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The 361° Flame RS has been part of my running equipment for a while now. Because it is a special shoe, and I think it is still relatively unknown, I would like to share my findings so far.

The 361° Flame RS has been part of my running equipment for a while now. Because it is a special shoe, and I think it is still relatively unknown, I would like to share my findings so far.

The Flame RS looks like an aggressive shoe made for speed. Things that stand out include the thick sole, which is more rounded, and the narrow heel. The presence of the carbon plate and the total weight of only 209 grams underlines that this is a competition shoe.

For comparison; the Hoka Carbon X3 that I used for races has a weight of 222 grams. Does the shoe feel as it looks? The answer to that is a resounding 'yes!'.

As soon as you put on the shoes you feel speed. I will come back to the numbers later in this blog.

At first I was especially curious about the stability of the shoe, partly because of the narrow heel. I am a forefoot runner myself, so for me the feel of the shoe is largely related to the behavior of the front of the shoe. So I consciously paid attention to this feeling during various training sessions; on winding, unpaved or uneven roads you feel some instability.

However, as soon as you walk on asphalt the shoe feels very stable on the forefoot and really comes to life. You sometimes hear in-form skaters say that “every hit was a hit” in a competition. I also have that feeling with this shoe on the asphalt: it feels powerful and every step hits the mark. This feeling remains the same even on wet road surfaces, while with other shoes I sometimes feel a sliding movement.

The stiffness of the Flame RS is also striking. This makes the Flame RS actually feel like the aggressive shoe it is intended to be. This is an ideal shoe for tempo training and competitions, less so for long endurance runs. I would personally use it in races up to a half marathon. I personally wouldn't use it for longer distances, such as a marathon, because the speeds drop a bit and you run less on your forefoot.

For those distances I would choose a less stiff shoe, for comfort reasons; the Hoka Carbon X3 would be my preference.

Then the numbers

During the summer holidays I completed two almost identical tempo training sessions with tempo blocks in Z4 of my wattage. This can be compared to a pace around 5km race pace. I did one training on my endurance running shoe ( Hoka Clifton ) and one training I completed on the 361° Flame RS . I compared the values ​​for pace, ground contact time and the vertical ratio.

THE RESULT

At the same wattage, the pace on the Flames RS is on average about 12 seconds per km (!) lower (3.33/km on the Cliftons compared to 3.21/km on the Flames RS). The ground contact time also shows a difference: on average 195ms with the Cliftons and 190ms with the Flames RS.

The significant differences in the pace and ground contact time are already promising. Third, I compared the vertical ratios. The ratio says something about the running efficiency; generally the lower the better.

A smaller ratio means less vertical movement for a given horizontal movement, yielding higher returns. During the two training sessions, the vertical ratio for the Clifton's was 6.5% and for the Flames RS 6.1%.

All this underlines the feeling during training: with the Flame RS it takes less energy to run certain speeds, which means you can run faster with the same wattage. We all want that!

Finally, I would like to mention the price; This 361° Flame RS with carbon plate has a price of €189.95. I think that is a reasonable price for a shoe with these specifications. You are more likely to find comparable shoes from other brands in the category above €250.

In doing so, the brand has ensured that this type of competition shoes is also easier to purchase for runners who were previously held back by the high prices of carbon shoes (I was one of them).

In short, almost all praise for the 361° Flame RS (except for the stability on certain surfaces). It is now by far my favorite speed shoe. I am therefore very curious whether they will lead me (and many of you?) to personal records soon.

Tria greetings, Sander

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