Puma Fast RB Nitro Elite Review: A Bonkers Running Shoe That Rips Up the Rulebook

Introduction

Very occasionally a shoe comes along that completely perplexes as much as it excites. The Puma Fast RB Nitro Elite is exactly that kind of shoe: it pretty much rips up the rulebook, throws it into the fire, and puts it out with a big bucket of water. Whether it points to the future of super light racing or simply stands as a wild prototype, it demands a different kind of conversation.

This is not a conventional review with scores and a verdict. It is, honestly, very much a prototype shoe from left field, and the fairest thing to do is talk through what makes it strange and let you make up your own mind.

First Impressions: A Shoe That Defies Convention

The Fast RB was released in limited quantities, reportedly around a thousand pairs, through Puma’s own website and a small group of retailers. The Fire Glow colorway sent for testing is particularly striking, and these are shoes that genuinely stand out both on the shelf and on the foot.

The numbers alone are unusual. In a UK size 11 / US size 12 they weigh 413g (14.6oz), easily the heaviest super shoe territory reviewed here. The heel stack measures around 56mm from the insole to the outsole, with about 46mm in the forefoot, roughly a 10mm drop, though with this shoe the drop barely feels like the relevant figure. In fact, when stood upright the heel sits off the ground thanks to the foam geometry.

If you’re weighing whether this avant-garde racing experiment belongs in your rotation, the short version is this: it’s fascinating, propulsive, heavy, loud, and expensive. Understanding the details below will tell you which of those matters most for your running.

Upper: Football Boot Meets Racing Flat

The upper immediately recalls a laceless football boot. There are no traditional laces; instead Puma has used power tape down the front of the shoe, with stretchy knit material between the tape panels giving just enough give to shoehorn your foot in. Dual pull cords at the openings help the process, and honestly a shoe horn would be genuinely useful here.

Sizing matters. True to size worked perfectly; going up half a size would have meant serious heel slip, and going down would have jammed toes into the front. The typical Puma lateral side taper and Ultra weave material carry over from other top-end Puma race shoes, and there was decent tension across the top of the foot. Still, over a long run the laceless setup left a wish for extra tension to couple the foot properly to the midsole. A laced version, apparently connected to a collaboration, is reportedly on the way, and that might be worth waiting for.

Midsole: Three Plates and Two Nitro Elite Pods

The midsole is quite the contraption. A carbon plate runs under most of the foot. A second TPU plate sits under the forefoot foam, which then meets a third plate quite close to the floor. Two Nitro Elite pods are sandwiched between the plates, and the rear foam culminates in two hammer-like pieces at the back of the shoe. The foam underfoot mixes densities: the heel section is firmer, reminiscent of the original Fast R, likely a blend of EVA and lighter Nitro-style foam, while the rest is the newer Nitro Elite material seen in the Fast R2.

One surprise is how the foam creeps up and around the heel section, and it seems a good chunk of the excess weight lives there, presumably to stabilise things. The wide base helps too: 12.5cm at the widest point up front and about 9.7cm in the heel, with a huge cut-out in between. Despite the height, the shoe never felt wobbly underfoot, and certainly not as unstable as some ultra-stacked rivals. The Pebax-based insole, similar to the Fast R2’s, adds a nice squashy step-in quality.

Ride Feel: Exhilarating at Pace, Hefty Over Distance

The first run feels odd, then strangely familiar, with a hint of the Fast R Nitro Elite V1 and V2 in there. The idea seems to be two separate things happening as your foot meets the ground: the pods compress on landing, then decompress through the stride and push you forward, while the forefoot Nitro Elite foam adds pop.

The shoe demands a very particular running style. It wants a midfoot landing with real focus on push-off, and it rewards effort: the more you put in, the more fun it becomes, encouraging a higher knee lift and considerably longer stride. Over shorter distances it is genuinely exhilarating and hugely propulsive.

The major drawback rears its head as the miles accumulate: the shoe starts to feel hefty despite its bouncy nature. Running in it over any real distance would demand superb form and strength, which will not suit everybody. Then there’s the noise. A persistent creaking, like a rusty old door, turned out to come from the foam directly under the forefoot where it joins the carbon plate, not the plates rubbing as first suspected. It is jarring over time, and you will want your headphones and noise cancellation on.

Grip, Outsole and Value

Grip is pure Puma: loads of it, in the form of tiny ridges and protrusions. The downside is that grit and grime collect in that texture and are difficult to remove. Traction is absolutely superb and strangely assured on corners, probably helped by the shoe’s weight. The rear rubber sections resemble the Fast R2’s, with cutouts in the forefoot area where a stone could lodge, so this is a roads-and-pavement shoe rather than a gravel option.

At £300 in the UK, this is a model for the enthusiast. With this weight, reportedly nearly double that of the Deviate Nitro Elite 3, it is hard to see it as a super race shoe for anybody in particular. It could work as a medium-distance trainer with faster pace sections thrown in, for the strongest of legs only.

Buying Advice

If you can find a pair, go true to size, expect a fight getting in, and treat this as an experimental short-to-medium distance shoe rather than a marathon racer. If you want traditional lacing and a better foot-to-midsole coupling, the laced version on the horizon may be the smarter buy. If the weight and the creaking will bother you, they will bother you a lot; this is not a shoe for the faint of heart.

Conclusion

The Fast RB Nitro Elite is an absolutely bonkers shoe, a prototype-grade experiment that makes last year’s Fast Road look almost traditional. It is fun, propulsive and genuinely fascinating, and it leaves you curious about where the technology goes next: a lighter iteration, some laces, and a quieter midsole would make the sequel very interesting indeed. For now, at this price and this weight, it remains a left-field curiosity for enthusiasts who want to feel what Marty McFly might have worn.