discover firm with this trio, though it could fancy itself extra race-worthy than any of the aforementioned.

In true S/Lab kind, the midsole leverages some new ingenuity and design traits with its first-ever four-part building. The midsole componentry is as follows: immediately underfoot sits an Power Foam prime layer, made from the now business commonplace PEBA tremendous foam, atop a two half interlocking provider layer made from EVA foam that creates an enormous sidewall that helps stabilize and lock-in the foot. Lastly, a “relieve sphere” layer of body-mapped dimples designed to alleviate stress within the foot create the outermost layer.

Salomon invited some media (though not me) to see the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide in France final summer time and had bits of the midsole on show; it’s value Googling to seek out these photos and see how this midsole package deal comes collectively. It’s fairly placing. The 2-part provider foam extends excessive on the sidewalls of the medial and lateral facets of the shoe; it’s the uncovered white sections you may see on the surface of the shoe. These two impartial items are glued collectively down the center; the prolonged sidewall parts assist with stability and lock down.

It’s an interesting design course of certainly including value to this already very costly shoe, however does it improve the efficiency and impression whereas working? Maybe not in the way in which the model was intending. You don’t actually really feel something so proprietary or unusually helpful that you just’re left considering the shoe stands out in a cloth means, it’s only a very gratifying sensation that continues the development of giving street shoe bounce and effectivity to sturdy, lugged footwear for path.

The S/Lab Extremely Glide can also be pretty to make use of in road-to-trail conditions for the reason that foam is springy and gentle on concrete, with out tremendous deep outsole lugs dragging in opposition to the pavement.

The associated fee would counsel one, however the S/Lab Extremely Glide has no carbon or nylon plate. Maybe not coincidentally, a analysis paper revealed lately by two Salomon workers testing discovered that carbon-plated path trainers is probably not as efficient as we consider. iRunFar summarized the analysis. In some path footwear, a carbon plate not solely helps with power switch but additionally with safety, giving a inflexible layer of impenetrable protection. I discovered the shortage of plate to be unnoticeable when it comes to underfoot protection in opposition to sharp rocks on the path.

Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 3 Outsole

The outsole of the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide.

In a shoe full of peculiar particulars, it’s the outsole of the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide that arguably is probably the most compelling. See above “relieve sphere:” this dimple sample strains the outsole round a smattering of 4-millimeter Contagrip lugs. My near-everyday working trails’ floor is easy and rolling — the proper utility for this shoe. After I run a few of Boulder’s iconic methods like Shadow Canyon, Mount Sanitas, or Fern Canyon, nonetheless, it’s a completely totally different expertise.

Accomplished slowly, the shoe contours and finds its footing on these extraordinarily steep and technical trails, however if you add velocity, the outsole’s wavy, uneven patterning makes for a careless journey. People have middling expertise with the effectiveness of Contagrip, however as a result of there are comparatively few lugs on this shoe within the first place, over time, the outsole effectiveness is perhaps compromised with no approach to restore it. One thing like a resoleable possibility from Vibram could be a very good resolution, although think about the tooling wanted for that.

Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide Total Impressions

A prime view of the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide.

I used to be extraordinarily pleased with the match, consolation, and aesthetics of the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide. It hampered my very large, bunion-laden toes under no circumstances. It supplied gentle consolation in opposition to a lingering metatarsalgia subject I’ve been having on my proper foot. Although I’ve raved up to now concerning the S/Lab Pulsar line, I’ve a silent compact with these footwear: you give me velocity now, I’ll pay the worth with NSAIDs and ice packs later. I knowingly choose in to the ache they may present as a result of I just like the velocity I can generate. The S/Lab Extremely Glide breaks the S/Lab mould with its roomy and soft, dare I say wide-ish forefoot, making it the snug, albeit, slower counterpart to the Pulsar vary.

Much like how I’ll attain for the Altra Olympus 6 once I need to comfortably ramble alongside for a very long time, I feel the S/Lab Extremely Glide will fall into comparable conditions. It’s maybe means too expensive to be relegated to only these runs, but when I have been racing and will solely select between the Olympus and Extremely Glide, I’d positively select the latter. Sadly, a bevy of different footwear would knock out the Extremely Glide for consideration for racing; for enjoyable, cruisy runs although it’s a prime choose. Salomon has rather a lot to work with on this first version of the shoe. Maybe a v2 will easy out a number of the outsole quirks and hopefully tackle a number of the weight-bearing facets, just like the higher and the good however perhaps pointless midsole componentry.

Store the Salomon S/Lab Extremely Glide – Unisex