Article by Sam Winebaum, Jeff Beck, and Cheng Chen
Brooks Aurora-BL ($200)
Introduction
Sam: Releasing June 17, the limited edition Aurora-BL represents a wild and dramatic technological and visual design departure for often stodgy yet always reliable Brooks
A product of the brand’s Blue Line skunk works the Aurora is a super light for stack, maximally cushioned (approximate 42mm heel / 36 mm forefoot full stack), plateless road trainer with a supercritical processed nitrogen injected foam DNA Loft v3 midsole. We have seen DNA Loft v1 in the Glycerin and Ghost as a softer flavor of DNA and nitrogen infused DNA Flash foam in the Tempo, Hyperion Elite 2, and trail Catamount and coming soon DNA Loft v2 in the Cascadia 16 (RTR Review soon) but here we are talking about something radically different.
Brooks “amplified” the foaming process using the supercritical nitrogen to create yet larger cells within the foam, and larger than in DNA Loft v1 and v2. As the v numbers progress drawings from Brooks indicate more dispersed, more regular in shape and larger bubbles within the foam structures. They say the v3’s process amplifies the cushioning properties, reduces weight, and increases energy return while also not sacrificing durability. While we have no advance information, we can imagine that this new DNA Loft v3 foam may make its way into next versions of Brooks’ Hyperion Elite and Tempo shoes along with elements of the upper materials and design.
The stack height is gigantic here. My approximate measurements show about 5mm more full stack at the heel than the Nike Invincible Run, a 10mm drop shoe. It is also about 5mm more at the heel than the New Balance More v3, a 4mm drop shoe. This is a gigantic stack height in a shoe weighing close to 1.5 oz less than either at 8.54 oz /242g in my US9. Eye opening to say the least!
And that is not all. The Aurora gets a deep decoupling at the midfoot to allow the heel and forefoot to move independently of each other for what Brooks calls a “smooth natural ride”. Several years ago Brooks did something similar in the road Neuro and trail Mazama, far lower stack height shoes with comparatively primitive heavier foams. We also have seen a similar deep groove, with similar intentions, in the recent Inov-8 Trailfly Ultra G300.
Finally the Aurora gets a very thin and breathable mono mesh upper with an internal mid foot bootie tongue along with a very unique single piece molded and padded heel counter unit extending underfoot to midfoot where it also seems to provide support and stability above the decoupling.
Wild looks conveying the shoe’s mission of cloud-like maximal light cushion and light weight and packed with innovative new technologies Brooks pulled out all the stops here to join the modern super foam run game. Let’s see how they run!
Cheng: It’s an orange! It’s a flying saucer! It’s Brook’s latest do it all sneaker-trainer!
This hyperbolic introduction is not too far off from not my first impressions - these are truly different from anything Brooks. To that extent, I received these tester units about a week ago and did not have the chance to put on the typical 30+ miles for shoe reviews. I did, however, put enough miles in for some decent thoughts, including impressions from Brooks Hanson’s elite runners!
Jeff: This has to be the most outlandish looking shoe I’ve ever run in. It immediately reminded me of a number of the various Reebok “running” shoes they offer that are purely for casual wear - except this bad boy is made to be run in. But all of that is just aesthetics and design unique to this shoe, for me the biggest “wow” element of this shoe is the midsole material. Brooks had offered a handful of interesting midsole foams like DNA Flash and DNA Loft, but this is truly impressive. Timing is funny too, I received a pair of DNA Loft v2 equipped Cascadia 16s about 48 hours before the DNA Loft v3 equipped Auroras showed up - so the DNA Loft v2 era was incredibly short in the Beck household.
