New Balance SC Pacer v2 Review: Setting a Blistering Pace

What You Need To Know

Introduction to the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v2

MEAGHAN: You won’t find my name on the review of the original New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer because I couldn’t put enough miles on it for a proper review. It was just not for me. But I have some really great news (for me, at least): this shoe went through a complete overhaul.

While still a lightweight, carbon-plated road racing shoe, the Pacer v2 is now designed with 100% Peba FuelCell foam and comes with more stack underfoot (a whopping 4 mm). I’d still consider this a “lower to the ground” experience, with a 32.8mm stack in the heel and an 8 mm drop, but it definitely feels like more foam underfoot than the previous version. If you’re wondering about the very specific 32.8 mm stack height, I was told by the New Balance team that this exact measurement was built for elite marathoner Emily Sisson, and rather than starting with the typical sample size (US M9), they used her data and built the shoe from there. I can get down with that.

The upper is a single-layer engineered mesh that’s light and breathable and gives it a race-day feel. Lastly, the Pacer v2 has a rubber outsole and substantial forefoot coverage.

So, will a shoe designed for Emily Sisson work for the rest of us? Let’s get into it.

KALEB: *Deep breath* Alright, I’m gonna say it: I think the marathon race distance is overhyped. Now, before Thomas and Meghan vote to fire me, let me explain myself. Every race distance is cool; running is cool. But even with all the cool, unique running events that are out there, the marathon, in some ways, has become the standard of whether you’re a “real runner,” at least among non-runners. Maybe I’m just salty because I have yet to race a marathon…

Either way, my point is this: because of the hype around that particular 26.2-mile race, shoe companies tend to put lots and lots of money and energy into creating their marathon racer, and as genuinely awesome as it is to run in 40 mm of steroidally-enhanced, cocaine-addicted takeout-box material with a carbon fiber pair of skis embedded in it, some races require a little more… finesse. Shoes designed to perfectly complement a strong marathon pace might, in a high-speed 10k, prove too heavy or clumsy on turns to justify the amount of material underfoot.

Enter the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v1, a shoe whose name in twelve-point font took up more space than its midsole stack. The goal of the original Pacer was to adapt the supershoe experience to shorter distances, bringing more pop to the 5k and 10k scenes where maximum shock absorption is less necessary and unstable stack heights are less welcome. Ultimately, our reviewers found that it was more of a superflat than a supershoe, and the carbon didn’t end up adding much to the ride since there wasn’t really enough foam to warrant a full plate.

Now, the SC Pacer v2 is a new beast with the same mission. New Balance kept the plate but beefed up the stack and redesigned the whole shoe, from the rubber to the laces. This time around, it looks a whole lot less like a flat and more like a traditional super shoe. It also looks absolutely sick. This is a shoe meant to race any distance from 5k to marathon, with the Emily Sisson stamp of approval to prove it.

So, can the new Pacer properly push the pace? We put it through its paces to find out.

What we like about the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v2

MEAGHAN: My SC Pacer V2 arrived the evening before the Baltimore Women’s Classic 5K that I was registered to race. It seemed like the perfect shoe to toe the line, so of course, that’s what I did. The race was a complete disaster, but despite crumbling 1 mile into a 3-mile race, I was very pleased with how the shoe felt — light, fast, and (most importantly), it looked great.

I was worried the lower stack, particularly in the forefoot, would have me craving my thick race day shoes, but it was actually a nice change. Specifically for a race like the 5K when you’re running at top speeds (or for me, closer to marathon pace) it’s nice to feel in control and contact with the ground. I also used this shoe for some 400s in a workout, and again, it was great to have that fast feeling, light shoe when running at top speeds.

The single-layer mesh upper felt supportive but very light and breathable. It’s the perfect upper construction for these warm, humid summer days in Baltimore. I found the shoes fit true to size, but definitely more like a racer, so expect more of a sock-like fit vs. an extra roomy toebox.

And since I keep talking about how fast and light they feel, I should probably mention the weight — my US W7.5 weighed just over 6oz. That’s pretty, pretty good.

KALEB: As usual, I’ll start with looks. This is probably my favorite-looking shoe out there right now. The geometry, the teal-and-white color palette, the bold New Balance “N,” all of it smacks of speed and nimbility (heck yeah, that’s a made-up word, cuz let’s face it, “nimbleness” is stupid, and English isn’t even real anyway).

The underfoot experience doesn’t do anything to contradict the aesthetic: the SC Pacer v2 strikes a fantastic balance of softness, bounce, snap, and the aforementioned nimbility. I’m fortunate enough to have a pair of the SC Elite v4 lying around, so to compare the two siblings, I strapped one on each foot (which, for any fellow track athletes out there, is kind of like wearing a mismatched pair of the Nike Dragonfly for the flex, except with the added drawback of rearranging your pelvic bones because of the two different stack heights).

The Pacer v2 has less roll and bounce than the Elite v4, but not in a bad way. It’s far more “super” than the racing-flat-esque ride of the first version, but compared with a 40 mm shoe, it has a greater sense of connection with the ground and a subsequently firmer, more solid toe-off, assisted by the full-length carbon plate. In the Elite, the carbon plate serves the function of keeping the rocker geometry of the shoe in place to allow the shoe to keep rolling forward, as well as acting as a solid surface for the foam to compress and bounce under.

In the Pacer, the less dramatic rocker and lower stack height cause the plate to act more as a stabilizing and stiffening agent to provide a firmer push-off, with some additional assistance from the trademark snap and bounce of a supershoe. It’s not like the Pacer isn’t cushioned or protective; it just allows you to put more pop into your footstrike without being robbed of responsiveness by too much squishy FuelCell. The Elite is great for that fast marathon cruise, but the Pacer is superior for those explosive 5k and 10k paces.

TL;DR: I love the ride of this shoe. It’s fast and fun and still lets you feel the power you put into the ground.

On the bottom side, the same soft rubber outsole that coats the Elite v4 provides excellent traction for high-speed cornering in the SC Pacer v2. This is further complemented by an excellent upper that locks the foot comfortably over the midsole. The laces, while short and unridged, remain tied just fine.

The Pacer v2 outshines its big Elite brother when it comes to weight and versatility. My US M9 came in under the advertised 7.5 oz at 7.37 oz (209 g). Sure, there are shoes that sport higher stacks with lower weights than the Pacer, but once you’re past a certain level of light-icity (I figured I may as well make up another word in the hopes that future linguists will find this review 4,000 years from now and put me on par with Shakespeare), additionally shaved grams are likely not going to make or break the race day experience.

Plus, the Pacer v2 outshines many of those shoes by being versatile enough to tackle shorter distances while maintaining enough cushion to cruise through the marathon distance with style. Granted, take that assumption with a little salt since I have yet to race a marathon in any shoe, but my point is that I have zero qualms about comfort underfoot over the long haul when it comes to the Pacer

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What we don’t like about the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v2

MEAGHAN: As I mentioned, I took this shoe straight out of the box to race day, so there was no time to test out the fit or adjust the lacing. I ended up getting some gnarly blisters on the back of my heels and couldn’t wear the shoe for about a week. However, after the blisters healed up, I used a higher sock and adjusted the laces, and I haven’t had any issues since.

KALEB: Like Meg, the heel counter shredded my Achilles the first time I took the Pacer v2 out for a spin. I think some of this can be blamed on the laces: they’re short enough that I wasn’t able to do heel-lock lacing. Since New Balance tends towards wider heel counters, that allows some rubbing, especially since the carbon plate is going to cause more heel lift than traditional shoes.

I was able to fix the heel lift issue by putting the laces through the bottom of the two eyelets at the throat of the shoe, and I opted to tape my heel just to be extra safe in the future, but I think with the right socks this won’t be a huge issue. Heel rub seems to be one of those things that some runners experience and others completely don’t in a shoe, so this likely won’t be a problem for everyone. Then again, maybe I’m being too generous with my critiques because of how much I love everything else about this shoe.

Final thoughts on the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v2

MEAGHAN: The New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v2 is one of my favorite updates. I’m not sure how fans of the original version will feel, but I think distance runners looking for a more “traditional” race day experience will really enjoy this model. I’ll be keeping this one in my rotation throughout the summer as I attempt to find some speed and fitness before the fall marathon season.

KALEB: This is probably the most fun shoe I’ve run in yet. It’s not the softest, nor bounciest, nor the most propulsive, but it takes all three of those traits and perfectly combindulates (what’s one more for the linguists, right?) them into a fantastic race day experience that spans a wide range of paces from tempo to top speed. For any runners who race all sorts of distances beneath and up to the marathon, this just might be the shoe for you.

You can pick up the New Balance FuelCell SuperComp Pacer v2 for $199 from New Balance by using the buttons below.