New Balance 1400v6 and 1080v9 Review

For road running I typically rotate my training between two running shoes types:

1. A supportive shoe for my easy paced runs, which are about 80% of my runs;
2. And a race shoe for workouts or racing. Depending on the race distance it will determine the level of cushioned support and shoe choice. I use these for about 20% of my runs.

For the purpose of this review I’m reviewing the following two neutral shoes from New Balance:

1. Supportive: Fresh Foam 1080v9
2. Race: 1400v6

Fresh Foam 1080v9:

This weights 254 grams for women’s shoes and 294 grams for men’s shoes.

The great thing about this shoe is it comes in three widths (Standard, Wide, X-wide).

A issue that I have with supportive shoes, is it feels like your wearing two blocks on your feet, but these feel much different in a positive way.

The 1080v9 offers great cushioning, whilst providing the turnover and responsiveness of a lighter more speed oriented shoe.

I particularly like the fact that it has an upturned toebox, which benefits you in the stride transition. But overall it’s a solid, breathable and comfortable shoe.

To find out more about the shoe click this link.

1400v6:

Unlike the 1080v9 this shoe is only available in standard width. Personally the standard width fits me with no problem. But for people requiring a wider fit, this is probably the only issue of note about a really excellent road racing shoe.

Some other comparable racing shoes I’ve run in have quite a hard ride, particularly when there’s some kind of propulsion element integrated within the sole. When this is coupled with minimal support, it can make racing shoes uncomfortable to run long distances in.

I didn’t find this to be the case with the 1400v6. I found the REVlite midsole to be responsive and firm, with a light connected feeling to the road.

The 1400v6 weights 170 grams for women’s shoes and 204 grams for men’s shoes. As such some people may just prefer this shoe for the half marathon distance as a maximum. However I’ve run longer than this distance in them and found them to be absolutely fine. So it’s down to your personal preference.

Overall I found that they were light, had great grip, and they felt stable to be in for any changes in direction.

As a general note for race shoe types, because there’s less cushioning, racing shoes tend to have a shorter lifespan than cushioned running shoes. So it’s worth rotating them for your workouts and track days, to prolong the life.

To find out more about the shoe click this link.

Both of these shoes are great, and I’d recommend them. I’ll be running the 2019 TCS New York City Marathon in New Balance and it’s likely that I’ll be wearing the 1400v6 for the event.