ADIDAS $500 RACE SHOE

I’m just waiting to lol at a dumb person wearing those in a MUT race 💀

0/10

We are lucky this shoe is even $500, the only reason it's being sold to the mass market is because of world athletic regulations. This shoe is not designed for those who buy it, it is designed for pros, who wont even train in them. They will show up to the race and meet an Adidas rep, who will give them a new pair

At least now I can feel OK about paying $150 on eBay for some OG Alphaflys, VFs, or what have you. If you beat me in some $500 rocket shoes, good on you man.

I know the science doesn't back it up necessarily, but I still think that royal blue VF 4% original was the fastest of them all. Everything in the shoe wars since then has been noise -- pick the $200+ racer that is the most fun for you stride-wise and you'll see the best result.

I raise you my goodwill nike shorts (3$), technical tee gifted by a family member, and Nike Alphaflys (84$, Nike outlet)

How are they for walking? My feet hurt. Serious.

Here is my struggle. Adidas promotes itself as an industry "pioneer" in sustainability/ethical practice. Here is their corporate guidance on that very topic.

https://www.adidas-group.com/en/sustainability/focus-sustainability/our-targets/#:~:text=Our%20commitment%20to%20sustainability%20has,the%20power%20to%20change%20lives.

Yet this shoe has been made to last what, 40 miles? A "breaking in" period followed by one marathon and then what? Well you toss it in a landfill because the midsole foam has totally compressed and/or sheared off the bottom and adidas pat themselves on the back after making 150+ margin points on a $50-$55 landed shoe.

Hey - I'm not some sanctimonious zealot that lives a perfectly circular life of minimalism and perfect environmental circularity but I try my best. Big difference is I'm not out here claiming I do and then profiting off the complete opposite.

As for the actual shoe? Understand what $500 is buying you. Carbon-infused rods aren't special. Almost every nylon/plastics supplier have options with carbon fiber content which make their different grades of material stiffer. Really the difference between this and their other adizero offerings is simply a less dense foam - hence the disclaimer of the "familiarization period and marathon" because what simply happens is that the more open (less dense) foam cell structure will just burst or break down faster and shear away on the pavement. So the foam is a different variant of the current lightstrike foam - how this commands another $250-$300 is beyond me.

From the performance side, okay there is a weight saving which improves running economy, but conversely the foam is much softer and compliant so don't forget Newtons third law here because these shoes are only going to dampen/reduce the force a runner can put into the ground, which is in turn less efficient. So I would guess that at best the net outcome for these product in terms of performance benefit is zero.

The "one race shoe" from a marketing standpoint was done by Nike 20 years ago. Big meh. Honestly I wouldn't even really care because people get sucked in to buying far too expensive, stupid stuff they don't need and won't help them all the time (perfect example old white men and road bikes) - except for how blatantly hypocritical and contradictory this is of the brands "pioneers in sustainability" "pledge" which is just straight bullsh-t.

Thank God they're not Nikes. If Nike made a $500 shoe I might be down 500 bucks lol

so basically adidas' version of the nike mayfly? for the general competitors, this thing would have to PR a few minutes in the marathon against the vapor/alphafly for it to be worth it.

The biggest statement would be if someone at Berlin wearing these beats EK while running sub 2:02.

Cosplay team! Hahahahahaha, that’s perfect

That's a very cheap watch.

Wait till Mark Zuckerberg gets his hands/feet on some. He’ll be Olympic trialing in the 5km before we know it.

Even better they’re apparently only designed to last for one marathon. That’s almost $20 per mile.

I’m not saying this is what’s going on in this case, but this is how companies can get around the “shoes must be publicly available” rule. Just price shoes so high that no one in their right mind would actually buy them so the only people wearing the shoes are athletes who were gifted them by their sponsors.

Dumb question, perhaps, but what's up with the fact that there are no carbon rods in these shoes?

Is Adidas saying that carbon plates/rods aren't the bees knees anymore? If you're looking to break a world record, are you better off simply having a slightly lighter shoe? Is Adidas saying the real advantage is in the foam? Or the thick sole?

There are rods in them. Look at the photos of all the components in the RTR article.

roadtrailrun.com

adidas Adizero Pro Evo 1 Preview: At 138g, by far the Lightest Marathon Super Shoe yet!

Open link

Look at the 3rd comment too. Shoe companies are making the sport an arms race with the blessing of World Athletics.

The advantage with all the super shoes is the foam not the plates.

More THAN. Come on, this isn't that hard.