Nike Romaleos 2 review

Contents

Introduction
Use
Specs
Sizing/Fit
Conclusion
Where to buy?
Any questions or comments?
Specs
Images

Introduction

The Nike Romaleos 2 is a high-end weightlifting shoe by Nike released in 2012. This shoe is popular because of its great build quality and stability, but mainly because of the relatively wide fit and sleek design.

Use

This shoe is specifically made for Olympic Weightlifting, but also great for squats, bench presses and other strength exercises. Because they are designed for Olympic Weightlifting, they are pretty stiff (but less so than the AdiPowers), and may therefore not be the best choice for CrossFit WOD’s in which you have to run or jump. For better CrossFit specific choices, see CrossFit.

Specs

Shoe design / construction

The Romaleos 2 is made out of relatively thick, smooth, synthetic leather, which gives a lot of strength to the shoe. The toebox of the shoe has three large, mesh fabric, ventilation holes on each side. In addition to those, there is one ventilation hole on each side of the laces.
The shoe comes with two different insoles. The “training insole” and the “competition insole”. The training sole is a bit soft and completely flat, and aimed at comfort. The competition sole is tougher and shaped to the foot. Nike recommends that you only use the competition insole when you compete, for a slightly better power transfer when every kilo counts. It is still advisable to try both insoles and decide on which one to use during training. Depending on the shape of the foot, it’s possible for the competition insole to fit more comfortably, even when using them for long training sessions.

The rubber outsole of the shoe is completely flat, so it has as much contact area with the platform as possible, for optimal grip.

Heel

The heel of the shoe is made of TPU, and regardless of your shoe size, effectively 0.75″, or 1.9 cm. The TPU material The TPU heel shapes around the foot and also functions as a heel cup. This makes for a very rigid construction with considerable lateral stability. The heel (and sole) have a shallow recess in the middle to make the shoe lighter. This has no effect on the firmness of the heel.

Metatarsal strap

In contrast to most weightlifting shoes, this features two metatarsal straps to improve the stability of the shoe. The two straps make sure the Nike Romaleos is stable in through the entire foot, whereas the Adidas AdiPower relies on the narrow toe-box to stabilize the front of the foot.

Color and design

The Nike Romaleos 2 comes in 5 different color options: black, white, ‘obsidian’ (dark blue), “red comet” (red), and “volt” (bright yellow).

Sizing/Fit

The Romaleos II fits true size. The Romaleos is slightly wider in the front than most weightlifting shoes. This doesn’t effect the stability however, you can tighten the lower strap for stability through the entire shoe. To make sure you get the correct size, you can the official Nike sizing chart on Nike’s website.

Conclusion

This shoe is very good in terms of stability and build quality. If you are looking for high-end weightlifting shoes, and have a wide foot, this is a better choice than the Adidas AdiPowers.
If you’re looking for a lower budget alternative however, check out the Pendlay/Do Win shoes, which have very similar design, and go for about half the price.