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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

adidas Adizero Takumi Sen 11vs
Nike Vaporfly 4

Adizero Takumi Sen 11

£95

Typical street price · £180 RRP

33mm — road legal
Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal

Choose the Adizero Takumi Sen 11 if…

  • You want the lighter shoe: 160g against 184g, a 24g difference you will feel late in a race.
  • You race off a strong, repeatable stride and want the more aggressive ride rather than the safer one.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £95 against £120, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

Choose the Vaporfly 4 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.2–4.4% economy gain against 2.6–3.6%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want something more forgiving. This is the steadier platform — useful if your form goes late, or if you are on your feet longer.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • You are racing Half marathon or Marathon — built for it, where the Adizero Takumi Sen 11 is not.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Adizero Takumi Sen 11's are estimated.

What does this
mean for you?

Every figure below is recalculated from your race and your current time. The gap between two shoes is not fixed — it grows with how long you are on your feet.

Over 5k from 22:00

Time back
Adizero Takumi Sen 11: 14s–22sVaporfly 4: 19s–28s
Cost per second saved
Adizero Takumi Sen 11: £0.16Vaporfly 4: £0.16

Ranges, not promises. Both figures are against a standard trainer, and the honest answer for most runners is that the difference between two shoes of this class is smaller than the difference a month of decent training makes.

Every number.

010203040503327
Adizero Takumi Sen 11
010203040503529
Vaporfly 4

What you pay

Street price
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£95■
Vaporfly 4£120

What the shoe is actually selling for across the shops we read, not its RRP.

RRP
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£180
Vaporfly 4£255

List price. Almost nobody pays it for a race shoe.

Cost per race
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£2.85■
Vaporfly 4£3.75

Street price divided by the races the foam stays fast for.

Cost per second saved
Adizero Takumi Sen 11£0.16■
Vaporfly 4£0.16

The whole-life question: what each second of race time costs you.

What it does

Estimated saving
Adizero Takumi Sen 1114s–22s
Vaporfly 419s–28s■

Against a standard trainer, over the distance and time set above.

Economy gain
Adizero Takumi Sen 112.6–3.6%
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%■
Built for
Adizero Takumi Sen 115K · 10K
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Best use case
Adizero Takumi Sen 11A short-distance specialist with real carbon underneath. Firm, aggressive and brilliant for 5K and 10K where a marathon shoe feels like too much.
Vaporfly 4The most versatile super shoe on sale. Light enough for a 5K, cushioned enough for a marathon, and the fourth generation fixed the upper problems that made the VF3 divisive.

How it is built

Weight
Adizero Takumi Sen 11160 g■
Vaporfly 4184 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Adizero Takumi Sen 1133 mm
Vaporfly 435 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Adizero Takumi Sen 1127 mm
Vaporfly 429 mm
Drop
Adizero Takumi Sen 116 mm
Vaporfly 46 mm
Foam
Adizero Takumi Sen 11Lightstrike Pro
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Plate
Adizero Takumi Sen 11carbon fibre
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Adizero Takumi Sen 11Yes (33 mm)
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)

World Athletics caps road racing shoes at 40 mm of stack.

Fit
Adizero Takumi Sen 11narrow
Vaporfly 4standard
Stability
Adizero Takumi Sen 11demanding
Vaporfly 4balanced

Neither is better in the abstract — it depends on your stride.

Race life
Adizero Takumi Sen 11~250 km■
Vaporfly 4~240 km

How long the foam stays fast, not how long the shoe survives.

Data confidence
Adizero Takumi Sen 11estimated
Vaporfly 4verified■

■ marks the better figure where one is genuinely better. Fit, foam, drop and stability carry no mark — they depend on your foot and your stride, not on which shoe is superior.

In your size.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£95at Runningbear — £85 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£110.25at Runlimited — £144.74 under RRP

9 retailer checks failed on the last run, so their prices are missing rather than wrong.

Prices are captured when the site is built and stamped with the time of that check. We never rank a retailer by what it pays us; where a link earns a commission it is marked sponsored and the price you pay is unchanged.