Nike introduces the Zoom Cage 2

[Quackadily Blip]

http://sneakernews.com/2015/01/13/nike-introduces-tennis-zoom-cage-2/

These will look very good on and off curt especially in a better color way.

 

[cso1640]

Love these - I just wished they had more colors for the women. We don't always wear pink!!!

Or that they had smaller sizes in the mens' volt zoom cage 2. Sadly, I wear a size 6 in womens, so a 4.5 in mens is hard to find.

 

[purple-n-gold]

The pic of the volt pair doesn't have a heel bubble but the black and white versions do? Sample pic or the real deal? All zoom or bubble back? Inspiring TW buyers gotta know these things..

 

[Nostradamus]

Does this still have the Air Zoom cushioning ?

 

[federering]

Zoom air in these.

BR

 

[TW Staff]

The pic of the volt pair doesn't have a heel bubble but the black and white versions do? Sample pic or the real deal? All zoom or bubble back? Inspiring TW buyers gotta know these things..

Looks like the image of the white shoe and black shoe were the samples Nike send us.

The Volt colorway is the correct image.

I will get our imaging team to update it this morning!

The Zoom Cage 2 does NOT have the air bubble as far as we have been told and then obviously would not have the air bubble showing.

Sorry about the confusion!

Michelle, TW

 

[JT_2eighty]

On paper this looks like an amazing shoe... has elements of the older breathe cages and 2k11s, with beefed up durability from ballistec.

As far as colors, looks like a good spread: volt for the flashy, all white for the traditionalist, and black & white for the rest of us!

 

[purple-n-gold]

No bubble no trouble Thx!

 

[West Coast Ace]

Those are very nice. At least the white/silver.

Would like to know what colorways are coming. A grey with red would be nice.

 

[derek08844]

What do you guys think of the flat sole? Compared to most tennis shoes which have a gap between the front and back of the sole. Do you guys like the looks of it (maybe better in casual settings?) or do you think normal tennis shoes look better?

 

[derek08844]

Errr it's not completely flat but it does look a lot flatter just because the colors are the same...

 

[Nostradamus]

No bubble no trouble Thx!

does that mean it does not have Air Zoom ?

 

[derek08844]

does that mean it does not have Air Zoom ?

No it has zoom air

 

[Bartelby]

So zoom air is a form of cushion or a type of air bubble or both?

 

[Nostradamus]

So zoom air is a form of cushion or a type of air bubble or both?

Agree, Very confused. I have no idea what is in there ???

 

[derek08844]

It's a form of cushion I'm pretty sure it's almost or is exactly the same as the cushioning in the Nike Zoom Vapor 9.5 Tour

 

[derek08844]

Just looked it up and this is what I found:

"Nike Zoom cushioning is part of the Nike Air family. Like its siblings, Nike Zoom is lightweight and durable. Because Nike Zoom cushioning is incredibly thin, it brings the foot closer to the ground and enhances stability, especially during quick cuts and multi-directional movements.

After impact, the tightly stretched fibers inside the pressurized air unit quickly bounce back into shape, providing a super responsive feel and improved awareness of the surface you’re playing on."

So it's a bunch of fibers put together so yes it is a type of support but it's not air max like the previous iteration.

Personally I think that this is a better update because I thought that the Air Max rode a little high and that this update will make it close to perfect.

 

[Quackadily Blip]

I like to think of zoom air as a lower to the ground, springier cushioning than air max which is dead feeling and higher off the ground. In the end there both just gasses though.

 

[JT_2eighty]

Pretty much already said, derek summed it up well.


All nike shoes with Zoom Air have No visible air bubble.

Zoom Vapor 9 & 9.5 for example, all have air zoom.

Any nike shoe with "Zoom" on the heel, or "air zoom" or "nike zoom" ... it's all the same thing. And it's nothing like "Air Max" which is the visible bubble and rides higher off the ground.

According to nike, the air pockets are in there, just smaller and thus lower to the ground in a "zoom air unit".

The zoom breathe 2k11 & 2k12 had it.

Vapor 4, 5 & 6 had it. (7 & 8 went to lunarlon), then back to zoom in the V9's.

Certain lines of the running, basketball, etc have it too. It's never a visible air unit like Air Max. There are some shoes that have Air Max in the heel, and Zoom Air in the forefoot. Like the old Courtballistec had lunar in the forefoot and Air Max heel, etc. So it is possible for a shoe to have both air max and zoom at the same time (although i don't think a tennis shoe has had that combo yet).

So, this will feel very similar to current Vapors, the old Breathe 2k11/2k12s, and the venerable Vapor VI line.

 

[1st Seed]

AnyBody have these bad boys yet???????.If so can you please post a mini review.Likes, dislikes.Width, Arch,support, tread,etc before i bite the bullet thanks in advance

 

[OnyxZ28]

Pretty much already said, derek summed it up well.


All nike shoes with Zoom Air have No visible air bubble.

Zoom Vapor 9 & 9.5 for example, all have air zoom.

Any nike shoe with "Zoom" on the heel, or "air zoom" or "nike zoom" ... it's all the same thing. And it's nothing like "Air Max" which is the visible bubble and rides higher off the ground.

According to nike, the air pockets are in there, just smaller and thus lower to the ground in a "zoom air unit".

The zoom breathe 2k11 & 2k12 had it.

Vapor 4, 5 & 6 had it. (7 & 8 went to lunarlon), then back to zoom in the V9's.

Certain lines of the running, basketball, etc have it too. It's never a visible air unit like Air Max. There are some shoes that have Air Max in the heel, and Zoom Air in the forefoot. Like the old Courtballistec had lunar in the forefoot and Air Max heel, etc. So it is possible for a shoe to have both air max and zoom at the same time (although i don't think a tennis shoe has had that combo yet).

So, this will feel very similar to current Vapors, the old Breathe 2k11/2k12s, and the venerable Vapor VI line.

I've only seen visible Zoom Air in one shoe -- the Air Zoom Beyond from back in the day had a visible Zoom Air unit:

TW's page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20000309153836/http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AZB

 

[JT_2eighty]

Nice find!

I've only seen visible Zoom Air in one shoe -- the Air Zoom Beyond from back in the day had a visible Zoom Air unit:

TW's page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20000309153836/http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AZB

Good find! Ok, aside from that shoe, and maybe some other relics, all the recent Nike Zoom shoes do not have visible air bubbles, and are lower to ground than Air Max that has visible air unit.

Both use "air" as part of the cushioning. I found the Nike Zoom shoes to be more responsive, probably in part to riding lower to the court.

 

[OnyxZ28]

I prefer the feel of Zoom Air to Air Max as well. Tuned Air (another Nike relic) also felt nice.

 

[Dark Magician]

Is this zoom cage 2 update of some other model? There weren't any Zoom cage earlier.

 

[FedLIKEnot]

It's an update to the Air Max Cage. It take some design cues from the original albeit different cushion setup. I believe that is why early samples had an exposed Zoom unit to carry over one of the major designs aspects from the 1st.

Side note the cage aspect itself isn't as attractive as the 1st in my opinion. If you look at the black white color way verses the other black white version to me it's no contest. That said the solid upper is a gorgeous colorway and I think something they should do on the colorways to come.

 

[spoonmugen]

I've only seen visible Zoom Air in one shoe -- the Air Zoom Beyond from back in the day had a visible Zoom Air unit:

TW's page:
http://web.archive.org/web/20000309153836/http://www.tennis-warehouse.com/descpage.html?PCODE=AZB

nike courtballistec 3.3 had visible air unit

 

[JT_2eighty]

nike courtballistec 3.3 had visible air unit

and Courtballistec 1.3, 2.3, 3.3 and 4.3 were all "Air Max", which yes has visible air, but that wasn't disputed.

"Zoom Air" on the other hand, is typically not a visible air unit and not the same thing as "Air Max". That was the comparison we were all discussing. (aside from the old shoe pictured above, no current or recent 'Zoom Air' tennis* court shoe had visible air, while all other Visible Air unit shoes were 'Air MAX'.)
see page 1 for all of that discussion and details.

Courtballistec used Lunarlon in the forefoot, and Air Max in the heels (earlier versions called Lunarlon, "Lunarlite", but that was just a name change of the same material.)

"Air Max" is different than "Zoom Air" (Air MAX rides higher, while Zoom Air is thinner and has a different feel - perhaps also is surrounded by different foam or rubber compound than Air MAX), and currently none of the new nike tennis shoes for 2015 use Air Max anymore. They have either all been changed to Zoom Air as it rides lower to court, or a combo of Zoom Air & Lunarlon (while Lunar Ballistec of course is simply all Lunarlon, no air anything at all).

One of these days I'm going to saw in half a few old shoes to really compare...