Saucony Ride 7 General Info:

The Saucony Ride 7 is a lightweight neutral trainer which offers a great deal of cushioning and flexibility.

Saucony Ride 7 Sole Unit:

The hands down best part of the Ride 7 is that Saucony decided to use their PowerGrid EVA foam from heel to toe on this shoe. This single layer of cushioning, combined with a decoupled and flexible outsole, provide a very smooth ride on just about any surface.

Add these features to the fact that the Ride is now way under 10 ounces makes this a great improvement over past versions. Forefoot strikers will continue to love the plush forefoot which can now be fully appreciated due to a more flexible midsole.

The outsole of the Ride 7 takes a page from the Kinvara outsole, but is quite a bit more durable with carbon rubber segments in all of the right spots. This is a shoe that will be durable enough to accommodate slight pronators of all types while maintaining its integrity and resiliency.

Saucony Ride 7 Upper:

Saucony sticks with the traditional, and time tested, combination of dual density mesh combined with welded on overlays. A durable rand extends around the toe box to the heel collar and provides additional support.

A plush heel collar and tongue are combined with flat laces and reinforced eyelets to create the feeling of a soft but secure fit, and I was able to run in this shoe out of the box without any rubbing or blisters.

Another improvement of note is that Saucony has left the overlays off of the lateral, pinky toe, side of the upper. This is a common area for holes and blow outs, but by placing the overlay immediately behind this high wear area that sees a lot of stretching and stress, Saucony improves comfort without sacrificing durability.

Saucony Ride 7 Conclusions:

The Ride 7 is by far the best Ride that Saucony has created. Forget uninspired models of this shoe you’ve tried on the past. They’ve lowered the heel drop to 8mm, similar to the Saucony Triumph, but what the Ride 7 provides is an equally cushioned shoe with quite a bit less weight.

There really aren’t competitors on the market that can provide the combination of lightweight cushioning, smooth transition, and price point in one shoe. In fact, this new ride completely eliminates the need for the Triumph in the Saucony line.

The other feature that really sticks out to me about the Ride 7 is that it is a comfortable shoe for faster paced running. I can wear the Ride 7 for a tempo run and not feel like I have some clodhopper on my feet. This is definitely a must try shoe the next time you’re looking for your mileage workhorse.

We thank the nice people at Saucony for sending us a pair of Ride 7 to test. This did not influence the outcome of the review, written after running more than 50 miles in them.