So I have been running in the Brooks Launch for a while now and they are awesome. They are such a simple shoe, its extremely light weight, yet it has enough cushion for a really smooth ride, and there is not too much support. What Nike running shoe most closely resembles these??
Current model...perhaps the Cumulus. The LunarTrainers were fairly similar too in the neutral lightweight sense. I am not sure about the newer line of Lunar-series shoes though.
the Nike Cumulus? Interesting, sounds like a great shoe!
I don't think Nike and Brooks shoes are very similar. Their lasts and insoles/soles/cushion rarely give me a similar feel. Maybe the Pegasus comes close to the Launch, but not really. Most neutral Nike shoes still have more of a built up arch than the neutral shoes made by Brooks. Very few Nike shoes have the sort of forefoot rubber the Launch has.
What exactly is it about the Launch you actually care about having in a Nike shoe? You might be able to focus on a few key features, but you're not going to find a duplicate shoe.
What's funny is that I also kind of like the Brooks Launch, but I wouldn't call it simple, light weight, or say that it's a very smooth ride! I think it's a pretty normally built up shoe with typical heavy weight and enough cushion to make heel strike very prominent. The sort of sprung toe effect of the shoe is all that makes it seem like a smooth ride, but you have to be going fast enough to enjoy that or else you're just slapping down on the heel like normal.
I ordered a pair of the Skylon thinking they'd be a pretty great light trainer and it was possibly the worst shoe I ever held in my hands. I don't know what happened. Maybe I ordered one with a defect and just had nothing to compare it to. Anyway, you might want to consider the Skylon.
Hmm. I was just thinking that the Launch probably has more stability features than the Skylon, which led me to thinking about the Nike Run Avant. The Avant is probably a lot like the Launch, actually.
PAUL, GTFO of Letsrun.
I love the Launch too. I've been running in the Nike Lunarfly, which is pretty new, for easy second runs. It's OK - a lot of cushion at a light weight, and very neutral. Not as responsive feeling as the Launch, though, it's pretty stiff.
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