Is Asics the only one that still sells old-skool racing flats?

The adizero lightstrike low reminds me of the old takumi sen, but with a bit more heel cushion, no torsion plate, no continental rubber, and a simpler, more comfortable upper.

I'll say it again. These are the best flats out there. Don't knock em till you've tried them.

Saucony has the new Sinister. They also sell the old Type A5...well It's probably Type A9 if they still have them around.

It's a shame Nike quit making the Mayfly. I still see some old timers wearing them at 5ks and track meets. I wore mine until they fell apart.

I order the Tarther from their website directly and use them for speed work. The Takumi Sen is my main racer. My arches just don’t do well with high stack shoes.

The NB Supercomp pacer is quite low. It does have a plate, but that is more for rigidity at toe off. I wouldn't call it a super shoe.

The Saucony Sinister is more bare bones. It has springy peba foam and the rubber outsole adds needed snap.

If you really want old school, you could always go with a spikeless cross country flat like the Kilkenny.

The sinister is a pretty good shoe made for 5k/10k road racing, but could probably go up to half if you got used to them.

Asics and Mizuno have a Japanese line. The mizuno flat still in production is the wave cruise and asics has tarthers and sorties. You'll need to get them through rakuten or ebay though unless you have a weird foot size. They seem to be getting less and less popular even in Japan though, so who knows how long they still are in production.

Also, zoot has a triathlon shoe. I have a pair and they seem to have a ton of room in the forefoot, like a trainer, but other than the weird width there they fit and feel like a flat.

The nb pacer has major durability issues. Check reviews before you buy this shoe. It went on sale very quickly after release and I don't know anyone who has been happy with it.

Saucony still makes Fastwitch and A9.

Adidas still make the Adios - I believe they're up to the 7th incarnation.

This is not to be confused with the Adios Pro, which is their top of the line super-shoe.

I had the adios 7 and it was the worst shoe I bought last year. The foam had no semblance of give and the shoe was super stiff… like a pair of clogs. Nothing like previous adios modes. The Takumi Sen 5 felt cushy by comparison.

You're right. it's sad.

I just picked up a pair of these in my size on ebay:

best road racing flat I've ever used. Featherlight.

There are still some lower stack "performance trainers" (Streakfly et al.), but they don't really feel the same as a flat. You could also try spikeless XC flats.

Sad to say, but it was only ever a tiny group of people who used flats as trainers, so once racers moved on the writing was on the wall. I think some kind of minimalist shoes will stick around if you can tolerate those.

Nope, they were discontinued.

I train in flats as well. Xc flats aren't usually suitable for running on the road (except streak xc/lt) so if you're training all on grass or grass/trail those may work.

Lower for the streakfly and shoes like that is relative. They are still like 30mm stack height, much higher than any pre carbon plate flat.

The minimal shoes still on the market are very minimal. Having nothing between xero and a 30mm stack height shoe (other than what is already listed in this thread of course) is sad.

But they have been downhill since the 3rd version

The adios became what the Boston was.

Don’t have tons of miles on them yet, maybe 100k, but loving the pacer.

It still has that slipper feeling of a nice pair of flats at an regular pace. Feels like a spike for the road when you really get up on the toes and kick.

I don’t expect it will last even 50% as long as the 1400s

The first couple were ok. I thought they worked as trainers or maybe a marathon racer. I know people set wr's in them, but I liked the adizero rocket much much more.