We’ll be honest and say the ASICS GlideRide 2 didn’t hit the mark for us in every way and while the rocker was the big success of that shoe, the upper and midsole just didn’t feel quite right. The ASICS GlideRide 3 changes all that though as these are just amazing, astonishingly good even and all it took was introducing a bit of softness in the midsole and a better upper. Now, distance and recovery runs have never felt better.
Quick Details, Specs, and Availability
- ASICS neutral max cushion trainer gets a new upper and some FF Blast+ for a much better ride.
- Just so so so much better than the GlideRide 2.
- Weight – 9.9oz or 281g for a US Men’s 9, 8.5oz or 241g for a US Women’s 7
- Cushion – 32mm of cushion (31 for mm women) and a 6mm heel/toe drop
- Pricing – $150.00 USD
- Colors – 2 options
Construction and Materials
- Upper – The GlideRide 3 has an all new upper that uses an all-new jacquard mesh along with 3d print details to improve stability.
- Midsole – ASICS has added a small layer of FF Blast+ on top of the primary FlyteFoam Propel platform which provides a softer landing softer and improves overall feel. This also uses their GUIDESOLE rocker tech helps conserve energy by encouraging the foot through the cycle.
- Outsole – The outsole uses ASICS high abrasion rubber (AHAR)
Performance Review
What we loved
What a difference a year makes and what a difference a subtle change can make, that is the story of the GlideRide 3. Last year‘s model was just a little funky and it was hard to put our finger on it, but now that we have the 3 in our hands it gets a bit easier to see. First that upper was just not great last year and this updated jacquard mesh feels better on the foot and seems to support you even better. Sure, they’re still pretty boring looking, but the actual function of the upper is much better than before. They hold your foot really well, open up in the toe box where you need it, and there is no friction points or sizing issues that we noticed whatsoever.
The other big change comes in that midsole where we get the slight addition of FF Blast+ right above that traditional FlightFoam midsole. That leads to a softer landing and a pillow like feel when your foot hits, but the transitions to a firmer take off when you need it. Coupled with their GUIDESOLE technology, the entire rocker and midsole system works phenomenally well on here. It is just so much better to run in than the GlideRide 2 we can’t even tell you.
When it comes to distance, we definitely reserve these for longer run days or even our recovery where we still want a little bit of an uptempo experience but without the extra work. You can also speed these up a bit and when we compare these to something like the EvoRide 3 which is their lower stack/more tempo oriented counterpart, we would still take the GlideRide every day.
What we didn’t
We don’t have a lot of negatives about this shoe to be totally honest and we’re still struggling to find them. If we have one it’s all about aesthetics. This shoe just seems boring visually and this is true across the majority of the color options. ASICS has a tremendous color palette that they work with across all the other shoes but for some reason this line did not get the memo. Would love to see them do more here.
Overall Conclusion
We weren’t sure we would ever be massive fans of the GlideRide line after the 2, but the GlideRide 3 has us rethinking everything. The shoe is innocuous but hides a ton of thought and tech and it just delivers. We truly don’t have a lot of negatives here other than to say ASICS, can we give these things some visual personality? The color choices feel way too conservative.
Learn more on the ASICS website
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Check Out Other Reviewers Thoughts
As always, we gather together some of our favorite reviewers so you can get a well-rounded view of the shoe. Here are our favorites.
