You’d be forgiven for those who blinked over the past decade and didn’t discover what the shoe designers at Merrell — significantly in path working — have been as much as. What many people know as a typical hiking-shoe producer has snuck up on path runners in a significant means with the brand new Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 ($200).
The “MTL” within the shoe’s identify stands for “Merrell Take a look at Lab” and the model is carving out an area for this high-performance division with its personal social media feeds which might be separate from the final Merrell account and the place the messaging is all about design uniqueness, experimental ideas, and a said mission to “make the MTL Skyfire 2 the working shoe with essentially the most FKTs [fastest known times] on earth.”
It is a “tremendous shoe” however not like those taking down data on the street; it’s a confounding mixture of tremendous light-weight with sturdy supplies that may encourage velocity going up and down as rapidly as doable. I’ve turn out to be one thing of an knowledgeable in light-weight, quick distance path trainers, so I’ve acquired many pairs of footwear to reference when the appliance is quick working for brief distances, significantly up and down steep mountains.
I’ll get into the explanations that the MTL Skyfire 2 just isn’t flawless, however when it comes to a shoe that may provide help to PR or FKT that is one to strongly think about.
By way of stats, this shoe weighs 7.1 ounces (200 grams) in a U.S. males’s 9, and has 6 millimeters of drop.
Be sure to additionally take a look at our Finest Light-weight Path Operating Sneakers article, the place we’ve named the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 the most effective light-weight shoe for technical terrain.
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The Merrell MTL Skyfire 2. All pictures: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 Higher
Although I didn’t check the unique model, the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 cuts a drastic departure from the primary MTL Skyfire. The unique shares far more of its frequent traits with what you’d count on in Merrell’s days of previous. And though the MTL Skyfire 2 additionally makes use of a TPU higher with breathable engineered mesh, the look is way completely different.
Firstly, the Merrell Take a look at Lab sought to provide the MTL Skyfire 2 nothing further, so it’s not shocking that the higher may be very stripped down and you’ll even see via it.
The tongue just isn’t gusseted and it’s paper skinny, however I’ve had no hassle with it slipping or changing into irritable. A punch out on the prime proper of the tongue will increase air circulate and removes some materials, seemingly as a weight saver.
A millimeter-wide elastic band is sewn to both aspect of the higher over the shoelaces; this nifty element serves as a barely there lace storage.
Beneath the tall heel collar, there are sewn-in inserts of padding nevertheless it’s a bit of decrease on the heel than most producers go for. I actually like the feeling and assist, and it additionally provides some particles safety.
For me the shoe runs true to dimension, however one would possibly need to dimension down a tad because the heel might be a bit of sloppy if too huge. The exhausting plastic FlexPlate heel counter may be very efficient at holding the arch in place and locked down.
A small, welded overlay on the within and out of doors of the higher serves to cease rips or tears. Talking of which, although it has largely stood as much as the weather, the higher has suffered a small tear close to my huge toe. I don’t really feel this higher materials is as sturdy because the now frequent Maytrx utilized by different manufacturers, so Merrell loses a little bit of leverage to different tremendous light-weight rivals like Acr’teryx, Salomon, and Nnormal.
The footwear are usually not vast per se, however the flexibility of the higher permits your foot to unfold out. That is complicated as a result of the entrance of the shoe involves an outlined level and but it’s a comfortable match even for my vast toes and bunions.
The mix of various shades of oranges, black, and white with an extended Merrell wordmark throughout the lateral facet of the shoe makes it actually stand out and passers-by received’t confuse it with something from Hoka, Brooks, Salomon, or different corporations.
A lateral view of the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2.
Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 Midsole
The Merrell MTL Skyfire 2’s two-part, dual-density FloatPro Foam midsole is shockingly comfortable regardless of the shoe’s general stripped-down look. There’s an innovation within the type of its aforementioned FlexPlate, which feels far more propulsive and, higher but, much less noticeable than different plated path footwear available on the market.
The plate is sandwiched between two layers of the very snug FloatPro Foam. The ability switch feels extra outlined than in, say, the Hoka Tecton X 2 — try our Hoka Tecton X 2 evaluate. Nevertheless, the mannequin’s 6-millimeter drop and very minimalistic design precipitated my shins to be very sore the day after my first run, having bombed down technical descents over about 9 miles and 4,000 toes of acquire and loss. This break-in interval was temporary, although, and my legs rapidly tailored thereafter.
The insole is paper skinny and after competing on this 12 months’s nearly totally snowy Damaged Arrow Skyrace Vertical Kilometer, the place my socks and footwear have been fully moist on the finish, I took the shoe off and the insole had slipped all the best way to the medial facet of the shoe. Merrell would possibly discover future iterations of this collection to forgo insoles altogether.
A medial view of the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2.
Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 Outsole
Earlier on this evaluate I discussed the higher materials being much less sturdy than shoe manufacturers utilizing Matryx. However the place the model exceeds a few of its light-weight rivals within the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 is in traction.
The superior traction comes from each the usage of Vibram MegaGrip, actually the trade normal in terms of path working shoe outsoles, in addition to the distinctive honeycomb sample of the outsole and its lug configuration.
These days, the usage of one thing like, say, Salomon’s Contagrip outsole, which little question affords much less traction on a competitor shoe mannequin, the Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 2 — right here’s our Salomon S/Lab Pulsar 2 evaluate if that’s of curiosity — is head scratching.
These days for a lot of athletes, Merrell has discovered a house alongside manufacturers like VJ, which makes footwear used usually by obstacle-course racers due to their combine of sunshine weight and deep lugs that work within the number of situations that these athletes face: mud, rain, dust, and assist for leveraging obstacles.
This shoe is comparable with 5-millimeter deep lugs, however the comparability past this to any VJ shoe I’ve examined is unfounded and the MTL Skyfire 2 vastly outperforms the Finnish firm’s footwear.
The outsole wraps as much as the entrance center of the higher, and it sadly has begun peeling off the outsole.
The outsole of the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2.
Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 General Impressions
Although I discovered the break-in interval a bit brutal merely from not having conditioned my shins, the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 sits firmly atop my listing of favourite path racing footwear. Although reasonable distances are most likely finest, the footwear are only a showstopper when it comes to their mixture of sunshine weight and unbelievable traction.
Although higher sturdiness hasn’t been excellent, being selective about this shoe’s use in time trials, vertical-kilometer races, quick FKT makes an attempt, and extra makes it the right instrument when velocity is your concern.
It’s also possible to learn our Finest Light-weight Path Operating Sneakers article, the place we’ve named the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2 a prime shoe on this class.
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Name for Feedback
- Have you ever been working within the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2? What do you consider the shoe general in addition to of its particulars?
- Did you utilize the unique MTL Skyfire? In that case, what do you concentrate on the substantial updates made to this second model?
[Editor’s Note: If you’re affiliated (i.e., an employee, ambassador, etc.) with a brand, please share your relation in each of your comments on this article. Thanks!]
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A prime view of the Merrell MTL Skyfire 2.
