Nike’s marketing pitch: The Nike Air Zoom Pegasus 35 is built for runners at every level.
Upper: Engineered mesh, full-length inner sleeve.
Midsole: Full-length Zoom Air bag, EVA foam. 10 mm heel to toe offset.
Outsole: Thin carbon rubber.
Weight: 281 gms/ 9.9 Oz for a half pair of Men’s US 10/UK 9/EUR 44/CM 27.1
Widths available: B – narrow, D – regular (reviewed), 2E – Wide, 4E – Extra Wide.
INTRODUCTION
Versatility is the only reason why the Nike Pegasus has been around for over three decades. While the shoe was never positioned as an entry-level product, it was always an excellent generalist. And that’s what makes it so appealing.
One could use the Pegasus for daily training runs and the occasional marathon. On other days, you could channel your inner Carl Lewis and the Pegasus would still meet your expectations.
Regardless of the Pegasus version, the cushioning was neither too soft nor too firm. The upper fit was usually in the sweet spot between narrow and spacious. The ride quality had decent levels of support for a neutral trainer, and the shoe didn’t weigh a lot.
And finally, the Pegasus was always a very durable shoe, thus stretching your running shoe dollars farther than the rest.
Nike knows the shoe’s strength very well, and the brand has been smart not to mess with the shoe’s core persona. Sure, there have been exceptions like the 1997 Pegasus with Max Air or the 1999 Pegasus ‘racer,’ but then this was in the wacky nineties so we’ll have to cut Nike some slack.
We know that putting the words ‘Nike’ and ‘unchanged’ together sounds uncharacteristic. This is a brand which loves to upset things once in a while, with successes and failures following in equal measure.
So something has changed on the Pegasus 35. What is it?
The Pegasus 35’s headlining act is its full-length Zoom Air bag. As the name suggests, this cushioning technology involves a urethane chamber with pressurized gas. Zoom Air is different from regular Air bags because of its drop-stitched construction.
In a drop-stitch construction, the floor and the ceiling of the Air bag are connected by a dense cluster of thin yarns. This design is also used in inflatable SUP boards where their structural rigidity is of paramount importance. The thin yarns also prevent the air from moving around when pressure is applied.
For example, the Nike Air Max 2015 used a regular air bag. Weight loading on the AM2015’s forefoot or heel led to an uneven cushioning due to air displacement. In contrast, the drop-stitched Zoom Air minimizes that occurrence. Here’s a cross-sectional picture of the Zoom Air bag to better visualize the inner workings of a drop-stitch design.
If you haven’t been tracking the Pegasus’s evolution for a while, you might assume that full-length Air is a new thing for the shoe. It isn’t. In fact, the Nike Pegasus’s midsole has swung frequently between various Air bag set-ups.
The Pegasus 33 and 34 had separate heel and forefoot Zoom bags. The Pegasus 31 had a heel-only Zoom unit. And 10 years ago, the Pegasus 25 and 26 had full-length Air, although it wasn’t Zoom.
But here’s the thing. All these changes have not altered the Pegasus’s value proposition as a daily workhorse. And this is exactly what’s made it so popular – a running shoe which works for everyone.
Putting in a full-length Zoom Air bag updates the ride quality. The 35 taps into design inspiration from the elusive Vaporfly 4%, borrowing the boat-shaped midsole and a brand upper with a heel ‘lip.’ As a result, the interiors fit a bit differently than the outgoing model.
The changes come at a $10 upcharge. The Pegasus 35 now retails at $120, bringing it at par with comparable models such as the Saucony Ride, the Brooks Ghost, and the Asics Cumulus.
THE RIDE EXPERIENCE
Even with a full-length Zoom Air bag inside the midsole, the ride isn’t as pillowy soft as one would imagine. If anything, the Pegasus’s cushioning is more of a medium-soft kind. When you examine the construction, it’s easy to understand why.
The outer midsole foam is fairly firm. Unlike the softer Vomero, the Pegasus’s EVA foam has a higher density. And then there’s the matter of the Zoom Air bag itself – the chamber is tightly sprung and offers ample resistance to compression.
Nike has made a number of changes to the 35’s outer midsole design. Previous Pegasus models had an outer midsole with a compression ridge running down the rearfoot.
On the other hand, the 35’s sidewalls are more balanced in nature. Yes, there’s a slight scoop on the outer midsole but that’s more towards the midfoot. Therefore, the new Pegasus has a more ‘neutral’ ride character than last year. The sidewalls also have molded ridges which project outwards and make the shoe supportive.
The outsole is visually similar to the 34 except for three changes. The forefoot no longer has the deep flex groove. Instead, the rubber outsole on the inner side has a large number of ‘windows’ exposing the midsole foam. The rubber lugs also feel thinner. In many ways, the new outsole design resembles that of the Nike Zoom Elite.
These updates help outsole articulation during movement and reduce stiffness. This is important for the Pegasus because it doesn’t use a softer blown rubber outsole like the Vomero. The outer outsole is split into five different sections for smooth transitions.
Not that a groove would have made much difference on a shoe with a forefoot Zoom Air bag. As far as the Pegasus is concerned, the forefoot flex groove ceased to be relevant since the version 33.
If you’re a rearfoot striker, heel strikes happen exactly where they should – clearing the edge by a comfortable margin. Surprisingly, some brands get this part wrong. In recent times, the Reebok Floatride ULTK is a good example. The Floatride design promoted heel edge landing instead of a regular rearfoot strike.
The cavity under the heel is shallower. Previously, the area of exposed midsole foam under the heel performed the role of both a cushioning and transition agent. With the shallower design, the Pegasus 35’s under heel area is more of a transition and stability aid than a cushioning one.
The midsole is stable to begin with, and the cavity helps center the weight and maintain the transition line throughout the gait cycle. This cavity tapers into a narrow and deep channel under the midfoot and forefoot, bifurcating the outsole into separate sections.
The full-length Zoom configuration also makes the ride smoother as opposed to a separate heel and forefoot Zoom Air bag set-up. And this is expected, given the material consistency from the heel to toe.
The Zoom Air bag makes the forefoot slightly stiff, and this helps with economical toe-offs. Flexibility isn’t absent on the Pegasus like the Zoom Fly, it’s just that it takes some effort bending the shoe. Underneath, the colony of pentagonal outsole lugs do an excellent job at hugging the surface.
Incidentally, one of our readers mentioned that the full-length Zoom Air bag is thinner than the separate Zoom Air units of the Pegasus 34. We’re postponing the tear-down of the Pegasus 35 till we review the Turbo. So it’ll be some time before we can ascertain the change in the thickness of the Zoom Air bag.
The theory has merit though; the shoe isn’t overly stiff and there’s even a certain degree of flexibility. But then, it could be the perforated outsole at work here.
Regardless of the thickness, the full-length Zoom Air is effective both from a responsiveness and cushioning perspective. You can feel the pressurized bag deliver a springy feel without being overly cushy.
The responsiveness increases with speed, as higher running paces (7 min/mile or under 5 min/km or faster) rewards you with a quick snap-back reaction.