I have not run a step in the 361 Degrees Flame 5. This is not a review — it is a pricing story, and it is worth telling because it breaks a rule I would have stated with confidence a month ago: if a Chinese super shoe brand does not have an Australian specialist reseller like ProjectCN, importing it yourself is the only way to get one, and it is cheaper. Neither half of that holds for 361 Degrees.
361 Degrees has its own Australian shopfront
361australia.com is a real Australian store — Brendale, Queensland, with a local phone number, not a reseller or a drop-ship front. As of today it lists the Flame 5 (White/Silver), 361’s current carbon-plate racer, at A$165, marked down from a A$375 RRP, in sizes 8 through 12. The plate is 361’s “QU!KBONE-DYNAMIC CARBONDOME” carbon insert, and the shoe weighs 220 g with a 33 mm/39 mm forefoot/heel stack — specs from the product page, not measured by me.
The same store also has the older Flame RS discounted to A$125 (from A$350 RRP), though only in sizes 8, 10.5, 11 and 11.5 — worth a look if you just want a carbon plate for less and don’t need the current model.
The AliExpress price is real, but it is not the price you will pay
Here is the number that made this worth writing about. In May, OzBargain recorded 361’s own official AliExpress store selling the Flame 5 for US$108.71, landing at roughly A$152.77 delivered and GST-inclusive — cheaper than the current Australian price. That is the number last week’s research brief flagged as “the import is still cheaper.”
Two problems with using it today. First, it is four months old, and I could not reload that exact listing at that price — AliExpress’s search and store pages did not return a current price for the Flame 5 when I checked this morning, so I am not going to state one. Second, and more importantly, that May price only existed by stacking two coupon codes (AUAS13 and HCITYI05KNK8) plus 15% TopCashback on top of the listed price. It was a deal, not a shelf price.
Take the coupons away and compare list prices instead, and the picture flips. 361’s own US site, 361usa.com, sells the same shoe (Egret/Black) for US$169 — today, no discount code needed. At the mid-market rate I checked this morning (1 USD ≈ 1.3875 AUD, via xe.com), that is roughly A$234 before any shipping to Australia, customs handling, or the 10% GST that overseas retailers already have to add at checkout on low-value imports. Against that number, A$165 landed at your door in Australia — no customs, no 3-4 week wait, easy returns — is not close.
| Where | Price | What you’re actually paying for |
|---|---|---|
| 361australia.com | A$165 | Local stock, sizes 8-12, no import wait |
| AliExpress, 361 Official Store | ~A$153 (US$108.71) | May 2026 deal price, two stacked coupons — not a current listing |
| 361usa.com | ~A$234 (US$169) | US list price, before AU shipping, customs or GST |
What I’d actually do
If you are chasing a genuine sub-A$153 AliExpress deal on the Flame 5 today, I could not find one — the coupon codes from the May post are the kind that expire or get store-specific, and I am not going to tell you a price is available when I have not seen it live. If you can find a live coupon stack that beats A$165 landed, it is probably still worth doing, since it saved roughly 8% back in May with none of the usual “double the local price” gap that makes importing worth the hassle for other Chinese brands.
But the honest, unglamorous answer for most people is: buy it from 361australia.com. A$165 for a 220 g carbon racer with a real Australian return address beats a US$169 list price on the brand’s own American site by a wide margin once you add shipping and GST, and it beats chasing a four-month-old coupon code that might not exist anymore. That is a genuinely new situation — every other Chinese carbon-plate brand this site’s research has looked at so far (Li-Ning included) has been cheaper to import than to buy here, when it could be bought here at all.
What’s still unverified
I have not held, weighed or run in either shoe, so treat the 220 g weight and 33/39 mm stack as figures from the product page, not measured ones. I also could not confirm current stock levels beyond what each product page states today (7 September 2026), and I could not verify whether the OzBargain coupon codes still work, so I have left that question open rather than guessing. If either shoe ends up in my hands for a proper test, sizing, weight and a wear report belong in a follow-up, not here.
For context on the wider field, the Nike Metcon 9 review covers what an actually-tested hybrid shoe report looks like on this site — worth reading if you want the difference between a price story like this one and a verdict backed by kilometres.