Norda 001 Review

 

Norda 001 Review

Stoat Rating: 8/10 (10/10 for design, but quality issues compromise the product)
Weight: 290g in UK 8.5
Stack: 26mm/21mm (5mm drop)

Overview

I really enjoyed the ride of this shoe. I would go as far as to say that it would be 'perfect' for me as a long distance shoe that I would happily take beyond 100km. The overall ride is protective, springy and doesn't have any hint of mushiness that I often find with higher stack shoes (Speedgoat, I'm looking at you). The upper is very minimal, and so the combination of this and the larger stack makes it less appropriate for extremely technical terrain, but I found it to be extremely comfortable and capable on more than just buffed out trails. I do think that it suits a larger volume foot and I found a bit of a sizing challenge on my narrow feet. I have some question marks over the general build quality - I have seen a number of the bonded reflective components coming away after 100km of running and a few inconsistencies in build, but the ride is so good that I'm willing to put up with this for now...

Comfort

The upper of this shoe is very simple and fairly minimal, particularly in the heel area. Overall the impression is that the upper is constructed from a single layer of material which is a dyneema blend which prevents it from loosening when wet. The shoe has a robust toecap and a thin, gusseted tongue. The heel continues the minimal feel without any padding, but I found that it held my foot well. Sizing was tricky: in a size 8.5 (my usual size) the upper fit like a glove, hugging my foot perfectly with no excessive padding however, the length of the toebox just felt a touch short. The half size up was loose on my foot, and the lack of padding meant that it was not possible to get any sort of secure fit, so I stuck with the smaller size.

Overall there is a bit of a general take-home message for me here - there is no need to have oodles of padding to get a comfortable and secure fit in a shoe BUT, a shoe that is a poor fit for your foot will be more noticeable in a shoe with minimal padding. In this scenario, some padding may help disguise or alleviate that poor fit somewhat, so you may view that as a good thing in that it makes shoes have more universal appeal, or a bad thing in that it disguises a poor fit! Everything is on a spectrum though and I certainly think that excess padding is a generally not a good thing as it disguises fit and often compromises a good lockdown.

Overall I felt that the upper and sockliner were extremely comfortable, but would caution that the lack of any rigidity in the upper (no heel counter etc..) does mean that the overall sense is of the foot being well strapped down to the midsole, but it is a bit more on the midsole rather than in it (although in practice there it a bit of a 'bucket seat' in the midsole).  This means that the shoe had a limit to the level of technical terrain that you would want to run with it - don't get me wrong, this is not limited to padding along buffed out single track, but they are probably not going to be your shoe if you want to bomb down fast technical descents in the mountains.

Ride

The ride of this shoe is about perfect for me for longer outings - seriously I love it. The midsole is a Vibram (who knew they made midsoles?!) EVA midsole which feels very stable but retains a good level of spring to it. The TPU insole tops it off nicely to give a level of step in comfort and spring. Many TPU midsoles, while attractive on easy terrain can get a bit too unstable on more technical trails and I think this one is soft enough to provide some cushion but without the instability. For reference it definitely feels softer than most Salomon or La Sportiva shoes, but certainly former / more responsive than the Hoka Speedgoat 5 / New Balance Moretrail V2.

Outsole

The outsole is Vibram Megagrip with 4mm deep chevrons. I like the fact that it is a full coverage outsole which means that you get good grip wherever you make contact with the footstrike. There is no attempt to split the outsole into zones to allow more flexibility but overall the ride felt good and was not compromised by this. I did think that there was an opportunity for some weight reduction here though as the outsole is wrapped up the heel which seems like it might add unnecessary weight.

The full coverage outsole is in stark contrast to the current trend of having large areas of exposed midsole. I like the full coverage as I find exposed midsole to compromise grip and protection, often unpredictably as the response of the shoe is very different if the contact points hit outsole or midsole.

Aesthetics

I like the look - they have a distinct style to them which is not as 'athletic' as a lot of running shoes, but seems to me to fit better with a mountain / trail style. There are quite a few reflective highlights on the shoe which is a nice addition. One quirk is that the upper uses Dyneema which cannot be dyed, so, regardless of the shoe colour that you pick, it will have white flecks in the upper which is the Dyneema. This is why many of their colourways are based on a white upper.

What I'd Change

I think that the primary thing that I would change with the design would be to allow a few more mm of length in the toebox for a given upper volume, as the current design is problematic for people with lower volume feet. The upper can always be loosened to allow for larger volume feet, but for people with a narrower feet there is nothing that you can do to make it fit.

Secondly, I would be inclined to stop the outsole curling up the heel of the shoe mostly to take a bit of weight out of the shoe.

My final thought would be to try to create an elasticated material collar entry to the shoe round the heel. The intention for this would be to act as a debris gaiter.

Outside of those design changes, I think that the brand has some quality issues to iron out. I tried 3 pairs of the shoes and they all had wrinkles in the material under the insole. One of my shoes developed a twist (along the axis of the shoe) and a lot of the bonded components are starting to come away after only 70km of running.

Final thoughts

This is an excellent shoe. If I were to design my dream shoe, it would not be far off this, with the primary issue being the length of the shoe relative to it's volume - people with higher volume feet can probably just size up. The price is very high and I would not mind this, except for the fact that the shoe has some quality issues to overcome.