The dynamic lace stays and super fat laces work well to cinch down the foot nicely. The tongue is integrated on one side and gusseted on the other providing a superlatively secure lace cage. An updated Maxtrac sole should perform better in the wet. Some have complained about the durability and traction of the Maxtrac sole. I’ve not had too many issues, but the Lone Peak now uses a different rubber formulation to improve durability and traction. Race day is out of the question for me in the Superior 6. Sure, I love a lightweight racing flat, but not if it’s going to leave my legs absolutely toasted after every steep, fast, downhill section. There’s gotta be a little give there, and the Superior 6 just doesn’t have it.

Over the past few years, shoemakers have poured resources into developing newer and better cushioning foams, and Altra is no exception. The company uses three main cushioning materials in its shoes: Ego, Ego Max, and Ego Pro. (Quantic, another cushioning material the brand developed, is being phased out.)Now we know where the shoes differ, let’s look at the similarities. Overall, I feel the shoes have the same DNA. And if you’re comfortable in one, then the other will “feel” like the same type of shoe, with a couple of unique features. Flexibility and Structure The Superior 5 is agile and responsive. Its sweet spot is in tempo runs and races. Lightweight build and excellent traction make it a great choice for shorter and medium-distance trail events. You need to be comfortable with your feet doing the work! If there is one thing we’re passionate about at Barefoot Run Review, it’s foot function. Most modern shoes don’t allow your foot to move, let alone contribute to the running gait. The Superior’s do allow your feet to work! The shoe is flexible enough to feel your foot engage on toe-off and minimal enough that your calves will get a good workout. The Rivera is the slim child in the Altra road range. The one without the overly wide toe box that many hate but some love.

The real OG of the Altra trail running world, the Lone Peak only sees minor updates from version 6. A big thank you goes out to Believe in the Run for gathering most of this information during The Running Event in 2022 and for the video they put together. I’ve not managed to source any photos of the shoes yet, so I’d suggest watching the video for an idea of what the new shoes look like! The feel of this lightweight trail racer is beyond comparison. I found my first few runs with the shoe to be similar to the childlike fun of sprinting through the forest. The tongue of the Superior 5 is fairly unique At the end of this post, I’m also giving my super simple formula to help you decide which shoe is for you! What’s Different about Altra’s?

Watch the full rundown of Altra 2023 on YouTube!

The tongue is solidly attached to one side of the upper and gusseted on the other. The combination results in a tongue that stays put the whole run. Well done Altra! For us, this is all a net-positive, but the changes have been a bit of a thorn in the side of hardcore Altra fans who have been collecting Kool-Aid cult points since the beginning. To which we say: even Bob Dylan went electric. The second classic model to get an update is the Superior. A personal favorite of mine because it’s as close as barefoot you get in the Altra lineup. And it sounds like there are a few updates.

Brooks Catamount 2: Light and flexible for a Brooks shoe but, not as flexible as the Superior. So, you don’t get as much foot function. The feel for the ground is similar. https://www.northernrunner.com/blog/brooks-catamount-2-review/ The formation of these individualized expectations prior to reviewing the shoe is pretty important; you wouldn’t judge a Waffle House t-bone using the same scrutiny with which you might judge a steakhouse ribeye. Sometimes, if the info is not clear or if the shoe is a new release, things get crazy, and we make up the expectations for ourselves. All that is to say, it’s important to consider a shoe’s scope in a review, and for some shoes, it’s more important than others. The Altra Superior 6 is one of those shoes. Shallower flex grooves create a stiffer shoe. In past iterations of the Rivera, deep flex grooves created a flexible shoe promoting good foot mechanics. In version 3, we’re seeing a reduction in flex groove depth, meaning it’s stiffer. I’m disappointed because it’s another step away from natural barefoot motion. Conclusion Whereas both shoes have wide toe boxes, the midfoot area of the shoes is similar, but one feature changes that. The sidewalls are made out of a flexible material that provides some water resistance. I liked that I could race through smaller puddles and dewy grass without getting super drenched. The sidewalls also did not compromise the ventilation of the shoe, which was nice.Altra has three different fits. Original, Standard and Slim fit, with the original fit having the most width and volume. However, it’s worth trying different Altra styles in our experience because it’s not an exact science. For example, the Superior 6 is made in the Standard fit, the same as the previous versions, but in our experience it is as wide as the Lone Peak 7 on the Original fit. While the standard Original Footshape is still available in a few models, Altra has broadened (and by broadened, we mean slimmed down) the upper fit to now include a Standard Footshape (e.g. Torin, Escalante, Paradigm), and a Slim Footshape (e.g. Vanish Tempo, Vanish Carbon). If you’re coming from a traditional shoe, you’ll likely not feel much difference here. But if you’ve been an Altra fan in the past, it’s something to take note of. Similarities Both shoes fit similarly in length, with the Superior allowing a few extra mm at the toes, but the differences come down to the width and depth.