Still excited about the Jordan Super.Fly 2? Good… you should be.
In case you wanted a breakdown of the cushion system – and who wouldn’t – here is the Super.Fly 2 in pieces. Heel cushion is missing but most likely replaced with a nice foam – just like it was in the Jordan Trunner Dominate Pro – while the forefoot looks to incorporate the unlocked Zoom… and its freaking huge. The Flight Plate is TPU versus Carbon Fiber but that won’t hinder the performance… it just keeps the price down so it’s more affordable.
Take a look and express your thoughts in the comment section below.
Via AK
Can you compare Jordan’s flight plate to adidas sprint frame BECUASE Jordan is now using it more.
They are two different things. Flight Plate is used to help unlock the Zoom units without loosing stability while SprintFrame is a frame and is used as the shoes frame, structure and support. One has to do with cushion while the other is what the shoe is made out of.
The Sprintframe from adidas actually gives the show its support, without it you are “playing in the running shoes.” (which depending on your play style will hurt.) The Jordan flight plate is unnecessary. Its there for add support and stability.
If the foam isnice enough I will cop this eventually. Since im mostly a forefoot player anyway i just dont want another kd iv like experience. The zoom looks amazing. Especially if the price is right.
I am gonna get these!!! :)~
these look like the perfect sf/pf shoe, id get it if i wasnt a guard
No heel zoom? Easy pass Nike with their cheap ass
Hey NW, do you think this shoe will be flexible? I’m just wondering due to the full length flight plate…
The Trunners were plenty flexible and these should be as well.
NW! You have been on fire! Appreciate the new set up on the site and all the new posts! I would like to get the Super Fly 2 or the AJ XX8 Lite. The XX8 was too high for me and they sold out fast.
Appreciate it!
Wish they could make a model with no flight plate and some heel cushioning. That forefoot zoom looks awesome, hope it makes its way to upcoming models.
The cushlon in the heel is fine even though I’d prefer zoom, I just wish they’d start the flight plate in the arch instead of the heel, since I prefer the heel to me more plush.
no heel zoom…..goddamn it, now i am not sure about it, what a disappointment
Not sure why all the complaints about lack of heel zoom….the shoe is actually doing you a favor forcing you to use forefoot, since landing on your heels is a good recipe for rolling your ankle. Besides using your forefoot will give you better reaction and speed.
My only problem with just having foam in the heel is that it may not justify the pricing, presuming they’ll retail for $140 or so, and especially if it doesn’t excel in other areas like traction and fit. That being said, I’ve played in this type of setup before and haven’t had an issue, performance wise.
So you heel never touches the ground when you play basketball? With post up moves, coming down from rebounds, your heel need protection or you might get and injury like a heel bruise. An other comparison can be made with marathon runners, as they are both endurance sports with the constant running, they also have to heel strike from time to time. Unless the shoe is zero drop in order to minimize heel striking, heel cushioning is important since most shoes are have a higher heel regardless of the type of cushioning. This higher heel causes you heel to hit the ground before the rest of the shoe unless you consciously shift you weight to your toes, if your calves get tired then you will want to heel strike and heel cushioning can help you while you recover from running on you toes. So the only way to make a shoe that will prevent heel striking is to make them zero drop (or even a negative drop as in making the forefoot higher than the heel but this is just my theory). A zero drop shoe will naturally help you stay in a forefoot stance and help prevent heel striking. But I don’t see any company who is brave enough to make a zero drop basketball shoe, still I would prefer the for heel to still have good cushioning.
our feet was designed to keep moving forward, transitioning,etc.. if forefoot was supposed to be higher, then it would be awkward. just imagine walking in a shoe with higher forefoot,.. just like that wouldnt be so nice.. hehe
cheers.,
A shoe with a higher forefoot is possible, you dont run with you heel. If the forefoot was angled a little bit just to put you in a more downhill stance then you would work great for those who want that peace of mind. I think I would be able to handle a higher with a higher forefoot (more cushioning in the forefoot) And lol who designed your feet, we were born to be able to run without shoes, we don’t need them to be able to run. You’re just not ready barefoot style shoes.
^handle a shoe with a higher forefoot*
most shoes are already angles in such way for fast transitioning so a lower heel would not make you feel like you going to fall backwards.
not trying to get personal dude, but youre point is…. who designed my feet? yeah for sure we were born to run and walk without shoes. its true, but then why dont you go out there and try to play as hard as you can, in barefoot, and if you wish you can design your own shoes with high forefoot, so we can have a comparison to shoes called high heels. lol
I never said your heel don’t touch the ground. You just shouldn’t be slamming your heel into the ground. If you train your calves and ankles properly, you would not need that much cushioning front or back. I’m 30 years old and I train in Inov barefoot shoes and play competitively in Kobes, and I feel just fine.
Yeah but the fact the fact that you play in kobes competitively proves that you prefer/need more cushioning. All I’m trying to say is that everyone has a preference in what we want/need in a performance shoe. And Mike has a good point about Lebron, since his career will benefit from having a shoe with great cushioning. Yeah our bodies can adapt to minimal cushioning, but as a consumer we should have the choice to have options when it comes our preferences in shoes such as cushioning and exact specifications designed for the best athletes in the world lol. Yeah people say they don’t need or prefer heel cushion, but I and many others do. All I offered was an alternative which is to make basketball sneakers zero drop to prevent but not eliminate heel striking. If Nike made a zero drop zoom air shoe, full length or targeted (possibly with a higher arch/arch support) it would satisfy both the minimal and general consumer.
I play in the Kobe 8 simply for better traction. The downfall of barefoot shoes are that they have very unpredictable traction. I can agree with the later part of your statement though, choices should be available to everyone. However I still stand by my point. Your ankles, when properly conditioned, are meant to take loads off your knees and hips. When you drive your heels to the ground you essentially eliminated the usage of the ankle and put most of the strain on your knees. Yes heel cushioning will help soften the blow but only very slightly. What is worst is that you also lost an extra pivoting point when you eliminate the usage of your ankles creating torsion in your knees. This can lead to various legament injuries. Case in point, watch how Derrick Rose injured his knee. He simply did a jump stop and landed on his heels. Because he was not going perfectly straight, his momentum applied enough torque on his outside knee that ended up injuring him. It could’ve been prevented if he landed on his forefoot. The least flexible person can rotate their ankles, but the most flexible person cannot rotate their knees.
tell that to all Lebron’s KD or Melo shoe,and say “you guys really dont need a heel ZOOM/MAX air so you can learn the right way to land ” heel air protect knees and you should know that by now.
Athletic players like Abul Jabbar and Bill Russell wore Adidas Pro models back in the days, which had pretty minimal cushioning. Show me the research that says heel air protects your knees better than using your forefoot. Back up your talk before you tell other people what they should already know.
there is a reason why LBJ played all these years and have no knee problem, there is a reason why people with bad knee prefer heavily cushion shoes to played in , there is a reason why NW and others dont recommond Crazy light to poeple with bad knee!tony you know so little about basketball shoes! do your homework and get informed
+1 hehe
Hmmm, Rasheed Wallace played his entire career in air force 1’s, which have minimal chsioning. On the other hand, guys like Amare Stoudemire continually require knee surgery even though they wear shoes like the Hyperposite with Air Max cushioning. Fact is Techinique and conditioning is what prevents injuries, not shoes. The Adidas Crazyquick has very minimal cushioning and NW scored it at a 9 out of 10. The reason why the Crazyfast was not recommended is because it is cheaply made. Now I’ve backed up everything I have said with evidence, so where is yours? I don’t claim to know a lot about basketball shoes, but you obviously know very little about Biomechanics and Human Anatomy.
another thing, landing on your forefoot does help take presure off the knee however most ankle rolling from a jump shot if your watch the video they all land on the forefoot on the other player’s foot!!! and in D ROSE’s CASE he is a power player(high flyer) and jump off the knee does take load of presure on his knee , but that’s just how he play LBJ also play the same way (slame the heel to the grond and jump off) the different is D Rose’s shoes is less cushion so the impact is much greater!! therefore even d rose comes back next year and he still wear Adidas minimal cushioning shoe he is in for another knee problems!! just wait and see!
Yeah but you can blame Adidas for the players injury, you have to blame the player’s running technique. However I would also like to emphasize that with most shoes having a higher heel it is easier for you to land on you heel more often and without realizing it (since your heel will always be closer to hitting the ground and you have to make a conscious effort to try to land on you forefoot), which is also what contributed to Roses injury.
can’t blame**
yes i can and i will blame Adidas for D Rose’s injury why? because they suppose to design a shoe specially for Rose for his style of play, they should know how he jump and how he land and do what’s best for him make a shoe for The player (like nike did for LBJ for MJ for KB for melo) not make a shoe with minimal cushioning(lower cost to make) and tell the player :”hey man you need to learn landing(jump) on your forfoot” therefore in this case you can tell who really listen(study) to their star players !
Okay you have a point there Mike, they should pay attention to what their players needs, but I don’t think you can say that the Rose 3 is a minimally cushioned shoe, Nightwing rated the cushioning a 9 out of 10. And ACL injuries happen in any brand of shoe. Lou Williams torn his ACL wearing the Lebron X and so did Nerlens Noel wearing the KD V. Cushioning just helps you play long and fatigue less.
My bad Rose torn his ACL in the Rose 2. Still Nightwing’s rating for that sneaker was an 8.5 not that bad.
I can’t believe we are still arguing about this despite what I’ve explained in the above post regarding how our lower body works. Mike you are extremely ignorant and ill-informed if you blame shoes for knee injuries. ACL injuries result from hyperextension of the ligament, not shock. The only thing cushioning does is reduce shock, which at best protects your plantar tendon. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH PROTECTING YOUR KNEE. Why do you think some athletes wear knee brace? Why don’t they just buy a better pair of shoes? When you run with dorsiflexion, slamming your heels to the ground, you are placing most of your weight on your knee, period. Cushioning does not make your body lighter does it? Same amount of force is hyperextending your knee WITH CUSHIONING OR NOT, when you are doing a heel strike. Cushioning just make you feel better about doing it and deteriorate your running technique. If you still think you are right, then I have nothing more to say to you. Nike’s got you brain washed well.
Tony, you might want to think it over why nobody supports your argument.
I support his argument. I’m 32 and play basketball on asphalt playgrounds 3 to 4 times a week. I never used Nike shoes with zoom or any kind of air cushioning and I have never had any kind of knee problems.
It’s really about landing technique and not about the shoes.
Trying to blame an injury on sneakers is pointless. If we make a statistic of all serious knee injuries i am sure that we will not find any connection between the brand and the injury frequency.
each guy here has a correct point, but as well as a wrong perception. now im not telling im good,etc. but..
yes its true that a very good practice for injury prevention would be correct postures, or whatsoever you may call it.
A good-cuhsioned shoe would never guarantee you injury free. on the point about knee injuries, it is due to too much stress that the knee receives like when running or doing a very quick pivot where you shift your whole body at a very quick split second timing – it would not be so nice for anyone’s knee..
we also cannot blame brands on injuries that has taken part, because injuries will come no matter what when you forced your body to do what it is beyond of what its capable of.
But, anyone saying that cushion has no, or has very little help – that i will not have to agree. Let’s relate this to these situations and let’s judge it together.. Why do we sleep our heads on a soft pillow and not on a hard wood? Why do vehicles have good shock absorbers? point is no matter how right the posture is, it is very stressful in those kind of situations. its just like, why can someone, almost anyone can tell the difference between a soft ride shoe, and one which isnt.? the answer maybe simple, lets not make it compicated. on the other hand,an airplane with the best suspension did not land properly due to a human error. now i think u got the concept in that example. in addition, all those mentioned examples talk for longevity as well as immediate benefits. lets not just judge according to our experiences. how about how one plays-his playing and training time?type of game as well as intensity and aggresiveness? all other factors?
i think it may be better to say, let us practice correct techniques, and with the aid of cushion, let us not just make our body “feel” comfortable but also help relieve it from the stress of such Powerful and direct IMPACTS. Cushion is already there – why not utilize it? let both of these ideas go hand in hand. sorry for all this long writings, i hope to end the misunderstandings in a peaceful manner. cheers,
Great point Zabi about the suspension on an Airplane because that is basically what Nike Zoom does. While cushioning might help prevent injuries, that doesnt mean a the cushioning will save you from all sort of a
athletic situations*
Thanks Nightwing for sharing this information that lots of people have been looking for.
I’m not sure why JB keeps releasing so many shoes the last few seasons with forefoot zoom and heel foam. It doesn’t work for me, so it’s an easy pass on every model they make that way. I’m looking forward to the XX8 SE instead now…
Heel/forefoot zoom setups should be the norm. It just works. Sick of this garbage.
This amount of zoom should become the standard not the crappy 10mm bags!!!
Does the foam cushion use cushlon?
Not sure until I see tech specs or have them in hand.
Do you think with the set up of the flight plate extending up to the heel will make the heel cushion feel hard like say the reebok wall zigtech? Coz i believe the sprintframe even though it extends up to the heel it’s perforated in the heel area so it won’t be hard on the heel on heel strikes…thanks in advance!
Hey nightwing, I’ve never had a basketball shoe with heel cushion, how was the impact protection in the heel of the Jordan Trunner Pro? Thx love everything you do!
I thought it was fine, I explain it in their performance review.
without*
Nightwing, keep it up man. Been playing in Lebron X and really like the Elites. Will have my XX8 next week and cant wait to finally play in them. Now I am really stoked for these superfly 2 and cant wait to see the lebron XI. Keep it up and do what you love. Also, site looks good and your videos really flow well and get the tech points across
Heel zoom is overrated. This is fine to me.
Its not about who has to most evidence, because at the end of the day money talks and everyone else walks or runs in this case lol. And the consumer will buy what they suits their needs and preferences. I like to be able to switch from a cushioned shoe to a minimal shoe based about how my body feels or if I’m just in the mood to play in a different kind of shoe.
Has anyone ever played in the Lebron soldier III? Sure it wasn’t a perfect shoe, but the cushioning in the heel was amazing and made it very fun to play in and even those had forefoot zoom as well lol
^Tony I agree with your point about proper running technique by using your forefoot. I also try to prevent heel striking but because of the unpredictability of sport movements especially basketball which is played on hardwood not grass, I would prefer to have cushion full length or targeted in both the heel and forefoot.
very good point. when u’re too focused on the game, most of the time u will forget how to land properly…
I wouldn’t pay $140 for a shoe that has forefoot zoom air only. If it was priced like the hyperfuse for $100 then yes. I’m just used to getting something like the hyperdunk 2011 which had heel and forefoot zoom for $130
Hey Nightwing!
Big fan of yours!
Saw this on ebay and thought you might be interested in it!
http://www.ebay.com/itm/NIKE-JORDAN-SUPER-FLY-2-BLAKE-GRIFFIN-PE-UNRELEASED-SAMPLE-602666-330-NEW-MENS-9-/400525727858?pt=US_Men_s_Shoes&hash=item5d41319872
hey nightwing, the flight plate on the AJXX8 wasn’t carbon fibre, it was pebax, a type of plastic, which is also used on american fotball cleat outsoles
Pebax was used in conjunction with Carbon Fiber. The pebax plates were located in the heel and forefoot while the base of the plate was Carbon Fiber. The other Flight Plates we have been seeing on other models are all plastic and no Carbon Fiber.
Sorry to argue Nightwing, but as you can go see in the link below, the whole flightplate is made of pebax, and there is a piece of carbon fiber, but it isn’t attached to the flight plate and is a completely seperate piece. I still love you Nightwing and I know you know more than me about shoes, but I think I got you on this one 😉
I acutally got a chance to try these out, The forefoot feels just like the XX8, the zoom units really do pop out and you’ll have no doubt that they’re there.
The heels are actually quite plush feeling, actually feels like the cp3’s podulon but slightly less plush.
they ride slightly higher than i’d wish as a guard player.
For me personally I have an issue with the forefoot zoom, it probably only applies to me because I’m only 5’8 and a small frame hence weigh like a feather;
the forefoot zoom being unlocked however the zoom units feel dense, like i’m not heavy enough to really utilise the responsiveness of the zoom units.
How is the flexibility?
Like Mark says, I had the chance to try them in hong kong.
the flexibility isn’t too great tbh but at the same time, I do think that its more flexible incomparison to the lebron X’s but flexibility wouldnt be the shoes highlight as you’d probably guess from the construction of the flight plate.
I do also consider that maybe the forefoot zoom requires breaking in time?
these r out in hong kong,tried them on ytd idk if it was just my pair but the zoom in the forefoot felt very stiff,it didnt feel tht bouncy for some reason made me pass on them.the foam at the heel was rly comfortable n rly soft
additional info i weigh around 190 pounds,like philip i still couldnt feel the bounciness
the unlocked Zoom might need the time to unlock them??lol maybe break in time is need for this shoes to feel right since it;s thicker bigger than other zoom
the black/reds are out in hong kong, as mark said, i think they feel pretty incredible, actually (i’m 6’0″ 180 pounds and play the 2/3 positions). i’m gonna have to make a decision within the next two days between the KD VI, these guys and the crazyquicks, though the SF2 seems like the most reliable of the three, DEEP, DEEP traction grooves, more than adequate cushion, great lockdown, even if the shoe is, as philip noted above, a tad higher off the ground than i would like (though the KD VIs are, too)…
hopefully it was just my pair tht had a problem,cuz i was real hyped abt them n got a little sad when i put them on.i agree the traction is crazy!!i suggest u get the sf2(if they dont hv any problems) since u play 2/3 n the crazyquick cushion is just too minimal for me.btw did u see the grey blue colorway??they look neat as hell
nah, man, i just saw the black/reds on the shelf, but purchasing shoes is almost a no-brainer for me when they perform and come in that color…
where do you play in hk?
i usually ball at victoria park
Guys who have seen these in Hong Kong, are there any websites over there that stock these and ship overseas? I’m from the UK and there is still no scheduled release date over here for this colourway. Really wanna get my hands on a pair for the new season.
tony you should go tell NW he is so supid and wrong to play in heaily cushioned shoe (like lebron x elite / AJ 28) knee injury doesnt just happen it take a lot of street beating over long period of time playing or pratice. u should just try jump as high as you can and land on your heel each and everytime bare foot and see how your knee feels like! and comes back here tell me cushioning doesnt protect knees
just so your know Rose doesnt land on he forefoot, he use to land(jump) on his heel…. and wear a so call more dense foam just wont do it
u know the rose 2.5 got a little cut-out at the heel of the sprint frame, so that u r actually stepping on the foam rather than the sprint frame, just wondering why nike or jordan bran haven’t done that. wont the flightplate make it stiffer? ie you wont feel so much of the zoom?
hi on the bottom of my superfly 2 where the zoom unit is place there’s a bump like the zoom folded or something weird happened do you guys know how to fix it? please reply asap, this happened the first time using this shoe and other problems occurred like the jumpman on the side the some color is scratched off and where it says flight plate it i slightly peeled off
So i have a pair of the superfly i had them for about 3 weeks and tonight During basketball pratice the zoom unit poped/shifted into one side of the traction so it is really uneven is there a way i can fix it thanks my apology if you answered it before