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40Race Shoe FinderEst. 2023 · London

Head to head

Nike Vaporfly 4vs
On Cloudboom Strike

Vaporfly 4

£120

Typical street price · £255 RRP

35mm — road legal
Cloudboom Strike

£175

Typical street price · £270 RRP

39mm — road legal

Choose the Vaporfly 4 if…

  • You want the bigger return: 3.2–4.4% economy gain against 3–4.2%, and that gap widens the longer you are out there.
  • You want a conventional fit rather than a narrow or wide last.
  • Money matters: it is selling around £120 against £175, and the time difference between them is smaller than the price difference suggests.
  • You are racing 5K or 10K — built for it, where the Cloudboom Strike is not.
  • You would rather buy on measured numbers: this shoe's specs are manufacturer-confirmed, the Cloudboom Strike's are estimated.

Choose the Cloudboom Strike if…

  • You want more shoe underneath you late on: 39mm against 35mm, which is protection over a long race rather than speed over a short one.
  • You have a narrow foot and want to be locked in.

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
Vaporfly 4: 165s–246sCloudboom Strike: 152s–233s
Cost per second saved
Vaporfly 4: £0.15Cloudboom Strike: £0.23

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.

010203040503529
Vaporfly 4
010203040503933
Cloudboom Strike

What you pay

Street price
Vaporfly 4£120■
Cloudboom Strike£175

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

RRP
Vaporfly 4£255
Cloudboom Strike£270

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

Cost per race
Vaporfly 4£32■
Cloudboom Strike£44

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

Cost per second saved
Vaporfly 4£0.15■
Cloudboom Strike£0.23

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

What it does

Estimated saving
Vaporfly 4165s–246s■
Cloudboom Strike152s–233s

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

Economy gain
Vaporfly 43.2–4.4%■
Cloudboom Strike3–4.2%
Built for
Vaporfly 45K · 10K · Half · Marathon
Cloudboom StrikeHalf · Marathon
Best use case
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.
Cloudboom StrikeA genuinely competitive marathon racer and the first On shoe that belongs in this conversation on merit.

How it is built

Weight
Vaporfly 4184 g■
Cloudboom Strike195 g

Manufacturer figure at men's US 9.

Stack (heel)
Vaporfly 435 mm
Cloudboom Strike39 mm
Stack (forefoot)
Vaporfly 429 mm
Cloudboom Strike33 mm
Drop
Vaporfly 46 mm
Cloudboom Strike6 mm
Foam
Vaporfly 4ZoomX
Cloudboom StrikeHelion HF
Plate
Vaporfly 4carbon fibre
Cloudboom Strikecarbon fibre

Rules and fit

Road legal
Vaporfly 4Yes (35 mm)
Cloudboom StrikeYes (39 mm)

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

Fit
Vaporfly 4standard
Cloudboom Strikenarrow
Stability
Vaporfly 4balanced
Cloudboom Strikebalanced

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

Race life
Vaporfly 4~240 km
Cloudboom Strike~250 km■

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

Data confidence
Vaporfly 4verified■
Cloudboom Strikeestimated

■ 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£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.

Where to buy

Your UK size

Best price today — some sizes£175at Fitstuff — £95 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.