Skip to content
40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

ASICS Superblast 3vs
Nike Zoom Fly 6

Superblast 3

£200

Typical street price · £200 RRP

■ 45.5mm — over limit
Zoom Fly 6

£110

Typical street price · £165 RRP

40mm — on the limit

Choose the Superblast 3 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 2.2–3.4% economy gain against 1.5–2.6%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 45.5mm against 40mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You want more races out of one pair: about 700km of competitive life against 600km.
  • You are racing Ultra / 50K+ — built for it, where the Zoom Fly 6 is not.

Choose the Zoom Fly 6 if…

  • Your race is run under World Athletics rules — this one is legal at 40mm and the Superblast 3 is not.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £110 against £200, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.

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 marathon from 3:45:00

Time back
Superblast 3: 97s–179sZoom Fly 6: 49s–124s
Cost per second saved
Superblast 3: £0.13Zoom Fly 6: £0.13

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.

0102030405045.537.5
Superblast 3
010203040504032
Zoom Fly 6

What you pay

Street price
Superblast 3£200
Zoom Fly 6£110■

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

RRP
Superblast 3£200
Zoom Fly 6£165

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

Cost per race
Superblast 3£18
Zoom Fly 6£12■

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

Cost per second saved
Superblast 3£0.13■
Zoom Fly 6£0.13

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Superblast 397s–179s■
Zoom Fly 649s–124s

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

Economy gain
Superblast 32.2–3.4%■
Zoom Fly 61.5–2.6%
Built for
Superblast 3Half · Marathon · Ultra
Zoom Fly 6Half · Marathon
Best use case
Superblast 3The best plateless shoe in the world and a cult favourite for good reason. Enormous stack, superb foam, and it will train and race happily for 700km.
Zoom Fly 6The sensible answer for a first marathon. Carbon plate, durable foam, a third of the cost per race of an Alphafly because it lasts more than twice as long.

How it is built

Weight
Superblast 3248 g
Zoom Fly 6248 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Superblast 345.5 mm
Zoom Fly 640 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Superblast 337.5 mm
Zoom Fly 632 mm
Drop
Superblast 38 mm
Zoom Fly 68 mm
Foam
Superblast 3FF Turbo+ over FF Blast+
Zoom Fly 6ZoomX over SR-02
Plate
Superblast 3none
Zoom Fly 6carbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Superblast 3No (45.5 mm)
Zoom Fly 6Yes (40 mm)■

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

Fit
Superblast 3standard
Zoom Fly 6standard
Stability
Superblast 3stable
Zoom Fly 6stable

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

Race life
Superblast 3~700 km■
Zoom Fly 6~600 km

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

Data confidence
Superblast 3verified
Zoom Fly 6verified

■ 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£199.90at Startfitness — £0.10 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£109.99at Run North West — £55 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.