GET TO KNOW THE NEW BALANCE SC REBEL V1

Published: 07/10/2026 | By: Alex Courbat

The New Balance SuperComp Rebel v1 starts with a slightly mischievous question: why should the good stuff have to wait for race day?

We all know the routine. The carbon racer lives in its box like a prized possession, only emerging when there's a bib, a start line and a queue for the portaloos. Everything else gets done in whatever's by the door. It's like owning a sports car and only taking it out on track days, while the school run goes to the old Fiesta.

Running shoes have got very good at knowing their place. Easy shoes are soft and forgiving, race shoes are a bit unhinged, and in between there's a fast-growing breed of super trainer trying to smuggle the start-line magic into the weekly rotation. The SC Rebel is New Balance's way in. The Rebel has always been the lively, lightweight one in the range, and this is what happens when it gets a promotion: a 40mm stack under the heel, 36mm up front, a 4mm drop and a propulsion plate, all in a shoe weighing around 220g. That's a lot of engine for not much bodywork.

Start with the foam, because that's where any modern running shoe gets its personality. Infinion is an ATPU midsole compound, and New Balance pitches it as long-lasting cushioning with plenty of energy return. In plain English, it's built to soften the landing and then give something back, rather than going flat on you halfway through a long run. There's a generous amount of it, too, but the low drop and the rocker profile keep all that height working towards forward motion instead of just adding bulk.

But that’s not all that’s happening under your feet. The carbon-infused Pebax plate is bottom loaded, if you want the proper term, sitting underneath the foam rather than sandwiched somewhere in the middle. That leaves the Infinion on top to do the cushioning, while the plate below adds structure and helps turn all that stored energy into a quicker transition. Picture a comfy armchair with a trampoline bolted underneath and yeah… you get the idea.

The rocker finishes the job, rolling you from landing to toe-off without asking you to hang around and admire the scenery. So that's the whole story: Infinion brings the bounce, the plate brings the snap and the rocker points it all forwards. No PhD in midsole architecture required.

The rest of the shoe is built to stay out of the way. Up top, the mesh is soft, flexible and lightweight, and FantomFit locks down the midfoot and heel so the foot stays connected to the platform instead of freelancing halfway through a rep. Underneath, a durable PU outsole covers the forefoot and heel, because a training shoe that wears out before the training block does is a pretty expensive lesson.

What makes it interesting is who it's for. This isn't a race shoe that's been made slightly more polite. It's aimed at the miles that actually make up a runner's week: tempo sessions, long runs, marathon-block workouts and those supposedly easy five kilometres that somehow become a race by the third one. New Balance already had the lightweight Rebel, the plated SC Trainer and the SC Elite at the sharp end. The SC Rebel v1 takes the kind of foam, plate and geometry you'd expect at the top of that range and asks a far more everyday question.