Jordan Spizike Low review

Don't let the Spizike Low fall asleep on your wish list if:

• You are a Jordan lover who can't get enough of its fire aesthetics.
• You're looking for a trendy pair of sneakers to wear from time to time.
• You're a fan of Nike Air technologies and foot-hugging designs.

If what you want is a durable pair of sneakers that will be by your side for years on end, this one is a big no-no! The Spizike Low showed poor results on our 3 Dremel tests, so we believe it should be handled with care and used from time to time. The Jordan Legacy 312 Low is another low-top icon designed with far more durable materials, so it might be your cup of tea!

Then, if you're looking for a lifestyle shoe to wear all day long, we do believe it's better to go for a lighter one. Also, despite its dual Air technologies, we can't say these Jordans are the most comfortable shoes underfoot. So, if you want a mix of comfort and lightweight, click here!

Before measuring any shoe's heel stack, we need to cut it in half. Why? Well, because we need complete and unobstructed access to its different parts!

When our caliper could embrace this shoe's sole, it returned 29.4 mm, which is just slightly lower than average. But this doesn't mean this Jordan feels uncomfortable under foot or anything, so don't worry! It's just not a skyscraper of a shoe.

The forefoot stack follows the same path, as it's also pretty much average.

At 18.6 mm, our feet enjoyed a mix of cushioning and ground feel that's super typical from basketball shoes. As expected from a pair of Jordans!

The difference between the heel and the forefoot stacks left us with a drop of 10.8 mm.

As you can see, the back part of the shoe is higher than the front. And why's that? Because of the lovely Air technology these sneakers feature! Can you see those bubble-like gaps? Yep, that's it!

The best part of it all is that this wonderful pair has it both at the ball of the foot and at the heel, which translated into a comfortable ride from the back to the front during our wear tests.

As we also had clean access to the Spizike Low's midsole, we pressed our durometer against it to analyze its softness.

It returned 31.0 HA, which is pretty much average. So the foam that Nike used should be neither too soft nor too firm. Our experience after walking around town and running errands in this shoe is that... it does feel kind of firm underfoot. The bigger Air unit in the heel offers more of a soft feel but, to us, that's pretty much it!

Nevertheless, by no means does this mean these sneakers are uncomfortable! We found them really nice, but they just don't feel like a couple of soft clouds on foot. Which is totally fine!

PS: The fact that the Air technology can be seen at the heel? How cool is that!

As soon as we got a hold of this shoe's insole, we noticed it was pretty thin.

Our caliper agreed, as it returned only 4.2 mm when we measured it. Maybe the brand was trying to save up some weight here, but... somehow, it didn't manage to do it!

A fantastic 3.0 score among the votes we received claims the Spizike Low is true to size. Which is wonderful news!

And more great news was on its way! When our caliper measured this Jordan's toebox width at the biggest part, it returned 100.7 mm.

This means it's wider than average, so our standard-sized feet didn't have to deal with any kind of uncomfortable rubbing coming from the sides of the shoe. Yay!

And don't let appearances fool you. Even though the Spizike Low looks pointy, when we measured its toebox width at the big toe, it was actually wider than average. Yep, once again!

At 76.2 mm, our caliper confirmed what our toes felt: enough space to wiggle! And you know, apart from moving from side to side, we also moved them up and down. Despite the rigid structure of this pair, we can't complain about the volume of its toebox. It was good enough for us, and it just made the whole fit even more comfortable!

Forget about wobbly ankles with this pair! Its structure wouldn't let our joints overextend themselves, so we felt safe and sound even if we had been walking for a while.

As you can see in the video, the hooper soul of these sneakers looks after our ankles, keeping them in place. When we took it to our lab and cut it in half, we could see clearly why: apart from the overall rigid structure of the Spizike Low, it also features a fair amount of padding at the heel collar that hugged our heels comfortably and safely.

Another basketball-like feature of this lifestyle pair is its crazy high torsional rigidity.

As you can see, our fingers could barely twist it. Its structure would just not give in, and we tried our best! Consequently, we decided to give it a 5/5 on this test.

On the one hand, this offers some extra lateral support, as the materials stay strong even when we walk. On the other hand... they're a bit rough at the beginning. Additionally, a pair of sneakers with such a stiff structure might not be the most comfortable to run errands all day long the first times you wear it.

The heel counter follows the same former hooper logic.

It did give in a little bit more when our fingers pressed it, though! That's why we decided to give it a 4/5 on our stiffness test.

We put the shoe upside down to measure its midsole width at the forefoot.

Our caliper didn't have to make much of an effort to hug it, as it returned 108.1 mm, which is pretty much the average score. Honestly, we're fans of wide midsoles, not gonna lie! Still, we didn't find this shoe unstable or anything. It just matches its clean and sleek vibe!

The good news is that the heel is slightly wider than average, which adds some extra stability points.

At 86.1 mm, our heels landed happily and could reposition themselves if needed. But we didn't feel this part was too roomy; to us, it offered the right amount of space.

Even though torsional and longitudinal rigidity are two different concepts, the overall stiff structure of the Spizike Low is a reality our feet and our force gauge had to deal with.

The tool returned 34.6N when we bent this shoe all the way up to 90 degrees. This score is a whole 33% higher than average, which indicates this pair is also stiffer than most sneakers.

To us, this translated into a break-in period. It might not be a global experience, but we want to let you know just in case!

During our wear tests, we walked around town, ran some errands, went out with friends, and... yeah, this shoe felt heavy.

When we took it to our lab, our scale marked 17.7 oz/502.0g, which is way higher than average. In fact, the Spizike Low is a scary 22% heavier than most sneakers, which our feet knew from the very start.

It's not like this extra weight made it uncomfortable, but our feet did get tired after a couple of hours walking around town. Consequently, this might not be the best option to hurry to and fro on a busy day. A lighter pair will help your feet save energy and enjoy every step of the way, from sunrise to sunset!

From the very first moment we took the Spizike Low out of its box, we noticed its solid leather design. Even though it does have what looks like a mesh spot on the outer side, we didn't want to jump to conclusions just yet. Let's see what our light, smoke machine, and microscope say!

Alright... So they light could barely even shine through the cut-up upper! That mesh area sure tricked us, as it blocked the LED easily.

We had to double (and even triple) check if our smoke machine was on. These Jordans wouldn't get a single molecule of smoke come out! We decided to give them a 1/5 on our breathability test because a -10 is not on our scale. But trust us, we would have if we could!

If we compare this shoe to the ASICS Gel NYC (on the right), it becomes even clearer to us why we felt like we were wearing a couple of toasters during our wear tests. If you decide to show off this pair's coolest vibes in the summer, your feet might attend a non-wanted pool party (sweat, sweat, and more sweat!).

But, come on now... how is the air even supposed to get through such a thick and solid material? There's no way!

Even though the brand specifies on its official webpage that the Spizike Low features real and synthetic leather, RunRepeat wouldn't be RunRepeat if we didn't go all out and verify it!

We started by burning the leather on the neck, and just by looking at the flame and the melted material, we had it clear: synthetic!

Then we went for the brownish (in this colorway) elephant print part closer to the sole. As you can see, it didn't burn like crazy, and our awl could scratch it with no problems. Final verdict: authentic!

Last but not least, we checked the material at the toebox. Our torch burned it easily, but it didn't burst into flames! It also didn't get sticker, which is great news. With all this evidence, we can happily tell you: it's authentic too!

When we have to deal with the reality of a shoe getting a low score in breathability, we always have high hopes for durability. But sometimes... they end up crushed. This pretty much summarizes our experience with the Spizike Low regarding durability!

At 5K RPM and with 3.2N of force, the tool drilled this shoe's toebox mercilessly. We felt our legs tremble from the very first second, as white dust started flying around our lab from the very first moment the Dremel touched the leather.

We felt rather disappointed, to be honest. We expected a better result from these Jordans, but we couldn't give it a higher score than a 1/5 on our toebox durability test.

Without any kind of expectation of durability anymore, we moved our Dremel all the way to the back and started drilling the heel.

Just like a bad dream that came back to haunt us, we saw the tool destroying the padding of the back of these Jordans. And once again, the result was really bad. Just not as bad as the toebox's but no way near good enough to give it more than a 2/5 on our heel padding durability test.

We pressed our durometer against the Spizike Low's outsole and it returned 89.0 HC.

Even though this higher-than-average result should mean this shoe's rubber focuses a little bit more on durability, we didn't want our heart to get broken again, as the previous Dremels tests ended with a soul-crushing victory of the tool itself!

And... maybe we jinxed it, because history repeated itself.

This time at 10K RPM but with the same 3.2N of force, the Dremel attacked this shoe's outsole like there was no tomorrow. The result looked, once again, pretty bad. To verify our hypothesis, we grabbed our tread gauge and measured the damage. At 1.5 mm, this result is 33% higher than average. Which is bad news in this test!

Even though these Jordans have a less durable outsole, the brand didn't go for a big piece of rubber to balance it out.

At 3.4 mm, our caliper stated this part of the shoe is actually way thinner than average at the heel. We understand that maybe Nike was trying to save up some weight, but... this is no way near enough!

The Spizike Low features a different outsole than the other Jordan pairs we've analyzed so far in our lab.

As you can see, it keeps the typical basketball pivot point at the ball of the foot, which won't let us forget its hooper heritage. Overall, we found this shoe's traction good enough. Nothing too crazy, though, but we were pretty happy with it.

To be honest, after all the tests inside and outside of our lab, and always taking into account this shoe is pure fire... we have some things to say regarding its price. First, its materials didn't show great breathability or durability despite its quality, and even though the Spizike Low feels comfortable, it's not the cloud-like feel you might get from other Nike shoes like the Zoom Vomero 5 or the V2K Run, for example.

So, Jordans are Jordans, and their history and reputation precede them. That we know, and the brand has proved it countless times! So don't get us wrong, we love the design of the Spizike Low, as it mixes 5 Jordan pairs in 1. But... for that price, you can pretty much get one of the incredibly popular and timeless retros of the brand that have conquered the streets for years (and will definitely continue to do so).

If you get this pair with one of our discounts, then we believe its trendy design won't disappoint you. Even though it features the brand's technologies, we do think it might be slightly overpriced.

As expected, these Jordans don't have any kind of reflective elements.

When we measured the Spizike Low's tongue padding, our caliper returned 5.3 mm.

This score is way lower than average, and we understand this was a strategic move from the brand to reduce the overall weight of this shoe. Once again, it was not enough, as these Jordans still felt heavy. But we're pretty happy with this amount of padding, as it shielded our instep from any kind of lace bite without adding more unnecessary weight.

The lockdown feel of this pair is wonderful! This is not only thanks to its foot-hugging structure and torsional rigidity, but also thanks to its semi-gusseted tongue.

On the one hand, maybe a non-gusseted tongue would have improved the breathability levels of this shoe and/or reduced its overall weight. On the other hand, we would have felt disappointed if a pair with this price didn't feature a gusseted tongue.

It also features 2 plastic pieces on the sides (called "wings) that offer some extra support, just like the multiple eyelets all around the tongue! As we were saying, the surefootedness here is immaculate.

The Spizike Low features a really cool finger-loop at the back!

You can always change the Spizike Low's insole.

As you can see, it's removable, so if you want or need to use a different orthotic, you won't have any problems!

The key point of the Spizike Low is that it mixes 5 different Jordans into 1.

As you can see in what might be the coolest shoe box in the universe, this model is just like a mosaic!

• It features the midsole and elephant print from the AJ 3.
• The molded technical wings of the AJ 4.
• The quarter panel and eyelets of the AJ 5.
• The tongue and lace locks of the AJ 6.
• And the finger-loop of the AJ 9.