Definitely. I think the S1 has a bit better casual wear, it has classic tennis vibes. However, the R1/R1R has a more tech look. Both work well, aesthetically and functionally. Also great one bag travel shoes.
I have the R1 (black colorway) and I really enjoy the ride. I think I will change the laces to traditional lace. In particular, I found the plastic piece a bit hard to move to adjust the laces at will. Good intention but not working as well. Another thing is that there is an underlay under the laces (inside the shoe) where it makes the U at the bottom, is rubbing the top of my foot a bit on my right foot. I am actually surprised that does that as it is an ultra shoe. Possibly an issue with my pair. I hope it will break down in time and I am wearing the shoe with thicker socks but it was pretty hot here in Texas. Personally, I think the upper could be thinner, lighter and more breathable. Perhaps in the next version. Overall, I am pretty impressed with the shoes for being the first shoes of a new running shoe company. Well done.
Traditional lacing on the R1/R1R makes a difference. Definitely worth a try if you can't get the exact lockdown you want. I've not noticed any troublesome overlays inside the shoe. Interesting. I'd like to see the upper idea pushed even further in future revisions. The forefoot zone could be much more open and accommodating (think FlyKnit type materials) while the heel could stay as it is to anchor the foot. This way you get a more breathable forefoot but also one that will accommodate more foot swelling on long runs.
Ya, that might be a challenge. My foot is high volume and I still have room in the shoe. Which makes sense given the design use case. A low volume foot will be a challenge here.
How is the heel stability in these different models, R1, R1R, S1, etc? I don’t like shoes with wobbly heels, even if I’m trying to strike more forefoot or midfoot, and I will tend to collapse inward with very unstable shoes. For example Brooks Hyperion Max 1 felt too wobbly in the heel for me. I do fine with most neutral daily trainers like Saucony Triumph 20, Ride 17, Mizuno Wave Rider. But even the gel in the Triumph 20 felt a touch wobbly to me.
The S1 will be the most stable in the heel, due to the tuned firmer foam and the TPU heel clip design. It's similar to what I remember the brooks Hyperion being in the heel. The R1 and R1R are a little softer in the heel due to the softer foam and different heel design. I wouldn't describe any of them as "wobbly", especially compared to many of the current popular shoes in the road running space.
It’s fascinating that a company would start up to target ultra road racing specifically. I would not have thought the addressable market would be large enough.
It’s a niche… but definitely one that doesn’t have specific products optimized for it. There is an opportunity, be it small. That being said you’ll see some other options coming from the brand soon.
yeah and as I said in another comment, I think the marketing challenge is make it clear you don't have to run an ultra to benefit. After all even the very best ultra runners are not running an ultra everyday but they are likely to be running everyday.
@@SagasuRunning In general there seems to be a boutique brand, direct to consumer phenomenon currently in running apparel and shoes. NNormal is another boutique startup. Tracksmith started making shoes and is itself a boutique apparel brand. Rabbit. Janji. Bandit. Norda. There are more.
@@SagasuRunning it also sounded like you were suggesting the R1 is kinda explicitly designed for Badwater, which is a niche of a niche. Seriously hard core stuff though.
@brianreiter5572 Glad you picked up on that, I would have expected that from you. Yes, yes I was implying that. Long, straight, hot pavement sections…. Check. ✅
Love my R1, the colourway is so good with all white and a touch of black to finish it. One issue with the R1’s CPU outsole is it’s super loud and squeaky when you walk on certain surfaces (like smooth tiles), a bit of a pity as it would have passed perfectly as a daily non-runner too. Performs really good though.
That is one of the reasons for the R1R, the noise issue for some runners. I noticed it a bit too. There are many shower tile like sidewalks here in Taiwan… squeaky, especially when wet. Grip is fine, just noisy. The S1 & R1R don’t have the issue at all.
@@SagasuRunningFor walking say 15-20k steps at a time, would you suggest the R1R for the outsole durability? I like the idea of the R1 ground feel, but unsure if that can get fatiguing past a certain distance.
The CPU outsole on the R1 is very durable. Bother outsoles will do well. It comes down to wanting that soft more compliant feel (R1) or a more traditional feel (R1R).
Thanks for the comprehensive comparison and another quality review. 30km might be early to make the call, but curious which version you expect to have greater longevity when running on tarmac. Cheers!
R1R…. The outsole will last longer and it will support and stabilize the foam more. It’s not that the R1 outsole is bad, it’s not at all… but overall the R1R will hold up longer.
The nursing home down the street called and they want their shoe back! I lived in a few countries near the Equator in Africa in the '80s and it seemed like almost all (90% or so) of the cars were the color white (less sun attraction/heat absorption)....is that explanation/rationale behind the look of the shoe, reduce heat absorption for these road ultras?
I know this question is very very mean... But: there are so many new and little brands out there... yes, they make good shoes... but what differs them to more etablished brands?
Boutique brands are always interesting. They can try new things that a larger brand would never be able to (or want to) do. The niche of road ultra racing is very narrow but offers some really interesting design opportunities. I have a soft spot for boutique brands and love to see the ideas they put out and how the execute on a vision long term. Mount to Coast is making some very strong product with some interesting engineering ideas. The fit/finish of the product is outstanding too. Some of the best I’ve seen from a brand new company.
Thank you for clearly differentiating the R1 and R1R. I knew that the R1R was coming out soon, but I wasn't sure which shoe to go with for my challenge this fall. I may have mentioned after your S1 review that I will run a fasted 5x5: five marathons in five days while fasting. Now that you've reviewed all three M2C shoes, I'm convinced that the R1 is the way to go since the courses I'm running are all tarmac. The next question is whether I should use the R1 for all 131 miles, or should I rotate it every other day with the Superblast to allow the midsole to relax. Thoughts? Thanks, Chris.
I have a full comparison coming out on Friday of all three directly. You may want to watch that to make the finally call. If any shoe can do it I’d say the R1 can, any of the amount to coast models can. I would definitely have, at least, two shoes to rotate, if not more. So an R1 and a SB are a nice combo to have options… I’m not sure if you know about the Sri Chimnoy 3100 Self Transcendence Race in NYC, it’s currently going on. Basically it’s a 3100 mile race around a .5 mile block on Queens NYC…. Runners have a maximum of 52 days to complete the distance, meaning they have to run, at least, 59.6 miles a day for the 52 days, or more per day for a faster time. Coverage is on Instagram, if you stalk my following you can find both the race and the organizers to follow it…. I didn’t know about your challenge… but it’s cool. You may be interested in the 3100 race as well. Faster brings a whole other level to it though. 💪🏻
@SagasuRunning Cool, will definitely watch on Friday. As far as the Queens race, oof, that's a lot of miles to ask of these old joints. But I'm following you on IG and will check it out for morbid curiosity. Thx, Chris. See you Friday.
@Wings_nut Ya, I wasn’t suggesting to go enter…. Haha. But it’s such a feat of endurance and it gets little to no coverage. It was a big deal yearly in the group of runners I was around back in NYC… so it’s one of those things engrained in me to follow.
Thanks for the review, Iv been excited about the R1R! Do you think that the rubber will widen the use case for these shoes to include mixed terrain runs that go from road, to fire road, to light trail?
Definitely...I think that is one of the design cases for it. I have another Mount to Coast video coming out tomorrow, comparing the S1 to the R1/R1R, I cove rit a little more in-depth there.
I've also got the R1 and S1 but been a bit embarrassed to do a video on them as have only been doing a few short slow runs in recent times due to Achilles type issues. I think I might now be able to give them a better go as it were. That said, so far I noticed that the R1 and S1 are not overly different in weight so wasn't really convinced that you could not just use one or the other for training and racing - whichever you liked the more. So am a little confused here by adding in another option which is seemingly even more just subtedly different. Was never convinced with this sort of model with the Metaspeed Sky or Edge. Just seemed to confuse runners and most ended up in the Sky anyway. I wonder if this would be the case here. If I look at two near identical shoes I am almost certainly going to choose the "lighter" one especially if billed for racing. That all said road ultra racing is pretty much a non existent activity in the UK. So I kind of feel if these shoes ever end up getting sold in the UK, I think it needs a bit thought to the marketing of a shoe which sounds like could be a good long distance trainer especially if you are not overly sold on the hype train high stack ones like the Superblast or, in my case, they do not my size which thankfully Mount to Coast do. Guess another factor is that for 99% of runners ultra road racing is essentially going at a rather easy pace or even walking for a long time. As such it is a very different type of "racing" to my say regular 5K and 10Ks with the odd HM and Marathon now and again. That said one assumes ultra road racers would (other than using Mount to Coast shoes) tend to use a "standard" marathon racer or maybe something like the Superblast or maybe even just whatever "daily" trainer they like to run in generally.
The differences between the R1/R1R isn’t more clear than the Metaspeeds. Everything comes down to feel for me, but the R1 and R1R have distinct feels they one will prefer for a given race or event. As for what people race in road ultras… it’s all over the place. Lots of Hokas, Asics Kayanos and various max cushion shoes. Alphaflys (mostly 2s) are around but there are less super shoes than you would expect. There definitely is a market for what Mount to Coast is doing, though it is small.
@justoutlaw6423 These definitely are great daily and long run options for any runners. I’ll break it down in my detail in my next video, going live on Friday.
As an ultratrailrunner who has to train on roads/gravel a lot, this really speaks to me. Hope they come to Europe soon. Great video! Edit: it seems they are sponsoring the 6-day worldchampionships in Hungary right now ( Go Mathieu Bonne 🥳🇧🇪) so they are doing some things over here in Europe.
Such a pleasure working with you, Chris! Thanks for all your inputs and feedback.
The feeling in mutual. One more video coming tomorrow… stay tuned. 🤙🏻
Hi Lin, I have a couple of small remarks based on my experience on R1. See my post.
Looks awesome. Something you can even wear with jeans.
Definitely. I think the S1 has a bit better casual wear, it has classic tennis vibes. However, the R1/R1R has a more tech look. Both work well, aesthetically and functionally. Also great one bag travel shoes.
I have the R1 (black colorway) and I really enjoy the ride.
I think I will change the laces to traditional lace. In particular, I found the plastic piece a bit hard to move to adjust the laces at will. Good intention but not working as well.
Another thing is that there is an underlay under the laces (inside the shoe) where it makes the U at the bottom, is rubbing the top of my foot a bit on my right foot. I am actually surprised that does that as it is an ultra shoe. Possibly an issue with my pair. I hope it will break down in time and I am wearing the shoe with thicker socks but it was pretty hot here in Texas. Personally, I think the upper could be thinner, lighter and more breathable. Perhaps in the next version.
Overall, I am pretty impressed with the shoes for being the first shoes of a new running shoe company. Well done.
Traditional lacing on the R1/R1R makes a difference. Definitely worth a try if you can't get the exact lockdown you want.
I've not noticed any troublesome overlays inside the shoe. Interesting.
I'd like to see the upper idea pushed even further in future revisions. The forefoot zone could be much more open and accommodating (think FlyKnit type materials) while the heel could stay as it is to anchor the foot. This way you get a more breathable forefoot but also one that will accommodate more foot swelling on long runs.
Good breakdown. I’m not sure it will fit my low volume foot. But interesting that they are going after a pretty niche part of the market.
Ya, that might be a challenge. My foot is high volume and I still have room in the shoe. Which makes sense given the design use case. A low volume foot will be a challenge here.
A pity they don't sell in Europe.
I know they are working on it…. Stay tuned.
@@SagasuRunning how about in India?
@Hana_shorts8436 Again…. I know they are working hard to expand shipping.
How is the heel stability in these different models, R1, R1R, S1, etc? I don’t like shoes with wobbly heels, even if I’m trying to strike more forefoot or midfoot, and I will tend to collapse inward with very unstable shoes. For example Brooks Hyperion Max 1 felt too wobbly in the heel for me. I do fine with most neutral daily trainers like Saucony Triumph 20, Ride 17, Mizuno Wave Rider. But even the gel in the Triumph 20 felt a touch wobbly to me.
The S1 will be the most stable in the heel, due to the tuned firmer foam and the TPU heel clip design. It's similar to what I remember the brooks Hyperion being in the heel. The R1 and R1R are a little softer in the heel due to the softer foam and different heel design. I wouldn't describe any of them as "wobbly", especially compared to many of the current popular shoes in the road running space.
@@SagasuRunning Thank you. Much appreciated.
It’s fascinating that a company would start up to target ultra road racing specifically. I would not have thought the addressable market would be large enough.
It’s a niche… but definitely one that doesn’t have specific products optimized for it. There is an opportunity, be it small.
That being said you’ll see some other options coming from the brand soon.
yeah and as I said in another comment, I think the marketing challenge is make it clear you don't have to run an ultra to benefit. After all even the very best ultra runners are not running an ultra everyday but they are likely to be running everyday.
@@SagasuRunning In general there seems to be a boutique brand, direct to consumer phenomenon currently in running apparel and shoes. NNormal is another boutique startup. Tracksmith started making shoes and is itself a boutique apparel brand. Rabbit. Janji. Bandit. Norda. There are more.
@@SagasuRunning it also sounded like you were suggesting the R1 is kinda explicitly designed for Badwater, which is a niche of a niche. Seriously hard core stuff though.
@brianreiter5572 Glad you picked up on that, I would have expected that from you. Yes, yes I was implying that. Long, straight, hot pavement sections…. Check. ✅
Love my R1, the colourway is so good with all white and a touch of black to finish it. One issue with the R1’s CPU outsole is it’s super loud and squeaky when you walk on certain surfaces (like smooth tiles), a bit of a pity as it would have passed perfectly as a daily non-runner too. Performs really good though.
That is one of the reasons for the R1R, the noise issue for some runners. I noticed it a bit too. There are many shower tile like sidewalks here in Taiwan… squeaky, especially when wet. Grip is fine, just noisy.
The S1 & R1R don’t have the issue at all.
@@SagasuRunningFor walking say 15-20k steps at a time, would you suggest the R1R for the outsole durability?
I like the idea of the R1 ground feel, but unsure if that can get fatiguing past a certain distance.
The CPU outsole on the R1 is very durable. Bother outsoles will do well. It comes down to wanting that soft more compliant feel (R1) or a more traditional feel (R1R).
@@SagasuRunning Thanks. I get bad fasciitis, so perhaps the compliant outsole is better for me.
Thanks for the comprehensive comparison and another quality review. 30km might be early to make the call, but curious which version you expect to have greater longevity when running on tarmac. Cheers!
R1R…. The outsole will last longer and it will support and stabilize the foam more. It’s not that the R1 outsole is bad, it’s not at all… but overall the R1R will hold up longer.
The nursing home down the street called and they want their shoe back! I lived in a few countries near the Equator in Africa in the '80s and it seemed like almost all (90% or so) of the cars were the color white (less sun attraction/heat absorption)....is that explanation/rationale behind the look of the shoe, reduce heat absorption for these road ultras?
I’m sure that has something to do with the design language. I’ve never asked that question. I will.
I do have a soft spot for all white running shoes…
I know this question is very very mean...
But: there are so many new and little brands out there... yes, they make good shoes... but what differs them to more etablished brands?
Boutique brands are always interesting. They can try new things that a larger brand would never be able to (or want to) do. The niche of road ultra racing is very narrow but offers some really interesting design opportunities. I have a soft spot for boutique brands and love to see the ideas they put out and how the execute on a vision long term.
Mount to Coast is making some very strong product with some interesting engineering ideas. The fit/finish of the product is outstanding too. Some of the best I’ve seen from a brand new company.
Argh. I used your non-affiliated link for the R1, but the M10.5 is not available. I left my email for the notification.
They are rotating in stock often. Keep checking. 🤙🏻
@@SagasuRunning You bet. Thx
Thank you for clearly differentiating the R1 and R1R. I knew that the R1R was coming out soon, but I wasn't sure which shoe to go with for my challenge this fall. I may have mentioned after your S1 review that I will run a fasted 5x5: five marathons in five days while fasting. Now that you've reviewed all three M2C shoes, I'm convinced that the R1 is the way to go since the courses I'm running are all tarmac. The next question is whether I should use the R1 for all 131 miles, or should I rotate it every other day with the Superblast to allow the midsole to relax. Thoughts? Thanks, Chris.
I have a full comparison coming out on Friday of all three directly. You may want to watch that to make the finally call.
If any shoe can do it I’d say the R1 can, any of the amount to coast models can. I would definitely have, at least, two shoes to rotate, if not more. So an R1 and a SB are a nice combo to have options…
I’m not sure if you know about the Sri Chimnoy 3100 Self Transcendence Race in NYC, it’s currently going on. Basically it’s a 3100 mile race around a .5 mile block on Queens NYC…. Runners have a maximum of 52 days to complete the distance, meaning they have to run, at least, 59.6 miles a day for the 52 days, or more per day for a faster time.
Coverage is on Instagram, if you stalk my following you can find both the race and the organizers to follow it….
I didn’t know about your challenge… but it’s cool. You may be interested in the 3100 race as well. Faster brings a whole other level to it though. 💪🏻
@SagasuRunning Cool, will definitely watch on Friday. As far as the Queens race, oof, that's a lot of miles to ask of these old joints. But I'm following you on IG and will check it out for morbid curiosity. Thx, Chris. See you Friday.
@Wings_nut Ya, I wasn’t suggesting to go enter…. Haha. But it’s such a feat of endurance and it gets little to no coverage. It was a big deal yearly in the group of runners I was around back in NYC… so it’s one of those things engrained in me to follow.
@@SagasuRunning Nice
@@SagasuRunning do you mean all three Mount to Coast shoes (so also the S1) or the R1/R1R versus the Superblast 1 and/or 2 ?
Thanks for the review, Iv been excited about the R1R! Do you think that the rubber will widen the use case for these shoes to include mixed terrain runs that go from road, to fire road, to light trail?
Definitely...I think that is one of the design cases for it. I have another Mount to Coast video coming out tomorrow, comparing the S1 to the R1/R1R, I cove rit a little more in-depth there.
@@SagasuRunning awesome, I’m looking forward to it. Thanks for responding!
I've also got the R1 and S1 but been a bit embarrassed to do a video on them as have only been doing a few short slow runs in recent times due to Achilles type issues. I think I might now be able to give them a better go as it were. That said, so far I noticed that the R1 and S1 are not overly different in weight so wasn't really convinced that you could not just use one or the other for training and racing - whichever you liked the more. So am a little confused here by adding in another option which is seemingly even more just subtedly different. Was never convinced with this sort of model with the Metaspeed Sky or Edge. Just seemed to confuse runners and most ended up in the Sky anyway. I wonder if this would be the case here. If I look at two near identical shoes I am almost certainly going to choose the "lighter" one especially if billed for racing. That all said road ultra racing is pretty much a non existent activity in the UK. So I kind of feel if these shoes ever end up getting sold in the UK, I think it needs a bit thought to the marketing of a shoe which sounds like could be a good long distance trainer especially if you are not overly sold on the hype train high stack ones like the Superblast or, in my case, they do not my size which thankfully Mount to Coast do. Guess another factor is that for 99% of runners ultra road racing is essentially going at a rather easy pace or even walking for a long time. As such it is a very different type of "racing" to my say regular 5K and 10Ks with the odd HM and Marathon now and again. That said one assumes ultra road racers would (other than using Mount to Coast shoes) tend to use a "standard" marathon racer or maybe something like the Superblast or maybe even just whatever "daily" trainer they like to run in generally.
I think the go-to shoe for Comrades now is the Endorpin Pro.
True, but if prices translate $ to € these would be great option as a daily trainer/long run shoe. I guess price will determine the stock
The differences between the R1/R1R isn’t more clear than the Metaspeeds. Everything comes down to feel for me, but the R1 and R1R have distinct feels they one will prefer for a given race or event.
As for what people race in road ultras… it’s all over the place. Lots of Hokas, Asics Kayanos and various max cushion shoes. Alphaflys (mostly 2s) are around but there are less super shoes than you would expect. There definitely is a market for what Mount to Coast is doing, though it is small.
I always see so many EPs and AFs in the comrades photos…
@justoutlaw6423 These definitely are great daily and long run options for any runners. I’ll break it down in my detail in my next video, going live on Friday.
As an ultratrailrunner who has to train on roads/gravel a lot, this really speaks to me. Hope they come to Europe soon. Great video! Edit: it seems they are sponsoring the 6-day worldchampionships in Hungary right now ( Go Mathieu Bonne 🥳🇧🇪) so they are doing some things over here in Europe.
They are definitely working on expanding shipping and coverage. Keep checking on them...
Super insightful observations as always Chris. An endurance road shoe makes for an interesting design solution. 🤙🏻
It definitely does. Interestingly, I found these pair nicely with a certain other shoe that is wide and all black...just sayin'.