**Profile:** M17, 185cm (6ft), 88kg (194lbs), size 13 US

19:12 5k, 10:49 3k, 5:06 1500m, 1:36 Half-marathon, 4:10 marathon

**Forefoot striker**, avg cadence of 150-175 spm depending on pace stride length: 1.1m to 1.4m (according to my watch)

**First Impressions:** When the spikes arrived at my door I was pretty hyped that they arrived. There are no reviews online so I was very anxious and nervous upon buying these. I bought them to replace my Dragonflies.

**Type of runs:** so far I've only done a couple strides and one XC race in them.

**Flexibility/Stiffness**: The plate or "speedboard" in this shoe is made of **PA11 plastic with 15% CF** (Carbon Fibre?).^(1) As such the ride of the shoe feels quite stiff from the mid foot to the forefoot. The rear foot feels more flexible but is still decently stiff, this may imply a full length plate but I don't know for sure. The shoe feels more flexible than my vaporflies but far stiffer than my dragonflies. If I had to guess, it took me around 15-20 N of force to bend the spike to a 45 deg angle. You can definitely feel this stiffness when you run and I personally quite like it.

**Geometry:** Looking at it from the side, the shoe looks more traditional and less aggressive than the Nike Dragonfly 2. If you click Ctrl + F and type in "Dragonfly 2", you will find that it is mentioned a lot. This is because it is currently the meta (most popular). ON's website states that it is a 7mm drop^(1) but from the side it really doesn't look like a 7mm drop shoe. The shoe feels like a road running shoe.

**Midsole:** The midsole is made up of ON's Helion HF foam which is a **PEBA based foam**, IIRC ON uses Arkema's PEBAX formulation. Regardless, the foam is firm and very responsive which is what you want in a spike. Compared to the Nike Dragonfly 2, I would say that the Cloudspike Amplius 2 runs a touch firmer. This could be due to the shoe's stated 7mm drop compared to the Dragonflies almost 0mm drop. As you could see on the product page and the images on this post, the CloudTec is almost completely gone from the midsole, not like it ever made much of a difference in the first place.

**Traction:** Each spike contains 5 pins (the pointy bits). I decided to use titanium pins from Aerospikes to help cut down on weight. There are 3 pins on the outside forefoot of the shoe and 2 more pins on the inside forefoot. The plate design itself is relatively smooth with some bumps and needles to help with traction. There is quite a bit of coverage of sharkskin at the heel to protect the exposed foam. I still would not recommend this for heel strikers.

**Fit/Upper:** Snug, sock like fit, as you would expect from a racing shoe. The upper does feel more comfortable than the Dragonfly since there is a more padded heel and a more substantial heel cup. An extra hole for a runner's loop is also present. The upper is somewhat transparent which is pretty cool. The tongue is very minimal but the zoned padding is quite effective. I did not experience any slippage with a runner's loop and with the shoe tied up relatively tight. The shoe contains **non-removable insoles** so orthotics users, beware. I ran with this in cool conditions so I did not experience any overheating. According to ON's website, the **whole thing weighs 157.3g.** This is 10g heavier than the Nike Dragonfly 2 which weighs in at 145g.^(2)

**Overall ride/experience:**

The spike feels fast, nimble, and mildly rockered. I wish the shoe had more aggressive geometry such as an earlier and more aggressive toe spring. In my opinion, this track spike probably has the best bang for your buck as it is cheaper than the Dragonfly 2 while being stiffer. Runners who enjoy having more pins or dislike the feeling of running on 4 pins will thrive with this spike. I personally wish it was more aggressive. Hopefully [runrepeat.com](http://runrepeat.com) cuts the shoe in half so that I can see if it truly is a full length plate and if the shoe actually is a 7mm drop.

Citations

1: [https://www.on.com/en-us/products/cloudspike-amplius-2-m-3mf1029/mens/white-raspberry-shoes-3MF10292926?msockid=0bf9a1d0d72e6e702b2bb7a1d6cb6fc8](https://www.on.com/en-us/products/cloudspike-amplius-2-m-3mf1029/mens/white-raspberry-shoes-3MF10292926?msockid=0bf9a1d0d72e6e702b2bb7a1d6cb6fc8)

On Cloudspike Amplius 2 first race review