The Jordan Ultra.Fly 2 took everything the original Ultra.Fly was and threw it away.
The Jordan Ultra.Fly 2 is available now at Eastbay.com
Traction – I had a love/hate relationship with the traction. The pattern itself looks awesome, and it is — for the most part. However, dust collected quickly within the black portions of the outsole which resulted in an inconsistent feel at times. I’d be interested to see how much of a difference it would’ve made had the pattern been consistent throughout because the white sections gripped the floor without issue — dust or no dust. Again, it was mainly the black pods that needed regular on-court maintenance.
When things were gripping, the coverage was very close to being Hall of Fame level. When it wasn’t, it was frustrating. Outdoors, the outsole worked extremely well — a pleasant surprise. Will everyone experience what I experienced? I’m not sure. I can imagine the grip varying depending on the court condition; if you play on clean courts or outdoor surfaces then I wouldn’t worry too much. However, if your court needs to be refinished or is cleaned irregularly then you may be disappointed.
If I could have given the score half 6th Man and half Starting Five then I would have — I kept changing the score because the traction didn’t let me down regularly, which I feel is worthy of a Starting Five, but when it did let me down it was a huge let down.
Cushion – The Ultra.Fly 2 uses heel and forefoot Zoom Air. Yes, a shoe from Jordan Brand that retails for $125 features heel and forefoot cushion. Whoever has been holding onto the budget with an iron fist was either fired or has finally come to their senses. Welcome back to being part of the equation as far as value is concerned, Jordan Brand. It’s about damn time.
The Ultra.Fly 2 starts off feeling a bit heavy feeling underfoot. This is due to the fairly dense Phylon midsole used here. Despite being on the dense side, the foam did feel like it had some rebound once broken-in. This then allowed me to feel the Zoom Air that was installed within the forefoot of the shoe quite a bit.
On top of that, the tooling is rounded ever so slightly which caused the tooling to flex a bit with weight added — furthering the feeling of the Zoom located in the forefoot. Kyrie 2 and 3 — I’m giving you the People’s Eyebrow right now.
The heel Zoom unit is a poor excuse for Zoom Air as it’s one of those quarter-sized Hex Zoom units. However, it’s better than having nothing at all. As you can see from the image above, provided by FastPass.cn, the Hex unit is on the thicker side so not all is lost. When enough force is applied you can feel it and its doing what it’s supposed to — absorbing impact.
Would it have been better had it been the same size heel unit that was used in the Kyrie 3? Definitely. I’m just happy that Jordan Brand seems to be moving in the right direction again. Unless the next few models from Jordan Brand don’t feature heel cushion — then we’ll just chalk this model up as a fluke.
Materials – The upper of the Ultra.Fly 2 is an engineered knit that feels amazing on-foot. However, this is a one-piece construction upper so some might not enjoy the overall fit, but we’ll get into that in a bit. The knit used here on the stretchy side so lateral containment and support would greatly suffer had the designers not placed a TPU overlay on most of the shoe.
TPU overlays are not really my thing, but there are times when it’s done in a way where you don’t feel like you’re trying to play basketball in a rain boot. This is one of those times. I felt like I was wearing a knitted shoe but with the reinforcement of an upper constructed of TPU; it was a very nice blend between the two and it feel pretty well balanced. The materials function well, and they’re durable — only furthering the shoe’s overall value at its $125 price point.
Fit – The Jordan Ultra.Fly 2 runs true to size, but being a one-piece upper, they are not going to please everyone. Wide footers should try the shoe on before buying as the fit is a bit suffocating initially. Actually, the fit is always suffocating, but you get used to it.
Padding is abundant within the upper which makes the shoe feel comfortable despite it’s tight grasp to your feet. Once laced up you really aren’t going anywhere and I feel it’s one of the shoe’s better features once you’re adjusted.
The eyelets run all the way down to the footbed of the Ultra.Fly 2; they grab ahold of your foot and act like steel cables while the top eyelet draws your ankle and heel into the shoe to ensure they stays locked at all times.
Support – The support features one would expect to be in place are all here and accounted for. Lateral outrigger? Check. Dynamic lacing system? Check. Internal heel counter? Check.
A couple of features that set the Jordan Ultra.Fly 2 apart from the rest are the way the upper is constructed, allowing motion while still retaining the ability to properly contain and support during lateral movements, and the sculpted midsole. It looks like it’s just aesthetic but the way the midsole swoops up along the lateral midfoot and medial heel ensures that you and the footbed are one. It cradled my feet at all times and did not allow me to ever feel like I about to be ejected off of the shoe’s platform.
Overall – I’m really hoping the Jordan Ultra.Fly 2 isn’t a fluke and that this is just the beginning of Jordan Brand coming back to its senses. You can no longer get away with reducing tech and hiking up the prices on performance footwear. Not when every other brand is releasing shoes for under $150 that feature full-length cushion in addition to all the standard bells and whistles.
This is the first Jordan Brand performance model I’ve bought in a long time that doesn’t make me feel like I was ripped off. Well, these and the Air Jordan XXXI Low. The Ultra.Fly 2 is a bit heavy with a suffocating fit, but if you give it enough playing time you’ll find that it performs well and breaks in very nicely.
The Jordan Ultra.Fly 2 takes everything the original was and threw it away. Now this is a basketball shoe.
Nice. I feel like it is a pain to get on your foot though haha.
I think the traction was made so with those pods as the assumed key pressure/wear points. Probably was better on paper than in practice.
Are those lace loops still stitched to the upper, or are they more pure Dynamic Flywire and just anchored to the footbed? Either way it seemed to work out, but just curious. I know the Melo M11 is stitched to the upper, and never understood why when Adidas could get their loops to function freely/dynamically. Don’t know if JB does this across the board.
Lace loops are stitches onto the upper but also run down and attach to the footbed. I think this way works better than a dynamic system since its a tight bootie upper.
Cool. Thanks for confirming.
will the traction burn out quickly or not though ? … oh yeah, hi nightwing !!!
Hello!
Unfortunately, I can’t predict the outsoles longevity. All I know is that the traction worked well outdoors.
I’m surprised to find out that the other black and white colorway that has the black heel portion of the shoe has a different traction pattern on the black areas of the outsole. the patterns are farther apart and seems bigger and flatter as well compared to this iteration that have a bit narrower spacing. I’m not sure if Jordan Brand change it purposely like sort of a version 2 corrected copy over the original or initial black and white that they released earlier.
Images online might show early samples of the shoe that were scrapped. The retail pairs are as shown in the review. Was told that pattern wasn’t as good as what they went with.
when this shoe was first announced, a lot of people and a majority here hated this shoe very much. I don’t know if this review would turn people into a typical sheep response with your endorsement. on the otherhand, the only negative thing I can say about this shoe is that the fit for wide footers like myself is painfully uncomfortable and doesn’t fit TTS and had to go a size up to get to that comfortable level of the shoe not squeezing the life out of my feet. they somehow reminded me of the old narrow hyperfuse and adidas with the 8 pattern sole design. too tight on the middle portion of the shoe. although I didn’t find any trouble putting them in at size up and pretty slid easily. the cushion was nice and aesthetics is pretty. another concern for a white shoe, they do get dirty easily and had to clean them regularly after each game. glad thing mr. baldy works perfectly for cleaning.
I would hope people looking for a solid performance shoe wouldn’t be considered sheep. I’d hope they were open to trying shoes on-court that they may not like the look of because they play well rather that wear something that looks good and plays poorly.
Thanks for the review, it’s a good one.
Will this shoe be tested by any weartesters big guys (Stan/NYJumpan)? I wonder how well this one is suited for big men like myself. It could well replace the Hyperdunk 2016s, as my go-to shoe for my more serious games.
-pac
Stan, thanks for getting back to me. Putting time into shoes – that’s exactly why I like weartesters.com and why I buy my shoes after your guys’ recommendation. Having said that, is there any recent shoe you’d recommend for big guys, especially when it comes to support?
-pac
What about durability on concrete
Would you prefer the Jordan ultra fly 2 , Nike ambassador 9 , curry 3 , Dame 3 or harden 1 for outdoor use ? I’m really confused! This is the first time I have a couple of bucks to spend , so I want it to be perfect. Please give your suggestions
So how do these compare to the air Jordan xxxi low as an outdoor shoe, on tennis court like surfaces, the one similar to which nightwing tested the shoe on, which would be a better shoe? I’m getting both for a similar cost, so…?
So how do these compare to the air Jordan xxxi low as an outdoor shoe, on tennis court like surfaces, the one similar to which nightwing tested the shoe on, which would be a better shoe? I’m getting both for a similar cost, so…?